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Sera Nilsson
Collin Hull
English 2010
February 6, 2015

Are Police Being Too Aggressive?

Recently in the news we have been hearing about all the bad cops shooting citizens in
cold blood, discriminating against certain people, and being overly aggressive. But what about
the police officers point of view? Are they really killing in cold blood, discriminating against
people, and being overly aggressive? Or are they just following protocol? Citizens have
recently cried out for respect and protection from police officers, rather than being afraid of
them. The police want the public to realize they are not the bad guys. Throughout this essay I
will elaborate the different points of view, the citizens point of view, and the polices point of
view towards whether or not they are being too brutal. To do this I will conduct research from
recently published books, articles and also interview retired police officer Dwight Jensen.

Bad Cops Take Over

First I will address the publics point of view and the bad cop situation. To do this I
conducted some research in several different books. The public believes that the police
departments are run by bad cops. The human rights watch, an international organization that
monitors abuse of human rights, states that
Police brutality is pervasive in the United States because police are granted the
power to use deadly force and face little accountability for their actions. Police

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abuse remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the
United States. The excessive use of force by police officers, including unjustified
shootings, severe beatings, fatal chockings, and rough treatment, persists because
overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for officers who commit
human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat offenses
(19).

Figure 1: A police officer being too aggressive? Comic from Police Brutality, Opposing
Viewpoints.
In the book Police Brutality: Opposing Viewpoints gives an example of aggressive
behavior on the polices part is given. June of 1995, in Oakland, we have the case Aaron
Williams.

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Williams died while in the custody of San Francisco police officers after officers
subdued him and sprayed him with pepper spray. Williams was a burglary
suspect and was bound with wrist and ankle cuffs. According to a witness
Williams was hit and kicked after he was restrained. Departmental rules were
apparently broke after the police officers repeatedly sprayed Williams with pepper
spray, Williams appeared to be high on drugs at the time, and officers did not
monitor his breathing as required (23).
One of the officers who was involved in this incident had reportedly been the subject of as many
as thirty-five complaints while working for the police department. However nothing was done to
these officers. In the Book The Everything guide to careers in law enforcement, by Paul D.
Bagley, he stated that people who are quick to anger or who display overaggressive behavior
towards others, signs of racial or ethnic prejudice, a predisposition for or against one gender, or
appear as though an ulterior motive exists behind their desire to gain a law enforcement position
are often eliminated from consideration to become a police officer. Press and citizens
questioned why this officer was even hired, if he had such anger problems. It is still questioned
today why some officers were ever hired if they had any of these qualities. In the book Police
Brutality: Opposing Viewpoints, the multiple authors refer to these police officers as problem
officers or bad cops which means officers who either have significant records of abuse or
significant records of complaints from the public, and who thus should receive special
monitoring, training, and counseling to counter the heightening risk that they will be involved in
some future incidents of misconduct or brutality.
Another recent controversy citizens feel that this statement can relate to was the fatal
shooting of a dog named Geist in the state of Utah. Sean Kendalls 2-year-old Weimeraner, Geist,

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was killed by an officer who entered the mans backyard during the search for a missing 3-yearold boy. The 110-pound pooch approached the unidentified officer in an aggressive manner and
the officer, shot the dog. The missing boy was found at his home asleep about 30 minutes later.
The officer was not charged for anything, even though the public felt he should have been
charged for something because he shot the dog for no reason. The public was outraged stating
that the officer should be charged, and should receive the same punishment that any other citizen
would have received if they did the same thing, but because he was a police officer he got away
with it.

Not All Police Officers Are Bad

Now it is time to get to the point of view in regards to good cops. To do this I will conduct more
research from several different novels, and discuss the dangers of being a police officer. Jennifer
Gibbs, James Ruiz, and Sarah Klapper all students at Pennsylvania State University, who all took
criminal justice courses and conducted research on the dangers of a police officers job, states in
their article Police officer is often the first job people think of when theyre considering careers
in criminal justice. But this job definitely isnt for everyone. And, if you think you know what
the job is all about from watching TV shows, prepare to be disappointed. Often times, police
work can be very dangerous, there is not one on the job that is the same, and there is no such
thing as a routine day at work. According to the textbook Criminal Justice by Gaines/Miller we
learn Police officers learn early in their career that nothing about their job is routine, police
officers face the threat of physical harm every day (73). Police officers have to deal with a lot
in just one days work, whether it is a drug bust, a murder scene, or just a traffic violation. With
police officers having to go through such dangerous work every day on the job, this raises the
question, Are police officers being too brutal or are they just following protocol, and doing

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whatever is needed to detain a suspect, in order to keep the citizens and themselves safe, away
from drugs, murder, theft and all other crimes that people are committing?

Figure 2: Criminals are the Police's main target.

Comic from Police Brutality, Opposing Viewpoints.
To begin answering the question: Are police officers being too brutal or are they just
following protocol, and doing whatever is needed to detail a suspect, in order to keep the citizens
and themselves safe, away from drugs, murder, theft and all other crimes that people are
committing? We take a look back at the book Police Brutality: Opposing viewpoints, the human
rights watch states
We recognize that police officers, like other people, will make mistakes when they
are under pressure to make split-second decisions regarding the use of force. Even the

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best recruiting, training, and command oversight will not result in flawless behavior on
the part of all officers. Furthermore, we recognize that policing in the United States is a
dangerous job. During 1996, 116 officers died while on duty nationwide (119).
Recently in the past few years police officers have died left and right. The numbers are
increasing dramatically. Now more than ever police officers are becoming confused on what the
public wants. Do they want to live in safe towns or dangerous towns? Police officers risk their
lives every day to make sure that drug attacks/traffickers, DUI offenders, gang members, and
everyone else who is breaking the law is off the streets and away from the public to keep them
safe. But lately all we hear about in the news is that police officers arent doing their jobs right
that they are treating the public brutal, arresting people they shouldnt, etc.
Jay James, a Dallas Texas police officer was being investigated after he shot at but missed
a suspect who was waving a gun stating Im out there sweating bullets, my hearts going 95
miles per hour and some guy is sitting in an air-conditioned office telling me what I shouldve
done. A police officer may do something in their own way that we dont understand. At time
its hard to understand what is going through a police officers mind. For example a recent
controversy is that police officers are just using guns to detain suspects, rather than using a
nightstick, taser, or other means of detainment. But unless youre in that police officers position
you dont know how you would handle a situation, also at times detaining a suspect can be
difficult, and you must use necessary force.
The public argues that all police officers are brutal, lying, bad, racist pigs. Lets address
this stereotype. Sunil Dutta states The vast majority of police officers do not engage in
corruption. They are honest, hardworking men and woman who preform difficult and dangerous
duties each day with efficiency and integrity, doing their best to protect the people (Dutta 41).

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To back this statement up I would like to raise the question, of all times that you ever came in
contact with a police officer, how many times did a police officer physically beat you? Be
obviously racist towards you? Or was just flat out rude for no reason, and blaming you for
something you didnt do? If hardly ever than this contradicts the following stereotype of all
police officers being brutal, lying, bad, racist pigs. Most of the time a police officer will come
off strong and rude until they realize that youre not going to harm them or anyone else, then
they will back off, and be pleasant. Michael Levin argues labeling every police minority
altercation as racist is unfair (64). He continues by saying police have more encounters with
black suspects because blacks commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes, and police
use deadly force only when they are threatened by a suspect (65). Statistics show in Police
Brutality: Opposing viewpoints As of June 30, 1995, close to 6.8% of black male adults in
America were in jail or prison compared to less than 1% of percent of white male adults.
Therefore police are not being racist, but simply using their good judgment.

The Police have feelings too

Finally, a former police officers point of view and what he had to go through when on the
job. I interviewed Dwight Jensen, A retired police officer of 20 years. Dwight began his career
in the year 1982. He went through the police academy, which he explained was just as stuff if not
more difficult than military academy. Dwight served in South Phoenix, which was the worst part
of town, it got the most action, and you can only imagine seeing the things he did. South
Phoenix was were Dwight was in the patrol division, and also was a training officer, he got the
joys of being able to teach the rookies how to handle the streets. Dwight loved being a police
officer, he always wanted to work more hours, and always volunteered to do so. After serving for
20 years and eventually retiring in 2002, he still is around to tell all about his adventures. When

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interviewing Dwight I asked him several different questions, here is his responses. What was the
best part about your job? Almost everything, I loved my job, I always wanted to be a police
officer, since I was 6 months old. He joked. What was the worst part of your job? The
management. Management wanted everything to be like in the books, everything to be perfect.
But that wasnt possible, every day was different and we had to handle things in different ways
than management wanted us to, there was only so much we could do. Did you believe that you
had rights while on the job? For the most part yes. There was a few times were I felt like I was
the suspect, when I had to go to court and testify. I felt like I was the one who did something
wrong. Do you believe police officers have rights now? No, not at all. Police officers are
always under the gun. They do one little thing wrong and the public complains, and they get in
trouble. For example: A police officer is speeding to a scene, and doesnt have his lights on. The
public would call in and say that the police officer was speeding for no reason, and that police
officer would get in trouble. The public doesnt like police officers, they always see them as the
bad guys. In reality they are the ones that keep our streets safe. The website FOP (Fraternal
Order of Police) Also agrees with Dwights statement by stating, police officers accused of
administrative wrongdoing, the gravity of the potential harm to officers created by the lack of
uniform safeguards, and the patently unfair disparity in rights afforded criminal suspects but not
police officers. Do you believe police are being too forceful? At times yes. But for the most
part, no. Police officers will take any necessary precautions to detain a suspect. Even if that
means shooting them. When I was serving, me and some other officers had come across a
suspect that was on PSP. It took 5 officers to finally get him down, not to mention one police
officer had shot the man near the heart. After we detained the suspect and put him in the patrol
car, the suspect broke through the back window and escaped once again. We chased him for a

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mile before he just collapsed from loss of blood. The public believe that a police officer
shouldnt go as far as shooting the suspect, because that is being to forceful. This is an example
of how police officers had gone as far as shooting the suspect in order to detain them, and that
suspect was still a threat. Whats your opinion on the recent controversy of Officers going too
far, and causing deaths? Officers know when not to cross the line. Unless the suspect is a
threat to police officers or the public then that is when its necessary to shoot. There are several
different ways to detain a suspect, first you must attempt to arrest just using your bare hands,
then by night stick, Taser, and finally by gun. If the suspect fights back that is when you take
necessary precautions in order to arrest them. One who serves the communities, follows
procedures, and what theyre doing. What is your opinion of a bad cop? Dwight actually had
an example of his opinion of a bad cop, from when he was serving as a police officer. There
were two officers that would take drugs from scene and keep it for their own person good rather
than turning it in as evidence. They would the drugs use it as bait by placing them other
suspects possession in order to arrest them for having drugs on possession. I immediately
reported the two officers, it was wrong for them to do that, and I wasnt going to put up with it.
And finally I asked him what he would like to see change in the case of police officers vs. the
public? Whats hard for me to understand is, for example, fire fighters get calls to go put out
fires, etc. and their seen as heroes, and then theres police officers who get calls to go help the
public, or to go check something out that someone finds suspicious, yet we are seen as the bad
guys. I would like that to change, I want the public to realize the dangers police officers go
through in order to keep the public safe.

Try To Understand

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Overall, when deciding if police officers are being too aggressive, it is a hard question to
answer. You must look at all the facts and try and put yourself in that police officers shoes and
try and think what you would have done. As far as police officers, all that can be said is when
youre trying to detain a citizen ask yourself am I being too aggressive?

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Work Cited
Bagley, Paul D. The Everything Guide to Careers in Law Enforcement: A Complete Handbook
to an Exciting and Rewarding Life of Service. Avon, Mass.: Adams Media, 2007. Print.
Briggs, Steven M., and Joan Friedman. Criminology for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2009.
Print.
Cothran, Helen. Police Brutality: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2001.
Print.
"FOP - Due Process Rights for Law Enforcement Officers." FOP - Due Process Rights for Law
Enforcement Officers. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.fop.net/legislative/issues/leobr/>.
Gibbs, Jennifer C., James Ruiz, and Sarah Anne Klapper-Lehman. "Police Officers Killed On
Duty: Replicating And Extending A Unique Look At Officer Deaths." International
Journal Of Police
Science & Management 16.4 (2014): 277-287. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Jensen, Dwight. "What Came Along With Being a Police Officer." Personal interview. Nov.
2014.
Miller, and Gaines. Criminal Justice. 6th ed. 2011. Print.

Image Citations
Figure 1: A police officer being too aggressive? Comic from Police Brutality, Opposing
Viewpoints. Britt. Reprinted by permission of Copley News Service. (22)
Figure 2: Criminals are the Police's main target. Comic from Police Brutality, Opposing
Viewpoints. Reprinted by permission of Steve Kelley. (69)