National Database for Police Killings - Essay Example

National Database for Police Killings The proposed essay will be based on Censored Story #18; National Database of Police Killings Aims for Accountability. The topic identified for further analysis in the proposed essay involves the lack of a national database, which tracks the death of civilians as a result of lethal use of force by the police in the United States. The death of Michael Brown at the hands of police was an incident that I found unacceptable and tragic, especially when it emerged that this has been a pattern in black neighborhoods all over the United States. Indeed, the number of black civilians killed by the police is shocking because I believe in human rights for all, which I also believe is what the US constitution stands for. When I attempted to search the internet for the number of civilians killed yearly by the police, I realized that there were no official or valid statistics. Presently, I believe that this could be because police departments do not want this information released and this may also have influenced the media. I only became aware of this lack of reporting on civilian deaths at the hands of police after the shooting of Michael Brown and yet, reading some news reports made me realize that the issue of a national database for police shootings has been ongoing for some time. Why, then, is there such a dearth of information on these deaths in mainstream media. From the media sources that I analyzed, the most prevalent repetitions were "justifiable homicides" and lack of a database to track all civilian deaths at the hands of the police. For example, Lowery (p.1) in the Washington Post notes that there were at 461 "justifiable homicides" carried out by the police, which he defines as the killing of felons by police when on duty, while he also notes that no one knows for sure how many civilians are killed overall by the police. On truth-out.com, the writer also notes that that the only police killings that are reported are those that the police consider justifiable, in this case noting that only those instances that can be justified before juries are reported both by the police and the media (Markus 1). Moreover, this story also mentions the absolute lack of reporting on the number of civilian deaths at the hands of lethal police force. Indeed, most of the reports about the issue of police shooting keep repeating the same thing; that the death of civilians at the hands of police is grossly underreported both by police databases and by the media as well. Benzkofer (p.1) in the Chicago Tribune also covers the same issue and repeats that reports on civilian deaths are completely lacking in the media, which, again, mostly covers the case when the killing of a civilian is justified. He adds that Chicago had a police censor who ruled over the media with an iron fist to ensure that they did not report "damaging" reports about civilian deaths at the hands of the police. Analyzing a group of stories requires that the reader should locate words that suggest or form binary oppositions, which can be identified in the articles considered for this essay. For example, a binary opposition is identified in both the Chicago Tribune article and the Washington Post article with regards to the fact that there is database for the total number of police killed in the line of duty, while only "justifiable killings" are reported when it comes to civilian deaths (Robinson 1). This binary opposition leads one to conclude that there is reason why not all civilian deaths are reported by the police and, as a result, by the media. Another binary opposition that arises from both articles is that, while the US government has been aggressive in pushing for reform in cities that have high police shooting rates, the government does not have data to identify the cities that actually have high rates of police shootings (Benzkofer 1). Indeed, it would be interesting to know how the government is able to identify such cities without the presence of valid national data on police killings (Markus 1). Another opposing narrative noted from analyzing the stories covering the possibility of a database to track police killings of civilians is that, whereas there was outpouring of grief on the shooting of two police officers in Brooklyn, New York, from the media, the coverage of civilians shot by police is not as empathetic. These opposing narratives indicate the presence of a wide chasm regarding how the deaths of police officers are covered, against how the death of civilians is covered in the media. Indeed, it would seem that the media, from these opposing narratives, is more likely to report on the deaths of police officers on the line of duty, rather than the death of civilians (Markus 1). Several anomalies are also noted in the aggregate news coverage of the need for a national database to track police shootings of civilians. One of the most glaring anomalies is that American citizens are the ones who have taken on the task of tracking and reporting of civilians killed by the police, rather than the government (Lowery 1). It should actually be the government that creates such a database because it has the resources and manpower, as well as access to police reports through the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Another anomaly that comes up from the readings is that, while the US government has data on the most mundane things, such as the number of shark attacks in the US and the number of people suffering from the flu in a specific locality during the flu season (BagNewsNotes 1), there is no data on the number of civilians killed by the police. This is an anomaly because these are deaths of American citizens, which the government has a duty to track and report. Indeed, one of the most common questions that these articles ask is how, in 2014, the US government could not know the number of civilians that are killed by government officers on the streets each year. Given the number of smart phones that can shoot high quality video, which are then uploaded onto social media, it is an anomaly that the government and the media rarely report cases of civilian deaths by police, especially those that are suspicious (Robinson 1). Moreover, with the current rate of police militarization, as seen during the riots in Ferguson, it is an anomaly that the government and the media are not seeking to make the police departments more accountable for the type of force that they have at their disposal. The best way to make them accountable, it would seem, is the presence of a national database that tracks and reports the number of police-related civilian deaths (Robinson 1). In the aggregate coverage of the articles analyzed, several instances of omission have been identified. For example, there is almost no mention in the mainstream articles about the estimated number of civilian deaths at the hands of police, despite calls to actively track and report the number of police shootings. In fact, none of the articles analyzed even attempts to make an estimate, which should be worrying since there are already websites that track these deaths, such as the Fatal Encounters website (Markus 1). This pattern of omission is especially salient when one notes that the mainstream media articles do not even mention that the Fatal Encounters website is already running. Whereas truth-out.org, an alternative media website, devotes two entire paragraphs to the fatal Encounters website and the work that it does in tracking and tallying police shootings by appealing to the public to aid in creating this database, there is absolutely no mention of this website in the mainstream news websites like the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post. Overall, it is noted that different sources cover this story from different perspectives, especially depending on whether they are mainstream media sources or alternative sources. Mainstream media sources, while accepting that there is a problem with regards to the lack of official data on the number of civilians killed by on-duty police officers, do not provide sufficient information on the estimated number of civilians killed by police officers. One of the aspects of reporting by the mainstream media that jumps out at the reader is their reporting on the number of "justified killings" by police officers, which are eerily the same across all these media sources; 460 dead. In addition, mainstream media sources also tend to include an entire paragraph on the fact that majority of police officers do not use their firearms on police officers, in effect making the police look victimized. This is normally tied with the number of police officers who die in the line of duty, which all the mainstream media sources analyzed report about. On the other hand, whereas the alternative media sources also identify the number of police killed on duty, this is mainly used to contrast this to the fact that there is no mechanism for tracking civilians killed by on-duty police officers. Unlike the mainstream media sources, the alternative media sources also go further with regards to reports on the people killed by police, providing several instances. This is an aspect that is missing from mainstream media sources, which mainly identify the widely-known cases like Michael Brown. It is also noted that alternative media sources are more scathing in their reporting of police unaccountability als compared to the mainstream sources, most likely because of censorship. Whether this is self-censorship or imposed censorship cannot be ascertained from simply reading eh articles. What comes clearly, however, is the fact that alternative media sources are more likely to cover stories that antagonize police departments regarding their lack of accountability in comparison to their mainstream counterparts. Therefore, while all the articles analyzed make a case for the need of accountability among police officers, it is only the alternative sources that go deeper into the reasons why this is needed. I am still shocked as shocked by the death of Michael Brown as I was when I first heard about it. The only difference is that, now, I know that the problem is deeper and that police should be held accountable for their actions when they use lethal force on civilians. Therefore, the proposed essay will support the idea that the US needs a national database that tracks, tallies, and reports the death of civilians at the hands of on-duty police officers. Works Cited BagNewsNotes. After Brooklyn Execution, Has Media Sympathy Shifted Pro-Police? 19 January 2015. 22 February 2015 . Benzkofer, Stephan. When a Chicago police censor ruled over films with an iron fist. 20 February 2015. 22 February 2015 . Lowery, Wesley. How many police shootings a year? No one knows. 8 September 2014. 22 February 2015 . Markus, Bethania Palma. Journalist Calls for Accountability in Police Killings. 18 March 2014. 22 February 2015 . Robinson, Eugene. What the police dont want us to know. 3 December 2014. 22 February 2015 . Read More