Cheyenne Cattrano

Mrs. Hensel
English IV Honors
22 April 2015
Police Brutality and Corruption in Other Countries
In recent months, police brutality has been a recent discussion topic in the United Nations
and across the world. From 2000-2013, the United States has reached a number of 5,000, who
have been killed by law enforcement (Increasing Police Brutality). Even though the United
States have had some major stories lately, other countries have had a constant or worse issue
with police brutality. Brazils police killed more than 11,000 civilians between 2008 and 2013,
which averages to 6 people a day. (US Police Brutality). Corrupt government can also worsen
brutality by police in countries. Police brutality and corruption rates cannot be improved, until
the government of that country improves oneself and enforces statutes to improve the safety of
their citizens.
Papua New Guinea has recently been in the news for many issues; such as corruption,
human rights, and police brutality. Corruption is considered a chronic problem. Papua New
Guinea is a constitutional monarchy, with significant oil, gas, and gold reserves; these reserves
improve the countrys economic growth. With Papua New Guineas economic growth, living
conditions remain to be an issue. In September of 2014, task force chairman Sam Koim
estimated that 40 percent of the national budget is misappropriated each year; about two
months later, the government introduced a bill to create an independent anti-corruption
commission (World Report 2014).

Society in Papua New Guinea cannot surpass current conditions, if the government is not
making a better approach towards the problems. Law enforcement cannot surpass current
conditions, as well, with the governments corruption. In a report by the Human Rights Watch,
the report stated police beat and slashed the ankles of 74 men following a street brawl in Port
Moresby (World Report 2014). The beating took place after the first group of officers disbanded
the fight and the 74 men were returning home. The second group of officers ordered the men to
lie on the ground and started beating the men. The report went on to say that two police officers
were charged with unlawful wounding and five others were being investigated. A judge called for
the prosecution of other police implicated in the incident. The report did not mention of the
officers receiving imprisonment. In another report by the Human Rights Watch, Papua New
Guinea signed an agreement with Australia to accept, process and resettle asylum seekers
transferred from Australian territory to Manus Island, in July of 2014. That same month,
members of the paramilitary police units of Papua New Guinea beat a local man to death on the
island; five of those members were charged with murder. Statements have been giving about the
unfortunate incidents, but no officer has been imprisoned for the actions.
Brazil is known to have major corruption inside law enforcement. Brazils police forces
tend to be poorly paid, equipped, and trained, which is why most officers go to alternatives to
raise money, often giving into corruption (Corrupt Police). Most facilities in Brazil are old and
lack computer services. Lacking computer services make communicating with different police
departments difficult, but also makes it difficult to keep up with records and crimes in other areas
of Brazil; because records are hard to keep ahold of, officers find it easier to fall into the
corruption ways believing that one will not get caught.

Brazilian government has not invested money into bettering the law enforcement
corruption, mainly for the reason of the amount of money missing from the government. In a
2010 study by the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo, the average annual cost of corruption
in Brazil is between 1.38% to 2.3% of the countrys total GDP; making between $32 billion to
$53.1 billion to be considered corruption money (The Cost of Corruption).
German police forces often receive complaints on the brutality of police. This past year,
Germany had around 2,000 complaints of brutality (Preventing Police Brutality). Even though
Germany has a low rate for civilians killed by police, beating rates are high. Amnesty
Internationals Alexander Bosch, has been documenting cases of unlawful police behavior for
years. Bosch stated that 90% of police officers are not convicted and found officers would not
investigate cases against fellow officers, as methodically, as one should for a case against a
civilian (Preventing Police Brutality). Brutality rates cannot decrease, if fellow officers do not
prosecute against unlawfulness.
Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and Germany each have issues with corruption and police
brutality in different ways, but with the different characteristics, government seems to be the
main component to these issues. The United Nations have been sending human rights activists to
countries like, Brazil and Papua New Guinea. Brazil has seen some improvements inside
government and Papua New Guinea has been seeing more prosecutions against the countrys
police force.

Works Citied
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"The Cost Of Corruption In Brazil Could Be Up To $53 Billion Just This Year Alone." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
"Increasing Police Brutality: Americans Killed by Cops Now Outnumber Americans Killed in Iraq
War." Global Research. N.p., 14 Dec. 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.
Oatman, Maddie. "US Police Brutality Is Bad. This Giant Western Country's Is Way Worse." Mother
Jones. Mother Jones, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
"Papua New Guinea: Address Police Brutality." Papua New Guinea: Address Police Brutality. Human
Rights Watch, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
"Police Use of Force." National Institute of Justice. National Institute of Justice, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 08
Apr. 2015.
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n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
World Report 2014: Papua New Guinea. World Report 2014: Papua New Guinea. Human Rights
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