DiNeisha Jones

Dagher
UWRT 1102
April 8, 2015

Exploring Police Brutality

What is police brutality? According to the law police brutality is excessive or
unnecessary force by law enforcement personnel when dealing with civilians. The most
obvious form of police brutality is physical form, but police brutality isnt limited to just
excessive physical force. It can also be making false arrest or statements against an
individual, racial profiling, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, corruption and misuse of Tasers.

What happened to serving and protecting society? I decided to explore this topic
because it has been a very controversial issue in the media throughout the last few
months. It struck me as strange that police officers whose job is to serve and protect
people in the community are actually the one inflicting harm on individuals in society. In
the recent months there has been the case of Michael Brown who was fatally shot by
Darren Wilson a Ferguson police officer. Eric Gardner, who was put in the chokehold
after being accused of selling loosies, single cigarettes. He was pronounced dead on
arrival at the hospital. My uncle drives a 2013 Lexus that has legal tented windows,
chrome black rims and his license plate tag says $ Rec $. He was pulled over on his
way home from McDonalds on April 4, 2015. He wasnt speeding, he hadnt been
drinking and he wasnt doing anything wrong. The officer stopped him, told him he made
an illegal turn, took his license and registration and ran his tags and seen that he had
previous charges. The officer went back to the car, asked my uncle to get out of the car

because he was under arrest. Wait, but why? The officer didnt read my uncle his right or
anything; he just proceeded to take my uncle into custody. After being down to the police
station for over three hours, the officer tells my uncle they are charging him with a DWI;
then he proceeds to give my uncle a Breathalyzer. Interesting enough the officer didnt
smell alcohol on my uncle. Prime example of racial profiling, my uncle is young, with a
beautiful car, and prior convictions that just happened to have gotten him a false charge.
Even before the situation with my uncle happened I had always been curious about why
people in authority such as law enforcement personnel abuse their power. It makes no
sense to me how corrupt the judicial system can be.

The significance of this issue is if we cannot rely on the police to protect us then
who can we rely on? Society as a whole is affected by police brutality, minorities
especially. It affects families of the victims and the officers. It gives police officers, law
enforcement and the judicial system a bad reputation. Minorities dont want to use the
judicial system because they feel like it has been designed to keep them at the bottom. If
you dont trust someone you wont rely on him or her to do anything for you. It is the
same way with the police. If people feel like they cannot trust the police to do their jobs
they wont call them when they need help, instead they handle things on their own which
brings more violence and chaos. This goes back to my question what happens when
society starts to retaliate? In December of 2014 two New York police officers where
killed in the line of duty by 28 year old Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley. These two killings
where said to be in retaliation to the Michael Brown and Eric Gardner killings. What
happens when this happens again and again and again? This is puzzling. After the deaths

of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner I was reading an article on Facebook about their
deaths and I happened to scroll through the comment as well and as I was scrolling I seen
a comment from a lady that said I am a police officer and have been for some time and
when it comes to situations like this it is my life or theirs and I will always choose my
life. This statement baffles me. For someone with the authority that this woman has to
say that lets me know that some of law enforcement personnel think that it is okay to kill
or beat on civilians if it comes to protecting themselves.

In an article written by Nittle she interviews many activist about the media
coverage that is done when police officers abuse their power. In the article activist talk
about how news reports dont extensively cover black and Latino forms of police
brutality as they do with whites. Brigitt Keller, executive director of the National Police
Accountability Project, says the media should cover police brutality among minorities
just as they do whites but not only cover the stories do follow-ups, talk to the victims
family, and people in the community. Keller says many times society is misled and
officers are rarely convicted on the accounts of police brutality. This goes back to my
question why is police brutality so common? It also takes me back to the question why
arent these officers being indicted. Very often in cases of police brutality those head of
the police department say that they have a thorough investigation going on but in reality
things are being swept under the rug. Activist have reported that white people have been
reported to sympathetic victims while those of color are portrayed as the aggressor who
are deserving of the excessive force from police officers. This article took me back to a
lot of questioned proposed in my forum. Such as, whom are these officers protecting?

Seems to me they are protecting each other by sweeping things under the rug and not
thoroughly investigating these crimes. Another question, does disability provoke police
violence? In Nittles article police accountability activists have closely monitored the
international media attention resulting from the death of a white man, Kelly Thomas, 37,
in July. On July 5, six Fullerton police officers repeatedly beat Thomas after he fled when
they tried to search his backpack during a burglary investigation. Thomas, a
schizophrenic vagrant, died from his injuries five days later and two officers are facing
criminal charges, including second-degree murder. I am still curious to know why is
society so quick to sweep police brutality under the rug like it doesnt affect us. Another
thing what has to happen for us as a society to speak up and speak out about an issue that
for many years has been a hot topic? Im not saying every police officer is bad but what I
am saying is who is going to protect us if police wont.
I have come to understand that this isnt an issue that can be fixed overnight. I
also understand that it is an issue that will continue to happen because some authority
figures feel that they can beat the system. I just hope that one day this madness stops. I
have a lot of unanswered questions like what does this mean for future police officers,
what does politics and politicians have to say about this issue, and why is corruption so
common in policing?