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Police Duties And Police Brutality: Where Is The Border?
Introduction
This paper will review the literature on the controversy of the topic of police brutality. Police brutality is the unwarranted or excessive and sometimes illegal use of force against civilians by police officers. Forms of police brutality varies from assault and battery to mayhem, torture, and even murder. This issue has been going on for decades. A new study finds that fatal police violence may be a key explanation for the death of young men in America. Researchers claim that police forces have become a significant issue for public safety with serious effects on society. Data from 2013 to 2018 found that the sixth leading cause of death for people between the ages of 25 and 29 among all race categories is lethal police brutality. The report also showed that the lifetime risk of death from police abuse is greatest for men and women of all races, between the ages of 20 and 35 (Lockhart, 2019).
This has brought up concerns with a few questions. What is the main reason behind police brutality? Is it possible to prevent? How should they be punished? And the impact of police brutality on society. The review on this research paper was carried out using both media and academic sources. The media sources are from The Independent, Vox, Smithsonian Magazine, Business Insider, etc and the academic sources are from European Journal of American Culture and Case Western Reserve Law Review. This is of course a very sensitive topic, which is why the process of researching the topic was quite difficult. However, this paper might help urge people pay more attention to police brutality. People might or might not do anything about it. What’s going to happen next?
The main reasons behind police brutality
One important factor which allows a culture of police brutality to develop is that police officers do not seem obligated to take care of their community engagement with a group level of accountability or transparency. A person does something inappropriate during this case and is never reprimanded for his or her behaviour. The consequence is that, due to the routine duties of the cop, the police official tends to pursue violent methods on the official. Local law enforcement authorities have enough weapons to conquer a small nation. The use of the heavily armed police squad presence has risen to some 50,000-80,000 events per year, and many municipal and state authorities have formed the attitude of ‘us against them’ against the people they are supposed to represent (Welch and Mewhirter, 2017). Another factor is that police do not receive adequate training for every situation. It should be noted that in the absences of such supplemental training, police are likely to consider violence acceptable. However, the most controversial reason is believed to be racism.
Black people are more likely to be shot by police than their white peers. A FBI analyses showed that the US police kill black people at disproportionate rates: 31% of police murders in 2012 were blacks, but just 13% of the US population (Crime in the U.S. 2012, 2012). Although the research is incomplete because voluntary reports from police departments around the country are funded, it demonstrates the vast differences in the way police use force.
In line with the Guardian report on 2015 police shootings, the differences appear to be much higher for unarmed suspects. Racial minorities comprise roughly 37.4% of the total US population and 46.6% of the victims, army and disarmed, but they account for 62.7% of police killing of unarmed civilians (Swaine, Laughland and Lartey, 2015). Such differences in police force usage reflect the broader scope of racial inequalities in the overall criminal justice system in the United States. Blacks are much more likely to be prosecuted for drugs, even though they no longer consume or sell them. And black prisoners make up a large number of prisoners (Lopez, 2015).
The socio-economic factors — like poverty, unemployment, segregation and police brutality when it comes to violent crime — explain some of these inequalities, which lead to more crime and violence in black communities. As a result, police appear to be more active in black areas — and in these areas police interventions are more likely to be required, from traffic stops to arrests and shootings. But a review of Sentencing Project has found that in different periods of time over the past few decades only about 61 to 80 percent of black overrepresentation has been explained by the highest concentrations of Black populations (Racial Disparity | The Sentencing Project, 2020). This suggests that, because of other factors, such as, likely, racial prejudice or previous criminal records affecting prison sentences, up to 39 percent of the racially unequal prison population is present.
A further analysis by researcher Cody Ross from 2015 found that ‘There is no connexion between county-level racial bias in police firefighting and crime levels (even racial-specific crimes rate) that indicates that the racial bias in police firefighting is not to be clarified in this data set as a response to local crime levels.’ (Ross, 2015). The racial profiling of individual officers is one of the potential causes. Research reveals that officers in game simulations are fired faster by black offenders. Joshua Correll, a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado, said that it is likely that the predisposition that lead to more deficient results in the field.
Ethnic inequalities have been the cause for criticism of policy over the past few years, resulting in the campaign Black Lives Matter which, due to the recent killings by the Brown police in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Freddie Grey in Baltimore, among others, has gained national prominence. Some have become worried about disparities and high-profile murders that black lives are less important for the police, because almost every African American may be the eventual target of the shootings by the police.
How to stop police brutality
Police brutality can only be eliminated if the public and the police work together.
In recent years there has been a significant amount of police brutality in America. The abuse of the police may be a topic covered by articles of reporting, forums and paper writing. Many unjustified police killings have been carried out, leading to many police departments being scrutinised. National campaigns and demonstrations against violence were joined by the general public. The police have also been put under a microscope by various police commissions to identify individuals who present a three. The formulation of legislation aimed at mitigating police brutality should be undertaken rather than the role of the police forces.
Important progress has been made in the use of deadly force in the field of police brutality. While there is still intolerable level of violence by lethal powers, national information shows reduction in the number of people shot and killed by police in our 50 largest towns since the mid-1970s, the average of 35-40%. The racial disparity among people who were shot and killed was significantly decreased in this: from the 1970s onwards, from about six coloured people to one white person, up to three coloured people to one white.
A rigorously qualified law enforcement agency will certainly be a positive objective which should be followed according to local circumstances. Citizens’ organisations in some areas have traditionally urged law enforcement officers to obtain more education and training in their attempts to address the issue of police brutality. Today, however, it seems to be less important for many police forces because of the drastic increase in the number of Yank law enforcement officials in recent years. By 1970, only 3.7% of the law enforcement officers in the country were trained for four or more years. By 1989 the figure had risen to 22.6%, and 65% had at least some experience in college (Lamont, Macleod and Wilkin, 2011). The level of training among new hires with around two years of school in many departments is the highest.
Instead of being regarded as the only police subordinates, police policies would be open to public scrutiny and discussion. Open policymaking allows police officers not only to take advantage of community feedback, but also provides police officers with the ability to demonstrate to the general public why certain tactics or procedures might be required. It may help to predict problems and avoid disasters before they occur.
Another key goal here would be to persuade the local government agency to enact and enforce a formal physical force use policy. It should specifically restrict physical strength to particular circumstances to the narrowest possible range. Of example, the baton use policy would prevent law enforcement officers from targeting the residents of ‘non-target’ locations, such as the top and back, where there may be permanent injuries. Mace should be used for defence rather than offensive purposes. Strictly monitored and checked should be the use of electronic stun guns, as they require considerable potential misuse because they do not leave marks or bleeding. The policy would specify that after any overt use of force, the police officer submits a report that the reports will be reviewed by senior officers immediately.
Conclusion
In many communities up to now, police brutality remains obvious. The key perpetrators of such brutalities are racial and ethnic groups. Such police brutalities mainly target minorities or marginalised groups such as the poor, hence the powerless, the elderly. It is true that the cops use unnecessary force to arrest suspicious people and also to defend themselves, but they have to use the force excessively, so that the safety of the public and cops can be avoided. Race should even never be a sign of illegal activity. It should even be remembered. When suspecting crimes, it should not be treated as an element. This crime is to be stopped by the cops and the authorities, the government and therefore the public in general. Such four ideologies are closely linked in order to restrict the violence of police forces.
Wider community support could be gained from a well-organized, coordinated campaign against police brutality. The key is to turn this support into practical requirements and develop strategies which translate those requests into concrete reforms.
The brutality of the police goes beyond the unwarranted force and death which occurs when people interact with the police. The wounds contributed not only to physical injuries. There are still mental wounds for the victims and their families. In order to dehumanise the victim, the police should be more concentrated. The methods mentioned above might not fix anything right now, but it’s a beginning. To learn a way to calm down a station will help develop community trust.
REFERENCES
- FBI. 2012. Crime In The U.S. 2012. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lamont, E., Macleod, S. and Wilkin, A., 2011. [online] Nfer.ac.uk. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lockhart, P., 2019. Why Police Violence Needs To Be Treated As A Public Health Issue. [online] Vox. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lopez, G., 2015. Black And White Americans Use Drugs At Similar Rates. One Group Is Punished More For It.. [online] Vox. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Ross, C., 2015. [online] journals.plos.org. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Swaine, J., Laughland, O. and Lartey, J., 2015. Black Americans Killed By Police Twice As Likely To Be Unarmed As White People. [online] the Guardian. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- The Sentencing Project. 2020. Racial Disparity | The Sentencing Project. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Welch, R. and Mewhirter, J., 2017. [online] The Washington Post. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Correll, J., 2002. [online] Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- FBI. 2012. Crime In The U.S. 2012. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Kristian, B., 2014. 7 Reasons Police Brutality Is Not Going Away. [online] Business Insider. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lamont, E., Macleod, S. and Wilkin, A., 2011. [online] Nfer.ac.uk. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lockhart, P., 2019. Why Police Violence Needs To Be Treated As A Public Health Issue. [online] Vox. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Lopez, G., 2015. Black And White Americans Use Drugs At Similar Rates. One Group Is Punished More For It.. [online] Vox. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Ross, C., 2015. [online] journals.plos.org. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Swaine, J., Laughland, O. and Lartey, J., 2015. Black Americans Killed By Police Twice As Likely To Be Unarmed As White People. [online] the Guardian. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- The Center for Popular Democracy. 2020. 15 Things Your City Can Do Right Now To End Police Brutality. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- The Sentencing Project. 2020. Racial Disparity | The Sentencing Project. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
- Welch, R. and Mewhirter, J., 2017. [online] The Washington Post. Available at: [Accessed 6 April 2020].
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