The Question of Police Brutality - Essay Example

Running Head: Police Brutality The Effects of Police Brutality College This essay is designed as an insight into policebrutality. The problem is widespread, and solutions need to need sought in order to keep citizens safe from the public officials that are supposed to protect them. Police brutality is a problem that is not going away. This essay is aimed at providing a definition for police brutality, realizing who the usual targets are, discussing the effect it has on society, and detailing why it is so difficult to control or stop. Police brutality is hard to describe. So says Noel Otu. “It is clear, then, that what constitutes police brutality is at least in part a matter of definition, and the police definition and those of other citizens may not always agree” (Otu, 2006). Certainly, many police officers accused of brutality don’t always feel their actions were unnecessary. Private citizens, however, usually feel otherwise. Still, Otu examines what most people would construe as brutality. Some of his examples are when an “individual feels that he or she is not being treated with full constitutional rights” (Otu, 2006). Quoting an official from The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP, he defines brutality, or excessive use of force, as, “the application of an amount and/or frequency of force greater than that required to compel compliance” (Otu, 2006). Basically, he means that when an officer of the law can get what he or she expects from a suspect with less force, and then less force should be used. Police officers claim, according to the essay, that, sometimes, excessive force is necessary. Probably no one doubts that is true, however the concern is how to stop excessive force, when it is not necessary. As well, it seems that police brutality is more prevalent in some areas more than others. Many claim that police brutality is rampant in black and Latino communities of just about every state. It is called racial profiling, which means targeting members of a particular ethnic group based on preconceived notions about that group, and is thought to be one reason for high rates of police brutality, especially in African-American communities. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is actively establishing a program to get of violent crimes by police officers, against persons of color. The program, Police Misconduct Initiative, is aimed at helping people who find “themselves the target of brutal and illegal law enforcement practices” (Mayer, 2007). Hopefully, this will go a long way toward eliminating police crimes against anyone, including persons of color. There are many examples of police brutality, especially since it is happening far more often than it should. Who could forget the 1991 beating of Rodney King caught on tape in California? There was also the 1997 beating and sodomizing of Abner Louima, in Brooklyn, New York. Several officers were charged, but only Justin Volpe confessed and is serving a 30-year prison sentence (Boyd, 2007). In 1999, Amadou Diallo was shot at 41 times, and killed. He was unarmed. In 2006, Sean Bell was shot at, in his car, about 50 times. He, too, perished. In 2007, Sergeant James Talvy assaulted Attorney Michael Warren. Warren explains that he saw Talvy giving a black man, “The worst beating I have ever witnessed in my entire 27 years of practice” (Arinde, 2007). He asserts that he pulled his car over and asked the officer to stop hitting the man. He said he identified himself, and his wife who was in the car, as attorneys, hoping it would make a difference. He said the officer swore at him, and reached into the car and began assaulting him. When his wife screamed at the officer to stop hitting her husband, she reports that the officer punched her in the jaw (Arinde, 2007). Warren claims that as bad as the assault was, a big concern is that he is charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, while the police officer “has not been disciplined and is still in the position to supervise other officers” (Arinde, 2007). These problems aren’t just occurring in New York and California. Chicago, which hosts the “second-biggest police force” (Breaking blue wall, 2007), is having problems of its own. In September 2007, the police superintendent quit because two videotapes became public that showed off-duty officers beating up civilians. Also, it became known that seven members of the touted unit, Special Operations Section (SOS), were charged with various crimes, including kidnapping, burglary, attempted murder, and false arrest (Breaking blue wall, 2007). Scenarios like these are part of the reason police brutality is hard to control. In the individual examples given, everyone wouldn’t agree that justice was served. In King’s California case, no officers were convicted in the state case. A year later, a federal court convicted two of them, but these kinds of convictions are rare (Otu, 2006). In Louima’s case, one officer took the fall, but several were involved who received no repercussions. Only three of the five officers who shot at Belle, who was leaving his bachelor’s party, were charged. The complete outcome of Warren’s case has not been decided, but precedence shows that there is a good chance that the officer will not be punished, or at least not to the satisfaction of Warren or the general public. Some might even consider King, Louima, and Bell lucky because something was done, even if not much. Citizens of Chicago hold little hope. Complaints of brutality were 94% less likely to be sustained in Chicago than in other large police departments” (Breaking blue wall, 2007). This is probably due to the fact that individual officers fear the repercussions of not supporting their partners or other cops. In fact, officers often feel that colleagues should be punished for misdeeds, but they worry about officers being punished unfairly. Officers do not, however, want to see other officers fired from their jobs (Westmarland, 2005). It may come down to cities having to take drastic measures against officers to make citizens feel safe again. A specific code of conduct needs to be available to officers, and fair punishments should be meted out to them. This might help ensure that other officers, who are sometimes the only witnesses to crimes against citizens, by their coworkers, come forward to tell the truth. While it is acceptable to respect the so-called blue wall of silence to a certain degree, safety of citizens should never be compromised. While it is great that NAACP is studying initiatives that will help keep minority communities safe, every person in every community needs to feel safe. Although they are black, being a prominent family of means did not stop the attack against the Warren’s, so no community is safe from brutalizing officers if nothing is done. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “An injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” His point was that any terrible thing that happens, and goes unpunished, in one community would end up happening in other communities. It is not enough to turn a blind eye to problems of communities not near us. Police brutality is a problem that everyone needs to aid in finding a solution for. If cities and states take appropriate initiatives, and courts do their best to hear the cases fairly, and officers honestly report all the aspects of every case, and citizens become more proactive, instead of reactive, the problem of police brutality could be eradicated – or at least severely diminished. References Arinde, Nayaba. (2007, August 16-August 22). People get ready. New Amsterdam News 98(34), 1-38. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database. Boyd, Herb. (2007, August 16-August 22). Louima: ‘God is good!’ New Amsterdam News 98(34), pp. 1-42. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database. Out, N. (2006). The police service and liability insurance: Responsible policing. International Journal of Police Science and Management 8(4), 294-315. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database. Breaking the blue wall. (2007, October 20). Economist, Retrieved March 18, 2008, from Humanities International Complete database. Mayer, L. (2007, May). NAACP creates new program to combat police brutality. Crisis (15591573), 114(3), 45-46. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from Humanities International Complete database. Westmarland, Louise (2005, June). Police ethics and integrity: Breaking the blue code of silence. Policing & Society 15(2), 145-165. Read More