The Rise Of Police Brutality

From the shooting of Edmund Powell on June 1991 to the fatal choke hold that killed Eric Garner on July 17, 2014, police brutality is not an unfamiliar topic to American citizens. It is one of the most contradicting human rights violations in the United States and has been around for decades. The immoderate use of violence in law enforcement by police officers is overwhelming, along with the number of “alleged” crimes by officers swept under the rug. New York City police officer Dennis Fitzgerald claims “We’re not out there to antagonize or oppress, we’re out there to maintain the peace,” (Cothran pg.14) but does the evidence of injustice acts within the police force say otherwise? The United States Force has gone corrupt due to low requirements and biased recruitment, racial profiling practices, and minimal consequences in crime. With the amount of recorded crime rates among police officers to the unjustly acts …show more content…
In the 2003-2009 survey of arrest-related deaths by the U.S. Department of Justice, statistics show that 60.9% out of 4,013 reported deaths were made by law enforcement (Andrea M. Burch p.1). While this may be high in homicide rates, it also shows the race and gender of these deaths. Based on the data as of 2009, 95.4% of the arrests/deaths are of males, and in race, 31.8% are Black, 19.7% are Hispanic, 42.1% are White, and 6.4% of other. This may be surprising to see the majority of deaths are not by minorities, but compared to the U.S. population, it is very high. The United States Census Bureau data shows that the U.S. Population of 2010 in race is made up of 13.2% being Black, 17.1% being Hispanic, 62.2% being White, and 7.1% being other. With the arrests of both African-Americans and Hispanics alike being high than their actual population, it shows these races are more targeted by police officers rather than the white