The idea police was first established by Sir Robert Peel in London in 1829. The idea behind the police system established by Sir Robert Peel was to safeguard the public against criminals, disturbance, and fire. The idea required all men to serve on the night watch. The watchmen had three major duties (Dempsey & Forst, 2011, pg. 5). • Patrolling the streets from dusk until dawn to make sure all locals were indoors and the town was quiet. Making sure that strangers were not roaming the streets. • Performing duties like lightning street lamps, cleaning garbage from the streets, putting fires out. • Enforcing criminal law. The dictionary definition of brutality is "savage physical violence; great cruelty. Brutality and police should not be in the same sentence because they contradict each other. The job of police officer is to provide protection to the general public. Police officers are employed by state or local police department to conduct several duties. They patrol neighborhood, direct traffic, patrol schools, investigate crimes, and make sure that the general public is not breaking the state or federal laws. One of the most famous police brutality case in the history of the united State is the case of Rodney King. King was stopped by Los Angeles Police Department for committing traffic violation. During the arrest, King was struck over fifty times after resisting arrest. A witness recorded the arrest and was later broadcast on local station and national news. Grand jury later indicted officers involved in the arrest for use of excessive force and assault with a deadly weapon. However, a year the incident, charges were dropped against those officers causing an uproar in the city and around the country. Residents took to the streets to protest the decision. The protest turned violent and many businesses were burned down (nytimes.com). Police brutality toward minorities dates back all the way to the slavery Era where African-Americans were segregated from white. …show more content…
They were not allowed to attend the same schools, eat in the same restaurants, or use the same bathrooms as white. States and Federal Laws all favored white American. Whenever minorities protested against those laws, police officers were called to attach, beat, arrest, and locked them in jails (Dempsey & Forst, 2011, pg. 11).
There have been many controversies in the news regarding police brutality toward minorities in the news and the way police officers treat minorities suspects compare to the treatment of white suspects. Many people complain that police officers are more aggressive when confronting minority suspect than when confronting white suspects.
Police officers are hired to serve and protect the public not to abuse the people they were hired to protect. However, the public also need to understand that they have to respect the law or face the consequences of disobedience. In many instances, police brutality occurs when citizens refuse to obey lawful orders given to them but the police. In return excessive force is used by police to arrest or subdue individuals. For example, the recent death of Eric Garner caused police officers. Camera phone shows Eric Garner who was weighted three hundred and fifty pounds. The police suspected Garner was selling single cigarettes an act …show more content…
One possible solution is enforcing community policing. Community policing is not a new concept and it has been around for a while. The idea behind community policing is to develop better relationship between communities and police departments. When community members and police officers develop better relationship it benefits everybody. The job of the police become easier and community members understand the goal of the police organization. The concept of community policing is properly applied can help reduce conflicts between citizens and police officers ( Miller, Hess, Orthman, 2011, pg.