Racial Profiling In The Police Department

Police departments have often been accused of racial profiling throughout the years. Many times the incidents ended in tragedies that will not be forgotten. This situation has brought up riots that were uncontrollable and everyone just sat back and watched. Although at times assertiveness might be necessary, the police department often uses too much force and are biased on their targeted suspects, because many incidents have already been reported and many ended in lives lost. Instead of feeling good and protected whenever we see a police officer, people feel scared and nervous even when they have done nothing wrong. Why does this seem to be the case? Police officers have given off the impression that they are better than everyone. Since, …show more content…
Looking less than the average social class leads them to asserting more force when unneeded. Dickey proclaims seventy-two percent of the gun owners accounted for are African-American or Hispanic and lived and died in the city of the lower class due to the gun violence. Someone in a poor neighborhood, walking around with a plasma television screen, is more than likely going to be stopped and questioned even though the officer has no reason to. If a person was to be in the exact same situation, but placed in a rich neighborhood, then they will not have as much suspicion because of their …show more content…
Once people find out what really happened, they start to have many questions but the department will refuse to answer them. The department will choose to completely avoid the topic, or they will come up with excuses. In a twelve year period, twenty-four shootings were reported, and in these the suspect was unarmed but the officer “thought” they saw a gun (Aveni). The officers can easily say they saw a gun and end up killing someone without getting in any trouble for it, a story will be on the news, but one that will make the officer look good and not bad. An “honest mistake” the department will stay, but the mistake is when people believe them. It is true that all of the thoughts stated have happened, but what is not proven is that all police department 's/officer go off of racial profiling. There are good officers out there, and they only want to serve and protect the community. Even while keeping everything in mind, people must realize that at times extra force must be used in situations. The extent of the force should be measured and should only go into the extremities if it is absolutely needed. The police department should only keep a topic low and quiet, if it involves personal information that would violate someone’s