Police Brutality Essay

825 Words4 Pages
I firmly believe that police brutality is too often overlooked. And I also believe that I will one day expose the chinks in the armor of the New York Police Department. Police brutality is the act of a law officer abusing a citizen either through physical contact, verbal assaults, or threats. Police brutality is often referred to as an over excessive use of force. Some would believe that this abusive force may sometimes be necessary for criminals that seriously need to be apprehended and are not complying with orders, but that force should only extend to a certain degree, which is just enough to subdue that criminal. In many cases, police officers continue to use gratuitous force on someone, often causing far greater damage then intended, or allowed, for that matter. Brutality by law enforcement dates as far back as to the Roman Empire, and are still quite prevalent in the world today….much more often than you would think, or could even imagine. Police brutality in the United States rose greatly in the 1920’s with the establishment of prohibition, and a few decades later brutality rates increased again during the African American Civil Rights Movement. Many civilians, including myself, believe that these police officers think they can do these things because they believe they are merely ‘’above the law.’’ This summer I was a victim of such crimes brought about by the New York Police Department. Due to the simple fact that I was only 16 years old and out late, I was seriously hospitalized and incarcerated. As I walked down a dark and discreet block with a friend of mine, I heard a deep voice bark at me. “Stay where you are!” I stopped in an instant, only to immediately get roundhouse punched across the face. Then I was maliciously thrown face first into the hood of the police car, cuffed accordingly, and repeatedly beat in the face a number

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