American People In Law Enforcement

Law enforcement as we know it today was created to “protect and serve” us American people, but in recent news with the constant use of excessive force and lethal tactics this can be brought into question. With the constant acts committed by the police that we see almost every day and the rallies and protests we see, it can be said that we are in the second civil rights movement. Unjust murders such as Eric Garner, Samuel Dubose, Sandra Bland, and Jeremy McDole, with police getting paid leave. Also with the luckier ones who survived like the family in Texas who was harassed at their own pool party, Huey P. Newton an older but not as famous event, and Rodney King one of the first and major acts of police brutality. Many factors can be contributed …show more content…
Privilege can be defined as “an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct or a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived. (dictionary reference 1 )The upper class, white people, and police are examples of people who have privilege. The bigger and more troubling privileges officers hold is to be able to kill a person, not be convicted and if convicted most likely getting off, receiving paid administrative leave, and still keeping their jobs when they do something as abusing their power. Statics show that “Among the thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police since 2005, only 54 officers have been charged”(Washington post 1) Statics also show that “of the 54 police officer charged only 21 of them were acquitted, 11 of them were actually convicted, 19 were pending, and 3 are other.”(Washington post 1). Example of police getting off with unjust brutality is Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown because he “stole a cigarillo”, who did not face a single charge with his act and was left with paid administrative leave waiting to go back to the force. For this year statistics show that “For every 1,000 people killed by police, one officer is convicted of a crime.”(DailyKos 1) So if officers know that the chances of him/her/them getting convicted is 1 in 1,000 for the year and 54 in 54,000 in a five year span of actually getting charged, still have a chance of being acquitted and be left with paid administrative leave, what incentive do they have to not do what they want and do their job besides to just do the right thing? It 's like they and the American people think that because they are the law, they are above the law. Apparently holding a gun and badge gives you a license to