On January 4th, 2008, 26 year old Tarika Wilson was home with her one year old child. Police officers busted down the door and opened fire, immediately killing both of them. The officers were looking for Tarika’s boyfriend, Anthony Terry, who was under suspicion for dealing drugs. The killing of Tamika and her child affected her entire town of Lima, Ohio, and raised questions about police brutality reaching another level across America. Police brutality and excessive force have been hot topics for decades throughout history, and instances still occur today.
One of the most well known examples of potential excessive force from police officers is the Kent State Incident. In 1970, Nixon announced that there would be a draft of 150,000 more people …show more content…
MOVE was a black power group established in 1972 that lived together in a row home in West Philadelphia. The members believed in naturalism and were vegan, wore their hair in dreadlocks, and did not use technology. The group mostly kept to themselves and were non-violent, but due to other black power movements such a The Black Panthers, they were considered a threat by the Philadelphia Police Department. In 1977, Mayor Frank Rizzo ordered the Philadelphia Police Department to barricade the MOVE headquarters, nine of the members were sent to jail. Three officers charged in the videotaped beating of a member during this barricade were found not guilty. The bombing took place seven years later, on May 12, 1985. The rest of the city block was evacuated and told not to return for 24 hours. Once everyone else but the members of MOVE were away from the city block, water, tear gas, and ammunition were fired rapidly into the house. With approval from the mayor C-4 explosives were dropped on the roof. Among the thirteen people in the house at this time, six of them were children. Only two of them survived, a woman (Ramona Africa) and a child (Birdie Africa, who is now known as Michael Moses Ward). Both survivors were given 1.5 million dollars, but no officials or officers were prosecuted for their role in the bombing. Ramona Africa stated in an interview that she found it impossible that this was …show more content…
They are now deployed for drug searches more than they are for all other purposes combined. SWAT has had 80,000 raids in 2015 alone. They use heavy duty military equipment, such as explosives, and automatic weapons that have been supplied from the Pentagon since the 1990’s. SWAT positions usually include the roles of active shooters, helping in shooting spree scenarios, retrieving a barricaded suspect, hostage rescue situations, counter terrorism scenarios, protecting VIP’s, high-risk arrests and searches, and riot control. Since the declaration of the War on Drugs in in 1971, the SWAT Team has become most often used for drug busts that take place in the houses or apartments of seemingly average people. In a recent publication, the ACLU found that 62% of the SWAT raids examined were used to search for drugs, while only 7% were used for “for hostages, barricade, or active shooter scenarios.” and often lead to the deaths of those who have committed no crime, but were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aiyana Stanley Jones was a seven year old girl who lived in the same apartment building as a possible murder suspect. When a SWAT team raided the apartment building, they threw a grenade and fired one shot, which struck and killed Aiyana. Nineteen year old Tony Martinez was asleep on the couch when police raided his mobile home searching for his uncle. Martinez woke up
One of the most well known examples of potential excessive force from police officers is the Kent State Incident. In 1970, Nixon announced that there would be a draft of 150,000 more people …show more content…
MOVE was a black power group established in 1972 that lived together in a row home in West Philadelphia. The members believed in naturalism and were vegan, wore their hair in dreadlocks, and did not use technology. The group mostly kept to themselves and were non-violent, but due to other black power movements such a The Black Panthers, they were considered a threat by the Philadelphia Police Department. In 1977, Mayor Frank Rizzo ordered the Philadelphia Police Department to barricade the MOVE headquarters, nine of the members were sent to jail. Three officers charged in the videotaped beating of a member during this barricade were found not guilty. The bombing took place seven years later, on May 12, 1985. The rest of the city block was evacuated and told not to return for 24 hours. Once everyone else but the members of MOVE were away from the city block, water, tear gas, and ammunition were fired rapidly into the house. With approval from the mayor C-4 explosives were dropped on the roof. Among the thirteen people in the house at this time, six of them were children. Only two of them survived, a woman (Ramona Africa) and a child (Birdie Africa, who is now known as Michael Moses Ward). Both survivors were given 1.5 million dollars, but no officials or officers were prosecuted for their role in the bombing. Ramona Africa stated in an interview that she found it impossible that this was …show more content…
They are now deployed for drug searches more than they are for all other purposes combined. SWAT has had 80,000 raids in 2015 alone. They use heavy duty military equipment, such as explosives, and automatic weapons that have been supplied from the Pentagon since the 1990’s. SWAT positions usually include the roles of active shooters, helping in shooting spree scenarios, retrieving a barricaded suspect, hostage rescue situations, counter terrorism scenarios, protecting VIP’s, high-risk arrests and searches, and riot control. Since the declaration of the War on Drugs in in 1971, the SWAT Team has become most often used for drug busts that take place in the houses or apartments of seemingly average people. In a recent publication, the ACLU found that 62% of the SWAT raids examined were used to search for drugs, while only 7% were used for “for hostages, barricade, or active shooter scenarios.” and often lead to the deaths of those who have committed no crime, but were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aiyana Stanley Jones was a seven year old girl who lived in the same apartment building as a possible murder suspect. When a SWAT team raided the apartment building, they threw a grenade and fired one shot, which struck and killed Aiyana. Nineteen year old Tony Martinez was asleep on the couch when police raided his mobile home searching for his uncle. Martinez woke up