HANDS UP DON'T SHOOT!
Since police officers have been put in place, they have been expected to protect and serve citizens. And yet, in this day and age, people have come to fear police officers as time goes on. There were 987 fatal shooting victims by police in 2017 and only four months into 2018, there have been 329 victims shot and killed by police making 28 more fatal shootings this year than around the same time last year. Despite over 1,300 victims of police brutality, only around 20% of police are actually convicted of the crime. Why is this? When a police officer uses lethal force on a citizen, they should not be treated different than a regular criminal because it is an injustice to the uniform they represent and to citizens across …show more content…
In the IACP Oath of honor, the first sentence states, "On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust." This oath clearly shows from the beginning, police officers promise to never betray the public trust. When policemen end up in a case of police brutality, they have broken this oath. Although it is also a responsibility to keep their communities safe from threat, it is not a police officer's responsibility to shoot anything that moves. Detective Richard Chipping says, "We don't train specifically to kill someone, we train to stop whatever their actions are." In spite of what Chipping says, it seems as though officers move straight to violence even before they register what the target is actually …show more content…
In a statement regarding Stephon Clark's case, the Sacramento police claimed, "We acknowledge the importance of this case to all in our community." (Frances & Del.), if the department really "acknowledged" the importance of the situation, why would they disagree to comment when the autopsy report was released? A woman from Ferguson said it best, "The system failed us again." (Davey & Bosman). Michael Brown was yet another case which swept the nation. He was a teenage boy who was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a police officer. When it was announced Monday night the grand jury gave no criminal charges against Wilson, protesters lined the streets of Ferguson. Hundreds of people rioted outside the Ferguson Police Department, throwing bottles and rocks, smashing windows, buildings were burned and so were cops, looting was reported by businesses and gunshots could be heard. More protests and riots were started in St. Louis when an officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty of murdering Anthony Smith, claiming Smith was reaching for a gun. Many protests and riots have broken out across America in anger of these police brutality situations becoming more and more common. A project by Shirin Barghi portrays the heartbreaking last words of victims who died at the hands of lethal force by
Since police officers have been put in place, they have been expected to protect and serve citizens. And yet, in this day and age, people have come to fear police officers as time goes on. There were 987 fatal shooting victims by police in 2017 and only four months into 2018, there have been 329 victims shot and killed by police making 28 more fatal shootings this year than around the same time last year. Despite over 1,300 victims of police brutality, only around 20% of police are actually convicted of the crime. Why is this? When a police officer uses lethal force on a citizen, they should not be treated different than a regular criminal because it is an injustice to the uniform they represent and to citizens across …show more content…
In the IACP Oath of honor, the first sentence states, "On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust." This oath clearly shows from the beginning, police officers promise to never betray the public trust. When policemen end up in a case of police brutality, they have broken this oath. Although it is also a responsibility to keep their communities safe from threat, it is not a police officer's responsibility to shoot anything that moves. Detective Richard Chipping says, "We don't train specifically to kill someone, we train to stop whatever their actions are." In spite of what Chipping says, it seems as though officers move straight to violence even before they register what the target is actually …show more content…
In a statement regarding Stephon Clark's case, the Sacramento police claimed, "We acknowledge the importance of this case to all in our community." (Frances & Del.), if the department really "acknowledged" the importance of the situation, why would they disagree to comment when the autopsy report was released? A woman from Ferguson said it best, "The system failed us again." (Davey & Bosman). Michael Brown was yet another case which swept the nation. He was a teenage boy who was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a police officer. When it was announced Monday night the grand jury gave no criminal charges against Wilson, protesters lined the streets of Ferguson. Hundreds of people rioted outside the Ferguson Police Department, throwing bottles and rocks, smashing windows, buildings were burned and so were cops, looting was reported by businesses and gunshots could be heard. More protests and riots were started in St. Louis when an officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty of murdering Anthony Smith, claiming Smith was reaching for a gun. Many protests and riots have broken out across America in anger of these police brutality situations becoming more and more common. A project by Shirin Barghi portrays the heartbreaking last words of victims who died at the hands of lethal force by