Police Brutality Essay: Example and Tips
Example of introduction to the police brutality essay
Almost every day national news tell new stories about the brutality or illegal actions of police officers. Across the country, Americans complain about the rudeness of cops and their desire to solve any problems with the help of physical force, and often firearms.
Why does the police in the US turn from law enforcement to punitive force? Many experts agree that this process was initiated by the government, it is part of a large federal project on the curtailment of civil liberties in the US and the establishment of total control over the population. The persistent imposition of the “danger of a terrorist threat” theme in recent years has served as an excellent justification for strengthening the authority and strength of the police. As well as now it serves as a good way to divert people’s attention from the hype surrounding the programs of total surveillance implemented by the special services – another aspect of turning the country into a police state.
In this essay, I want to look at the history of police of our country and analyze its present and future.
Main body of police brutality essay example. From history of the issue
The problem of police brutality around the world is, perhaps, best known by the numerous materials of American researchers. The large-scale audit of the police work, carried out in 1972 by the Knapp Commission, in its foreword noted that cases of systematic extortion from brothels, gambling dens and small traders were documented throughout the existence of the New York Police Department – from the end of the 20th century to the 50ies of the twentieth century. During the seventies of the last century, widespread bribery in the police covered the facts of drug trafficking and illegal gambling.
The Commission noted that corruption cases were found in every operational unit in New York to fight gambling dens, and also often occured in drug control units, investigative departments and patrol duty stations.
Later, the system of the “internal market” existed in the police units, where it was possible to purchase various kinds of service privileges, up to obtaining ranks and positions. The system of corruption was organized at a sufficiently high level and was covered by the tolerance and the silent consent of the non-participating police officers. The most serious facts of police involvement in criminal activities can be found in the recent 90s of the 20th century, when police not only covered criminal activity, but also themselves were involved in cocaine trafficking.
In an attempt to analyze the state of affairs in the US police, the Human Rights Watch in 1998 carried out a remarkable revision of the 14 most “problem” cities in terms of police compliance with law and civil rights. In a rather brief form, the contents of the report reflected the following shortcomings of the American police of that period.
Thus, New Orleans, known for the highest crime rate among the police, became a symbol of police racism in November 1980. When a white policeman was killed by a black man, a crowd of indignant police officers spontaneously moved to “black” area, where they committed a massacre of residents, including torture and beatings. Four residents were killed and about 50 injured.
The story was repeated in March 1990, when a white policeman, E. Hawke, died in a shooting in the center of the city. Detained at the scene of the shootout African American A. Archie was taken to the police station, where by that time about one hundred police officers had been waiting for him. A. Archie was beaten to death. Attempts to investigate the fact of his death did not lead to any results. Although the city paid A. Archie’s family $ 200,000 for damages.
In Los Angeles accidentally captured by a amateur video, the scene of beating black Rodney D. King in March 1991 led to global blacks’ statements against racism and police brutality. The court’s acquittal in 1992 provoked mass riots, during which 54 people were killed, 2,383 people were injured and 13,212 people were arrested. A year later, two policemen were found guilty of violating the civil rights of R. King and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment.
The Commission of W. Christopher, who conducted a review of cases in the Los Angeles Police, highlighted racism and ethnic prejudices, rooted in the minds of policemen, as one of the main causes of official crimes and disciplinary offenses.
The Indianapolis police were at least twice in the center of nationwide attention because of illegal actions that had a radical racist coloring.
In 1997, American police, at the initiative of Washington and New York, proclaimed a policy of “zero tolerance” for the manifestation of any, even minor violations of the law. Experts in the field of police violations rightly believed that the American police, which decided to reduce the level of crime in society by aggressively pursuing even minor offenses, was obliged to demonstrate the same extreme intolerance to deviations from the law within its ranks. However, this did not happen. The number of citizens’ complaints about unlawful actions of the police increased by 56%, with 88% of complaints coming from those citizens who have never been arrested or fined.
According to American human rights activists, New Orleans, which has the highest level of citizens’ complaints of excessive use of force, was a kind of record holder of the national survey. During 1993-1997, at least 50 police officers (4% of the personnel) were arrested for committing intentional murders, rapes and robberies.
Chicago, which in 1968 became a symbol of police brutality after the violent dispersal of the demonstration, for a long time remained a source of serious concern for citizens, as the Chicago police were still leading in terms of the number of known facts of police abuse and torture.
As an international phenomenon, abuse of authority and abuse of power by US policemen is directly related to the proliferation of criminal and corruption activities in the police. One of the most widespread corruption scandals broke out in the early 1990s, when policemen from five urban areas in New York were arrested for selling drugs and beating suspects. The special commission headed by Judge M. Mollen established that the police in New York City widely practiced beating and torturing suspects, mocking detainees, falsifying material evidence, rape of prostitutes during raids and checking brothels. The internal control system was also corrupt: internal investigations were conducted in a biased manner, and the management in every possible way covered policemen guilty of committing crimes.
The police reforms undertaken in the US over the past twenty years have somewhat reduced the level of crime among police officers. However, the topic of police crime and brutality is still topical.
Thus, according to the National Project on Statistics and Documentation of Offenses of Police Workers (NPMSRP) in 2010, 4861 offenses committed by 6,613 police officers (including 354 departmental heads) concerning 6,826 citizens were documented. The total amount of claims filed by US citizens as a result of illegal police actions amounted to 346 million 512 thousand 800 dollars.
The most common offenses were the illegal use of force – 23.8%; offenses of a sexual nature – 9.3% and property offenses – 7.2%. Of the 1,575 police officers accused of illegal use of force, 897 were involved in incidents involving physical force, 232 with firearms, 166 with electric shockers, 38 were accused of unlawful use of chemical agents, 27 of service dogs, 6 cars and 209 – other means. 618 police officers were charged with committing offenses of a sexual nature, of them 354 people – in sexual violence. 52% of victims of sexual violence were minors. The crime rate among US policemen for certain types of serious crimes can be compared with the national level of crime.
Main body of police brutality essay example. Modern times – same problems
Events in Missouri in the city of Ferguson once again raised a number of important issues related to the problem of exceeding the authority of the police. On the eve of the tragic events in Ferguson, a grand jury consisting of 12 jurors fully acquitted the policeman who shot the black named Michael Brown. This decision led to a wave of protests and demonstrations, which later developed into serious skirmishes with the police, and later with the National Guard of the United States. The case against the policeman fell apart. The prosecutor proved that Michael Brown did not obey the policeman Darren Wilson and represented a threat to his life. Michael Brown was only 18 years old and he was not armed. It should be added that similar instances of the use of weapons by policemen against US citizens occur quite often. It is worth noting that according to the American legislation, this behavior of policemen is completely justified. Law enforcement officers have the right to use weapons if the suspect poses a threat to him or US citizens, and even if the suspect tries to escape, the policeman has the right to stop him in any accessible way. And this applies not only to armed suspects, but, like in the case of Michael Brown, to all unarmed suspects.
American police officers are not at all embarrassed to resort to the use of personnel weapons and do not try to begin negotiations with the suspect, and almost immediately decide to shoot at the defeat. This way of thinking of policemen often leads to numerous cases when the weapon was used absolutely unreasonably. In 2013, there was a case in the city of Santa Rosa, when police opened fire on a thirteen-year-old teenager, finding his plastic toy AK-47 for real. Policemen were not stopped by the age of the “suspect” or by the fact that he easily managed with the “real” machine. Later, in Cleveland, Ohio, a 12-year-old was shot dead also because of a toy gun. One more case that stirred up the American public occurred in 2012 when 8 policemen fired a total of 46 bullets on mentally ill African-Americans, motivating their actions by threat. In all the aforementioned cases of overt authority by American law enforcement officers, it was the citizens of the US of African-American origin who were under attack. And each time the prosecutors began to consider the case, from the fact that they declared that the race did not matter, but it all comes down to the failure to execute the orders of the “venerable” police officers.
Police brutality is a phenomenon known to many, and as with the use of firearms, order keepers are never responsible for their actions. The first and probably the most famous case in America related to the use of force by police officers occurred back in 1992 in Los Angeles, when there appeared a video recording 5 policemen beat an unarmed African-American with truncheons. This incident became known for the fact that all five policemen were fully justified. And then mass protests began. Riots lasted for 3 days and 53 people were killed. This prompted the authorities to take action and, as a result, 4 out of 5 policemen were brought to justice, and the Los Angeles police department underwent a series of reforms. Later, after an officer in civilian clothes shot Amadou Diallo in the Bronx, New York, all street crime police officers were required to wear uniforms. After another murder, Timothy Thomas tried to escape to Cincinnati, Ohio, the police introduced special courses on the use of non-lethal weapons such as Taser, all cars were supplied with DVRs, they began discussing urgent problems with the residents of the districts, etc. However, the main problem remained unresolved, namely, police officers are very difficult to prosecute and in fact they are unaccountable to anyone but their superiors.
Example of conclusion of police brutality essay
Police unions have a huge influence and, if the policeman has been dismissed because of abuse of authority or for any other reason, he can move to another police station through the union. In this matter, it is important to receive a pension from a policeman after the end of the service, so if the policeman is fired before the retirement age, he is unlikely to find a decent job comparable to the one he lost. The policemen tend to justify each other. Another factor in such permissiveness in the police, according to Dean of the Law School of the School of Law of the University of California, Erwin Kemerensky, is the doctrine of the US Supreme Court, which opposes bringing officials to justice.
Unjustified cruelty of police officers has more than once prompted the public to act, and the events in Ferguson clearly confirm this. But even though representatives of both the Republican Party and the Democrat Party declare their intentions to reform the US police and amend the legislation, in fact they humbly accept that the police perform only what the state has allowed them. The state gave them the full right to detain criminals at any cost and use any means. And, according to the police, such cases as in Ferguson are sporadic, and therefore, limiting the powers of the police, the state will jeopardize public safety. Similar incidents will continue and no speeches and protests a able to change the basis of the American system. The police will always be the main instrument of the domestic policy of the United States of America.