Benjamin Spock, a best selling American pediatrician, once said, “Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.” Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police when dealing with a civilian. People in power abusing their ability to take advantage of citizens has always been a problem. In U.S. history, this abuse of power has mainly been directed towards minorities, and to this day still exists. In an effort to solve this issue, we must examine its complications and the best way to approach them. First of all, it is important to figure out why police officers abuse their power in the first place. The reasons
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“Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population” (http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/). It is hard to determine exactly the reason for this disparity, due to the fact that most likely the majority of our criminal justice members are not racist, although it does sometimes seem that way. One theory as to the disproportionate amount of minorities that are incarcerated are the laws themselves. A trend that has been noticed along a large number of cities is the criminalization of various activities. What this results in is more opportunity for a cop to stop a citizen and the chances of an incident occurring increase. Solutions for this occurrence tend to correlate to the establishment of regulations and documentations for police officers. For instance an authority will be required to have more of a reason to inspect someone despite their physical identity, and to document and record any incidents or people they decide to engage themselves …show more content…
Another aspect of policing is the training that they undergo. A major trend that can be noticed is the lack of attention to the community. Police officers are meant to make us feel safe, but unfortunately they give off the feeling of the complete opposite. With the right guidance and instructions helped set by the academy and the community itself, we will be able to see a change in policing due to the expression of better values. The behavior and attitude of police officers begin at the academy, and therefore should be taught values concerning the safety of society. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are those who believe as they call, excessive force, is necessary under certain circumstances. As Eric Holder said, “Communities of color don 't understand what it means to be a police officer, the fear that police officers have in just being on the streets.”. What these people don 't realize is the disportionate amount of “excessive force” against minorities. They fail to recognize this saddening fact, which is probably a reason as to why we haven 't solved this issue for
“Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population” (http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/). It is hard to determine exactly the reason for this disparity, due to the fact that most likely the majority of our criminal justice members are not racist, although it does sometimes seem that way. One theory as to the disproportionate amount of minorities that are incarcerated are the laws themselves. A trend that has been noticed along a large number of cities is the criminalization of various activities. What this results in is more opportunity for a cop to stop a citizen and the chances of an incident occurring increase. Solutions for this occurrence tend to correlate to the establishment of regulations and documentations for police officers. For instance an authority will be required to have more of a reason to inspect someone despite their physical identity, and to document and record any incidents or people they decide to engage themselves …show more content…
Another aspect of policing is the training that they undergo. A major trend that can be noticed is the lack of attention to the community. Police officers are meant to make us feel safe, but unfortunately they give off the feeling of the complete opposite. With the right guidance and instructions helped set by the academy and the community itself, we will be able to see a change in policing due to the expression of better values. The behavior and attitude of police officers begin at the academy, and therefore should be taught values concerning the safety of society. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are those who believe as they call, excessive force, is necessary under certain circumstances. As Eric Holder said, “Communities of color don 't understand what it means to be a police officer, the fear that police officers have in just being on the streets.”. What these people don 't realize is the disportionate amount of “excessive force” against minorities. They fail to recognize this saddening fact, which is probably a reason as to why we haven 't solved this issue for