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Jorge Villada Ocampo

Instructor Roxanna Dewey

English 101, Fall/TuTh

10/30/2018

Police Brutality

“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against”

(Malcolm X). Police officers and the citizens of this country are in turmoil because the killings

of unarmed minorities and the abuse of the badge of police officers. “ Police brutality is the use

of excessive force by law enforcement personnel in their encounters with civilians” (Police

Brutality 1). Some police officers abuse the power that they believe they have and think they are

above the law. This type of mentality is what causes police misconduct, which then turns into the

abusive police officers that we all see in the news. When the public becomes aware of the of the

actions that the police force has committed it cause distrusts with the public and the police.

Misconduct by the police has always occurred. However, in today's society the public has

become more informed and it has become a bigger more serious problem. The results of this are

more officers being caught on camera abusing their power, some officers not being held

accountable for their actions, and officers being not trained well.

Police Misconduct has always been a problem in our country. Blacks and minorities have

always been a target of racial discrimination by the police. To this day, it is a fact that has not

changed. In the past due the Jim crow laws, black people had a harder time getting support from

the people in power. They were segregated and treated as outcasts. During the Civil Rights

movement, they would peacefully protest and still would be attacked with police dogs and fire

hoses to disperse them. In today's society these type of actions would not be allowed. Minorities

now have more support and more opportunities to try and change things. With how fast news
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gets around, more people can be aware of the movements and protests and go out and support.

We can get the change that we demand much easier in present time.

Technology is everywhere in today’s society You cannot go anywhere without the

accessibility of the internet or a phone. Clearly when people see police officers abusing their

power, they will pull out their phones to record the misconduct. This should be enough evidence

to judge the officer and try to verify if his actions were necessary or if they were wrong.

However, the video isn’t enough in most cases, officers rarely get punished when they are

caught. Police officers should always be held accountable when use lethal force in the wrong

type of situations especially the victims who are racially profiled. “The blue-ribbon Christopher

Commission created in the wake of the incident found that “a significant number” of officers

repetitively used excessive force against suspects” (Kenneth 13). These officers repeated

multiple counts of misconduct and still continued to do so until they created a law that helped

reduce the number of incidents and yet many of the officers did not receive any type of

punishment.

Officer accountability should be a priority in our country. This is to make sure that riots

and distrust in the community with the officers doesn’t happen. When we see officers clearly

violating the laws and leaving scotch free, it angers people because they want to see justice.

That’s where the separation begins with society and the police force. People begin protesting and

demanding change but then the change doesn’t happen and the same thing keeps happening.

That’s when people get tired and change from peacefully protesting to riots and destruction in

the communities. In 1991, a video of Rodney King getting beat by police officers was playing in

the news. When the south Los Angeles saw this video, they began rioting and were frustrated by

the events. “Frustrated by the lack of accountability, members of South Los Angeles's African

American community began rioting on April 29, 1992, looting local businesses and violently
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removing light-skinned drivers from their vehicles” (Police Brutality , 8). These are the type of

events that can be the result of officers being caught abusing their power and not being held

accountable in court.

Additionally, police officers should be trained more properly to have better gun

discipline. When officers are trained they are supposed to be trained to protect the peace in the

public and uphold the laws that are in place. However, in most cases officers don’t even follow

those rules. They abuse their power and do as they please. They say that they felt threatened and

had to use lethal force but in some cases the suspects that they are apprehending are unarmed or

in handcuffs. So how can the officer’s life feel threatened when they suspect can not doing any

life threatening damage. They must be better trained to control a situation and not go to lethal

force as a their first solution to solve their problem.

These ideas are the solutions that some people want to see happen to create a better more

just society. With the increase of the use of technology people can always have proof when they

see a police officer abusing their power simply by recording them. That is video evidence that

can be used in a court of justice. Also, police officers must always be held accountable when

they are caught abusing their power either by being suspended, or even fired from their job.

When their job is to protect and serve, and they decide to not follow their rules and law they

shouldn’t be working as an officer at all. Finally some of the training ways must be changed for

officers. They must not use lethal force as their only solution when a problem with a suspect

occurs.

Police misconduct has always occurred in our country. In the past it seemed to go under

the radar since minorities were fighting for their civils rights. Some officers believed that they

were above the law and that they can do as they please. In today’s society that is not allowed at

all. People are more and more aware of their rights because the information is so accessible.
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Distrust with the public and the police force is a problem because the police are supposed to

protect the peace but when we see officers abuse the power that they have, it makes us very wary

of them. To try and create a more just society, with how accessible technology is nowadays,

officers must be held accountable when they are caught and they should be trained better to not

use lethal force.

Works Cited

Jost, Kenneth. "Police Misconduct." CQ Researcher, 6 Apr. 2012, pp. 301-24,

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library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2012040600.

"Police Brutality." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EMNQRZ438811059/OVIC?u=mcc_glendale&sid=

OVIC&xid=fbf54c5b. Accessed 18 Oct. 2018.

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