We know that police officers use excessive force, and they also use their authority to verbally abuse people. So what causes police officers to abuse their authority, and (or) leads to brutality? One of the challenges with this is that not every citizen reports a police brutality, whether they see one happening, heard of one happening from their friends or family or if they themselves were a victim of one. Another challenging issue too is that we know some brutalities are not reported; therefore it makes it harder to measure those versus what is actually reported. Police brutality wouldn’t be an issue if we didn’t have to police our law enforcement officers.
Police brutality is a growing problem in policing. There are laws that are strict on crime, and many times depending on the situation the officers need to react a certain way. Police brutality is excessive force to a major extent, and is not treated kindly. Police brutality can occur when an arresting officer feels threatened, by the arrestee, the arresting officer will defend him/her self but if something in their head snaps it becomes a beating. Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer.
Police Brutality Steven O’Neal Period 5 There is something that has been on the rise ever since 9/11 and not many Americans know what this is, a sad, but true fact. This is police brutality, where cops abuse their power given to them by law, and mistreat/break rules and regulations. Skateboarders, to wood carvers in Seattle, police around the country have mistreated their power. As many of you know, last year the police officer Ian berk knowingly shot a Native American wood carver named john t. Williams. But what most of you probably don’t know, is that this cop got away with murder, the shooting of john Williams was declared unjustified, and a normal citizen with this charge would do anywhere from 25 years to life in prison.
But the use of force can be questioned in many ways. The 4th Amendment forbids “unreasonable search and seizures”, with a “seizure” being the use of unreasonable force. Then with the offender often being arrested and incarcerated they have the 8th amendment that protects them from cruel and unusual punishment. But should someone be accustomed to being assaulted by a police officer just because? No.
The Michael Brown case is a tragedy that shocked many people across the country. As per article in Time, he was a young man who was supposed to go off to college soon. He was unarmed with his hands up, yet he was shot to death by police. This unfortunate event has caused a lot of protests. Many protests were peaceful, however, the police applied tear gas against citizens.
The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 was an extremely controversial time in American history and also a great stepping stone for civil rights. Rodney King, a parolee under the influence of alcohol, although it had been assumed that he was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the arrest, had run red lights and stop signs and was chased down and detained in South Central Los Angeles on March 3rd, 1991 in the Lake View Terrace district. During his arrest, a local resident caught video of a violent beating on Rodney King by four members of the Los Angeles Police Department. This became a rallying cry for activists in and around Los Angeles and other places in the United States. The video that was captured shows four white police officers clubbing and kicking Rodney King repeatedly.
"Passenger describes L.A. Police Beating of Driver, Calls it racial," New York Times, March 21, 1991. Freddie Helms was hit in the head while lying on the ground. His bloody baseball cap was turned over to police. Helms were treated for a laceration on the top of his head. "Prosecutor Says Officers Hit Passengers in King's Car," L.A. Times, March 6, 1993.
Personality Traits of a Police Officer Most police officer’s have a personality trait. These personality traits are that of authoritarianism, suspicion, hostility, insecurity, conservatism, and cynicism. These traits define what type of an officer he or she may be and how they handle life inside and outside of the station. Authoritarianism is where one feels the need to be authoritive to control situations. A police officer tends to be authoritive because of the constant danger he or she is in while on the job.
Every report of abuse is often met with denial or explanation of why the abuse was necessary instead of taking any real action like a suspension or removal of their badge in most cases. Police departments seem to be paying more money defending themselves in court than on proper training of their police officers. Each precinct has their own, yet similar set of rules and regulations when it comes to use of force, as we learned from out two officer speakers. According to our San Diego precincts, the only time they are to use deadly force is when they, or civilians are in a life threatening situations. There are many examples of excessive force that will examine what’s being done to address the issue.
We read or hear stories about Amidou Diallo, an unarmed man, being shot forty-one times by the NYPD. We find it incomprehensible that Abner Louima, an immigrant from Haiti, was assaulted by police officers outside a Haitian nightclub in Brooklyn; handcuffed and thrown into a squad car, then beaten with radios and fists. At the police station, the officers pulled Louisa’s pants down, took him into the bathroom, and sodomized the cuffed man with the wooden handle of a toilet plunger. These horrors continue. No human being should suffer as these people did, in a civilized nation of laws and government.