Police Death System

With life comes death, this is certain. And though it may be something that everyone has to face, we treat it like it is nothing. As humans, we take life for granted and even go as far as to take the life of others. But why is it that we celebrate life, but treat death as if it is some type of curse? Why is it that even those who are supposed to protect life, inevitably end up doing the opposite? As a part of our death system, the police have been put in place to prevent death. However, why is it that throughout history, the police have neglected their duty to prevent death?
In the book, Death, Society, and Human Experience, the death system is a structure built upon many different components. People, place, times, objects, and symbols together …show more content…
Organizations like Black Lives Matter have even begun to ask the government for improvements in the system so that police officers who do not take the necessary steps are held accountable for their actions. In the article, Training Police for Procedural Justice, the Chicago police were noted for their training program. With this training, officers of all unites are required to have a training day. “The training day was divided into five modules. Each featured lectures accompanied by PowerPoint slides, video clips, and group exercises” (Skogan, 2014, p.4). However, within this article it is also noted that the training is only for one day. In this one day the different units are trained to know the principles that “would ultimately benefit police officers by increasing citizen cooperation, encouraging the public to comply with police instructions, and maximizing officer safety” (Skogan, 2014, p.4). So how is it that the police are expected to protect the community and prevent death when there is only one day dedicated to learning about how to deal with the public? Especially in an area where “community trust of the police has been severely damaged by the release of a series of videos capturing police shootings” (Rhee,