Another serious form of misconduct, also one of the most controversial, is racial profiling. There are endless examples of racial profiling by police, the most popular being that of Rodney King, a black man who was brutally beaten on tape by several police officers. It has been found through research and surveys that minorities hold a much more negative view towards police and that police hold a negative view towards minorities. It has recently been debated that police use race as a basis for stopping, questioning, and searching citizens. However, the public might believe that racial profiling is worse than it actually is due to the way the media portrays it. A study was conducted to determine the public’s perception of an event that was initially
…show more content…
The driver repeated his identity several times until the officer pulled out his gun and pointed it in the driver’s face. African American officials were infuriated with the incident and the media continued to cover the story for an additional two months after the incident. The test subjects went over the stories in this time period, both the police reports and the media articles, and were then asked to express their thoughts of police racial profiling. African Americans and other non-Caucasians believed racial profiling to be more widespread than that of Caucasians; however, after more information on the event was made available, beliefs about profiling decreased in all ethnic groups (Graziano, Martin, & Schuck, 2010). Another study was conducted in order to determine the public’s perception of police misconduct. This study naturally showed that the public’s perception of police misconduct greatly differed from the perception of the police officers. It also showed that civilians that had a negative police experiences whether it be themselves or their family and friends negatively affected personal attitudes toward the …show more content…
Rodney King can again be used as an example because along with being racial profiling, it was a clear cut case of police brutality. Using too much force has always been an issue in subduing a suspect and it always will be. Trying to understand why this excessive force is used becomes the hard part. Excessive force can be placed into two different categories: too much force; using physical force when none is justified or using more force than necessary when some force is needed; and preventable force, using the appropriate amount of force when the situation could have been avoided from using force all together. Officers who use excessive force can generally be placed into one of four categories. The first type of officer is one who uses excessive force because they believe it to be appropriate to use physical force against citizens as they see fit. This type of officer can be labeled as a “brutal cop.” The second type of officer is one who uses excessive force intentionally but not because they want to, but because they get caught up in the heat of the moment and used a poor split second decision. The third type of officer is one who uses excessive force improperly because they do not have a clear understanding of the rules behind proper use of force. The fourth and final type of officer is one who understands the rules to apply proper force, but still manages to use it excessively (Klinger,
The driver repeated his identity several times until the officer pulled out his gun and pointed it in the driver’s face. African American officials were infuriated with the incident and the media continued to cover the story for an additional two months after the incident. The test subjects went over the stories in this time period, both the police reports and the media articles, and were then asked to express their thoughts of police racial profiling. African Americans and other non-Caucasians believed racial profiling to be more widespread than that of Caucasians; however, after more information on the event was made available, beliefs about profiling decreased in all ethnic groups (Graziano, Martin, & Schuck, 2010). Another study was conducted in order to determine the public’s perception of police misconduct. This study naturally showed that the public’s perception of police misconduct greatly differed from the perception of the police officers. It also showed that civilians that had a negative police experiences whether it be themselves or their family and friends negatively affected personal attitudes toward the …show more content…
Rodney King can again be used as an example because along with being racial profiling, it was a clear cut case of police brutality. Using too much force has always been an issue in subduing a suspect and it always will be. Trying to understand why this excessive force is used becomes the hard part. Excessive force can be placed into two different categories: too much force; using physical force when none is justified or using more force than necessary when some force is needed; and preventable force, using the appropriate amount of force when the situation could have been avoided from using force all together. Officers who use excessive force can generally be placed into one of four categories. The first type of officer is one who uses excessive force because they believe it to be appropriate to use physical force against citizens as they see fit. This type of officer can be labeled as a “brutal cop.” The second type of officer is one who uses excessive force intentionally but not because they want to, but because they get caught up in the heat of the moment and used a poor split second decision. The third type of officer is one who uses excessive force improperly because they do not have a clear understanding of the rules behind proper use of force. The fourth and final type of officer is one who understands the rules to apply proper force, but still manages to use it excessively (Klinger,