Rodney G. Martin Luther King Affects The Shortcomings Of Professional Policing

For many law-enforcement experts, the beating of Rodney G. King by a group of Los Angeles police officers in March 1991 exposed the shortcomings of professional policing. Any conduct that substantially deviated from the defined institutional mandate is deemed unreasonable (Sekhon, 2017). King, a 25 years-old black man, was beaten and kicked by four LAPD after a high-speed auto chase. He also was struck by a Taser electric gun. All the while, without the knowledge of anyone involved in the incident, a plumbing store manager named George Holliday was recording the scene from his apartment balcony with a video camera. When the two-minute tape was broadcast over the Cable News Network (CNN) two days later, King became an instant symbol of police