John Allen 5/5/08 English IV Per. 1 Are Police Brutal? Over the years, many U.S. citizens have proclaimed that police officers have been using their tactics in brutal ways. Others state that they are just doing their job. A lot of people have died because of police officers and the reasons are clear, it is due to criminal activities they have undertaken and then refuse arrest which later causes a spark to ignite between the authorities and the civilians.
Many experts will also tell you second hand smoking is more dangerous than first hand, because of the unfiltered smoke containing 50 more cancerous substances than filtered cigarette smoke. The individuals affected by second hand smoke are the most tragic. These people reap the consequences of a dangerous habit they made no decision to partake
One of those that were not happy were businesses that served or sold alcohol, because more Americans were beginning to drink at home rather than a bar or restaurant their businesses were being affected. There was also controversy about what kind of punishment to give offenders, as far as how much jail time for first, second and third time offenders. While some thought the jail time was excessive, to the survivors of those that had lost their lives in these accidents they did not seem like the punishment was harsh enough. Laws have also implemented that those driving under the influence now get their licenses revoked and pay high fines to have this
However, the least mentioned victim is the police officer. Policing is one of the most stressful occupations in the criminal justice field that is why it has one of the highest rates of substance abuse, divorce, and suicide. According to a suicide study made by Badge of Life, past years statistics include, in 2008/141, 2009/143 and 2012 /126 police officers committed suicide (Badge of Life, 2013), which comparing to previous years means a significant decrease in suicide rates. Killing out of anger, indictment, feeling alone, sexual accusations, loss of job, conviction of crime and false or true complaints are some of the reasons why police officers commit suicide (Paris, 2010). The stress that officers live in every day, could not be explain in word.
Police officers are stressed for many different reasons, low pay, frequent shift changes, not able to spend time with their families, problems with their supervisor, not able to get proper rest due to different shifts, and not being able to spend time with their families. From this police officers need training and education on how to deal with the many different challenges they face daily on the street and in their homes. With proper training, education and support police officers will be able to perform their job much better. Some officers handle stress different ways, when faced with what seem hard and stressful to one officer, may seem easy to another officer. Researchers use suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indexes of stress in a group of people.
The number of shooting victims has more than doubled. In crucial ways, the police department's ability to protect citizens has been compromised. Crime prevention units, composed of aggressive rookies, have been eliminated. (www.nytimes.com) It has been a tough couple of years for the police force. Many officers lost close friends during the layoffs.
The result of this was that many Vietnam veterans suffered psychological damage. “Studies have proven that compared with other men of that generation Vietnam veterans have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, heart disease, alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases, as well as a higher suicide rate” this impacted a lot on most of the veterans. Many of the veterans couldn’t sleep at night because they would have nightmares, as Len’s wife said “I would not touch Len when he is sleeping because he would quickly attack me”. One of the most common psychological impact is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) this affected most of the veterans as they couldn’t settle back into their old life. During this time “divorce rates were higher than average and 38% reported that their marriage failed within 6 months of returning home.
Segro, Anthony Mrs. Dwyer English 2C 1/15/07 Persuasive Essay Drinking and driving is a very serious and dangerous problem in the United States and all around the world. Many people every year are killed or injured because of drunk drivers, and most of the people that are killed are innocent bystanders. When a person’s blood alcohol content is over the legal limit he becomes much more impaired and are at a higher risk at hurting themselves or others. I am strongly against drinking and driving and I think that who ever is caught drinking and driving should be thrown into jail and fined a great sum of money. Drinking and driving has been a problem since alcohol has been around, it affects the body and mind greatly.
People who smoke are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than nonsmokers, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked. In the United States, approximately thirty eight thousand deaths each year are caused by exposure to second hand smoke. Among current smokers, chronic lung disease accounts for about seventy three percent of smoking-related conditions. Over time, smoking will cause serious health conditions such as: cancer of mouth and gums, tooth loss, and obviously, lung cancer and death. Smoking can result in the loss of medical readiness, which can and will affect your chances to possibly stay in the service.
Police Brutality Through out the years we have heard many cases of police brutality. There have been many civilian fatalities due to the inconsiderate amount of police brutality across the U.S, which is why I believe that the law should come down harder on police officers instead of letting them walk freely. There have been famous cases such as the Eric Garner case, cases such as these have happened frequently and last I think that the law should come down harder on police officers for abusing their power. On July 17, 2014 something tragic happened to a family man but not many of us know this because justice was never dealt in court. On this tragic day a father of two and happily married wife lost someone very dear and it was Eric Garner.