Mataia Blackwell
Mr. Berkoben
English IV
30 November 2015
Police Brutality in Oklahoma
Over the years America has become afraid of the very people who are said to protect us. This is a result of officers abusing their power of authority and using unnecessary violence against an individual, resulting in psychical harm fatality. Oklahoma is the fifth state with the highest reported misconduct per 100,000 officers (“Abused”). Even if a person has committed a crime or is resisting arrest, only a certain amount of force should be used to obtain them, there needs to be a limit. While perhaps an individual is breaking the law, that isn’t always the case, which only adds to the undeniable truth that police brutality is a thing. No matter the circumstances, police brutality needs to be stopped because it only ends in the harming of an individual, and sometimes fatality and no one should be afraid of their own law and safety enforcers. On February 4th, 2014 in Moore, Oklahoma an unarmed man named Luis Rodriguez was attacked and killed over an argument between the man’s daughter and wife. The incident started when the Rodriguez family went to the theatre and the mother and daughter ended up in an argument that resulted in the mother slapping the daughter, which brought the police. There was said to be five men holding Rodriguez down and using pepper spray. There was cellphone footage of the incident so three officers were suspended with pay (Brumfield, Whitley). Suspension with pay is not an acceptable punishment for ending the life of an innocent individual. A paid suspension isn’t much different than a paid vacation. Moore Police Chief Jerry Stillings calls the actions of his officers "reasonable” (Brumfield, Whitley). Even with cellphone footage, the issue is still being taken lightly. It’s easy for a person to brush off an incident like this when it does not pertain to them and especially when the police force is put on such a high pedestal. This incident did happen to spark some ideas of reform, like the use of body cameras on officers. The government does not like to convict their own law enforcement for crimes. Convicting a police officer, someone who is supposed to follow and enforce the law, makes the government look bad. As of 2009 only 33 percent of officers were convicted that received prison time. About 64% of officers spent time in prison but the average time spent in prison was fourteen months ("Abused"). That still seems to be a light punishment for police brutality. While they may get in trouble sometimes, it isn 't that much, which only gives them to idea that it 's not that bad to do. "If police brutality were just a matter of a few bad apples, it would be a lot easier to solve, but it isn 't" (Starr). Police officers are still held in such high regard by the public so it isn 't easy to stop them. Firing a police officer with a record of abuse is often very difficult because …show more content…
The requirements to become an officer is to have at least a high school diploma, complete undergraduate education, attend a police academy and pass some exams. This seems to be a pretty easy and achievable process. There needs to be an aim for first-rate police academy curriculum. For example, eight-hundred hours or more of a mixture of classroom and supervised field training, community sensitivity training and training in violence reduction techniques (“Fighting Police”). The government can’t really be recruiting anyone who passes these tests. A police officer deals with people. There needs to be some training in dealing with individuals. A lot of the times a police officer 's lack of social skills leads to thrashing out verbally and physically. If there is training in this, it will help have less problems.
The main ways to stop police brutality is to film everything when an officer interacts with anyone, take down their badge number and report everything you see. The more video evidence the better. In order to stop police brutality is to have evidence and to never stop speaking out about it. The government can 't deny something for too long that everyone is livid about. No one should have to fear for their life with the police. The police need to treat people like human
Police Brutality in Oklahoma
Over the years America has become afraid of the very people who are said to protect us. This is a result of officers abusing their power of authority and using unnecessary violence against an individual, resulting in psychical harm fatality. Oklahoma is the fifth state with the highest reported misconduct per 100,000 officers (“Abused”). Even if a person has committed a crime or is resisting arrest, only a certain amount of force should be used to obtain them, there needs to be a limit. While perhaps an individual is breaking the law, that isn’t always the case, which only adds to the undeniable truth that police brutality is a thing. No matter the circumstances, police brutality needs to be stopped because it only ends in the harming of an individual, and sometimes fatality and no one should be afraid of their own law and safety enforcers. On February 4th, 2014 in Moore, Oklahoma an unarmed man named Luis Rodriguez was attacked and killed over an argument between the man’s daughter and wife. The incident started when the Rodriguez family went to the theatre and the mother and daughter ended up in an argument that resulted in the mother slapping the daughter, which brought the police. There was said to be five men holding Rodriguez down and using pepper spray. There was cellphone footage of the incident so three officers were suspended with pay (Brumfield, Whitley). Suspension with pay is not an acceptable punishment for ending the life of an innocent individual. A paid suspension isn’t much different than a paid vacation. Moore Police Chief Jerry Stillings calls the actions of his officers "reasonable” (Brumfield, Whitley). Even with cellphone footage, the issue is still being taken lightly. It’s easy for a person to brush off an incident like this when it does not pertain to them and especially when the police force is put on such a high pedestal. This incident did happen to spark some ideas of reform, like the use of body cameras on officers. The government does not like to convict their own law enforcement for crimes. Convicting a police officer, someone who is supposed to follow and enforce the law, makes the government look bad. As of 2009 only 33 percent of officers were convicted that received prison time. About 64% of officers spent time in prison but the average time spent in prison was fourteen months ("Abused"). That still seems to be a light punishment for police brutality. While they may get in trouble sometimes, it isn 't that much, which only gives them to idea that it 's not that bad to do. "If police brutality were just a matter of a few bad apples, it would be a lot easier to solve, but it isn 't" (Starr). Police officers are still held in such high regard by the public so it isn 't easy to stop them. Firing a police officer with a record of abuse is often very difficult because …show more content…
The requirements to become an officer is to have at least a high school diploma, complete undergraduate education, attend a police academy and pass some exams. This seems to be a pretty easy and achievable process. There needs to be an aim for first-rate police academy curriculum. For example, eight-hundred hours or more of a mixture of classroom and supervised field training, community sensitivity training and training in violence reduction techniques (“Fighting Police”). The government can’t really be recruiting anyone who passes these tests. A police officer deals with people. There needs to be some training in dealing with individuals. A lot of the times a police officer 's lack of social skills leads to thrashing out verbally and physically. If there is training in this, it will help have less problems.
The main ways to stop police brutality is to film everything when an officer interacts with anyone, take down their badge number and report everything you see. The more video evidence the better. In order to stop police brutality is to have evidence and to never stop speaking out about it. The government can 't deny something for too long that everyone is livid about. No one should have to fear for their life with the police. The police need to treat people like human