Mercedes Zuniga Essays (819 words) - Law Enforcement, Prevention

Mercedes Zuniga Professor Norton English 1C 5/25/2017 Deadly Use of Force: Police Brutality In recent years, police actions, particularly police abuse has come into view of a wide, public and critical eye. While citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been shown that they must also keep a watchful eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. Police officers have beate n and shot unresisting suspects. T hey have misused baton s, chemical sprays, and electroshock weapons. T h ey have injured and killed people by placing them in dangerou s restraint holds. I believe racism and police brutality goes hand in hand. This has caused a major concern in today's society in the United States. On March 3, 1991 in California, Rodney King an African American, was pulled over after a high-speed chase, and after stopping was beaten by four white police officers (Worsnop 635). Tracy Brock also an African American was arrested in Manhattan in November of 1986. An officer smashed his head through a plate glass window, when Broc k refused to go into the officer' s lunchroom (Police Brutality and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department 14). Ki Tae Kim a Korean grocer was assaulted when he was accused of passing a counterfeit bill. He was punched in the face, his head was slammed into the counter, and the officer also subjected him to racial slurs (Police Brutality and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department 17). Marcos Maldonado a Latino grocer was mistaken for a suspect after an armed robbery to his store. He was handcuffed, thrown to the floor, repeatedly kic ked, and beaten with the officer's nightstick (Police Brutality and Excess ive Force in the New York City Police Department 17). Abner Louima a Haitian immigrant was arrested outside a dance club in Brooklyn, and was brutally assaulted when he arrived at the police station. These are just a few examples of the people who have been affected of police brutality, and racism. There are five stages through which force can pro gress and lead to brutality: v erbal persuasion, unarmed physical force, force using non-lethal weapons, force using impact weapons and deadly force, which most of the officers mentioned before fell into this stage. The deadly forc e stage is only to be used when an officer's life or another person' s life is in danger. The deadly force stage should be terminated, if not made illegal in t he United States. By having the "deadly force" stage, by law you are permitting someone to c ommit a murder. In many of the cases stated before these guidelines were violated, and stronger action was used on the citizen than necessary. The officers who were accused in these cases were charged with only minor offenses, and some were charged with nothing at all. Stronger action should have been enforced on the police officers that committed these crimes. All of these victims mentioned are from minority groups, and were harmed by white New York City police officers. In less than four years fifty-five people have died while being in police custody, in the New York City Police Department (Police Brutality and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department 8). This number compared to earlier statistics seems to be low, but still seems extremely high, for the rules and regulations the officers are sup posed to be following. Many law enforcement officials appear to have a tough exterior towards crime, but are very sensitive to crime on the inside. Police officers build up negative feelings towards certain races, sexes, or religions. Officers tend to get the impression that if one or a few people treat them with disrespect, then other people of that same sex, race, or religion will treat the officer in the same way. It is proven that less than f ive percent of all cops are the "bad element", but if the other ninety- five percent stand around and do nothing, then that is where the real problem lies (Worsnop 636). Whether or not a person believes police b rutality is a serious problem, it must be stopped. In some cases, where