Police Brutality: Living with it Today
Do you ever wonder why we have so much police brutality in our society? Why is there so many stories that are being put on media about cops taking extreme levels to situations that can be resulted in such a different manner?
Police Brutality is a major topic that has been growing much more recently due to the high level of rising technology some might say. Due to people always having a cell phone that is now compatible with cameras; making it easy to take footage of a cop in the wrong. Back in the past, police brutality was not a large issue because no one knew about what really was going on. People were blind in a sense to where they couldn’t witness the reality of the truth.
Body Cameras: Now body cameras was a law passed by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) which had some of the major police departments wear cameras on their shoulders. This was important because of public policy that can offer a great deal of accountability. In addition to the public having access to refer to video surveillance system. On the flip side to this technology, many people argue that body cameras are a privacy issue. That these cameras are not respecting the fact that people deserve to have their privacy and for it not to be violated. Many departments are still debating on how to apply these cameras within their work environment. (ACLU) Will these cameras be a benefit or will they be a problem?
- This graph shows who supports and who opposes the body cameras by race.
Training Exercises: Some issues that have recently been released to the public have been constructed and thought out to be a problem with the training exercises that are being applied within the academy program. For example, recently in San Francisco CA, a man named Mario Woods was reported with a large knife in hand. As police arrived on scene, Woods was surrounded by officers. After four rounds of bean bag shots fired, Woods was still standing. Woods continued to walk after cops made their voice clear to “Put the Knife down”, officers finally opened fire ending Woods life. Click Here for link. (CNN) Through this incident, many individuals started to bring up issues with the police decision of force. Could there of been different ways to handle this situation? A debatable issue that is taking place currently, is the removal of armed weapons and supplying the police officers with tasers. However through that issue, there are many positive and negative statements that can be concluded. This is just one example of what is going on in the nation. In a study that was taken, psychologists interviewed many police officers that where in the force. Long story short, the psychologists concluded that this excessive force was not just individual but organizational. (Robert E. Worden)It was taking place throughout the department and officers were being influenced by other work associates. To follow up on this article, Click here.
Below you can see a diagram showing the countless killings that are being issued by police officers in just a short amount of time.
Personal Input: Personally these issues are very important due to the fact that I am trying to achieve a career in the police force. Wanting to achieve the profession myself, it is a challenging time to become an officer. With all the backlash against cops, it makes it hard to see the beneficial side of being a police office in some peoples point of view. Applying my input about body cameras and training throughout the academy, I do believe that body cameras are a tool that should be put into effect. It is a great source of accountability and can capture much more than then word of mouth. In addition to training exercise, academy’s need to start focusing on applying more De-Escalation tactics so officers know how to handle a call in a better manner.
The overall point that I am trying to construct is, are police officers taking their job to levels that are unnecessary and using excessive force when it is not needed? Feel free to comment and express your opinions, Thanks!
