Police officers are a sign of protection, safety and justice. Their presence around a community is to help establish the feeling that the community is under watch all the time, helping some feel at ease, while making others feel tension and hatred. The past activities of a police force have left everlasting impressions in some people’s minds, making them feel that the police is out to get them, not help them, then pushing these feeling of animosity onto the next generation. This type of behavior is a continuous chain reactions, making the police out to be the bad guys, making the police work harder to prove that the past does not define the present or the future.
This animosity comes from the many generations of slavery and imprisonment of African American from Whites. Before slavery was abolished, White treated African Americans like their property, to do so with as they pleased, in any manner they wished, including beating and starving the men and using the woman as intimate partners against their will. After the slaves were set free, the bad blood between the two ethnic groups continued, from the segregation to the KKK, there was always a reason for African Americans to feel as though they were targeted. Police officer rarely helped African Americans, more or less pushing them back in the gutter where they felt they belong. Police did not help all citizens, only those who matched their own skin color, class, or needs. Due to this mis-justice, next generation African Americans believed that all cops were bad, not giving it a second thought, or a chance to be proven different.
Throughout time, there were changes to the way Whites looked at African Americans, learning they related more than they had thought. The civil rights mov...
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... in their native tongue or who knew the traditions and how to show the proper respect, which too many, was the failing issue they had with the previous police force.
Humanity is not perfect, it never will be, we will continue to make mistakes, forcing us to learn from them, grown from them and come up with a new way to live. The past is a guiding light for what we do not want to be, leading us to always look forward to the future and how we can help fight for it, defend it. Police officers have made their share of these mistakes, the mistakes of those before them haunt them today, leaving them with no choice but to fight and prove those they serve they are not like that, they are strong, better and more accepting of all individuals. The police force is a sign of safety, they can only keep communities safe if the communities returns the favor and keeps them safe.
Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant. Whites and blacks have co-existed for many hundreds of years, but as Tyson points ...
Assumptions from the beginning, presumed the Jim Crow laws went hand in hand with slavery. Slavery, though, contained an intimacy between the races that the Jim Crow South did not possess. Woodward used another historian’s quote to illustrate the familiarity of blacks and whites in the South during slavery, “In every city in Dixie,’ writes Wade, ‘blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence.” (14) Slavery brought about horrible consequences for blacks, but also showed a white tolerance towards blacks. Woodward explained the effect created from the proximity between white owners and slaves was, “an overlapping of freedom and bondage that menaced the institution of slavery and promoted a familiarity and association between black and white that challenged caste taboos.” (15) The lifestyle between slaves and white owners were familiar, because of the permissiveness of their relationship. His quote displayed how interlocked blacks...
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
These people feel that African Americans are mistreated by the police because of their race. In some cases this may be true; officers may knowingly or unknowingly handle a situation differently than they would have if the suspect were white. However, in most cases, it is the suspect who is in the wrong for making the officer consider using force in the first place. No matter the race of the suspect, if he immediately surrenders to the police, there is absolutely no reason why he would be
The negative views of everyday people often make work hard for officers, adding more stress to their careers. The general public regularly criticizes officers for using excessive force and brutality, especially when a police officer ends up killing a suspect or criminal. Oftentimes, especially when a white police officer shoots a citizen of a minority race, the general public is quick to find faults in the officer, blaming the officer for being racist. However, cold, hard statistics show that the majority of police officers are, in fact, white, and the neighborhoods in which these officers are placed in tend to be high-crime areas with many minority citizens living there (Miller “When Cops Kill”). In addition, people might say that a citizen who was shot was not armed; however, almost anything close to the shot individual could have been turned into a deadly weapon that he or she could have used to wound or kill the officer involved. Whenever officers are in this position, the natural reaction is to defend themselves. Everyday, police officers confront the most aggressive, immoral, and sick-minded individuals of society. Officers jeopardize their own lives every time they report for work. Officers witness things that no person should ever have to encounter. They see the most horrific and gruesome scenes that the general public turns away from and
We must take actions to reform police behavior! The problem is not the police nor the people of the United States, but the Federal Government system in which we all have to abide by. In order for a police reform to be implemented, the system has to be fixed and reconstructed. The people of the United States want to feel protected by the police, but on the other hand, they receive limited training on how to effectively interact with the people in the community they serve. Police officers are ordained by the power of the government. Police reform should start by giving proper training to new recruits and veterans, enforcing community policing and police accountability.
Police shootings occur all over the world but are a huge problem within the United States. We continue to hear more and more about them. These shootings are making headlines. Front page news it seems almost weekly. All the shootings go one of two ways. Either a Police Officer has been shot or a Police Officer has shot a citizen, but either way the final result is death. Whether an Officer has been shot or an Officer has shot someone these cases seem to be related to one thing, fear. People in today’s society feel as though they can’t trust Police Officers as they are there to hurt and kill them. And Police Officers feel as though they are in danger of doing their everyday duties because people see them as the “bad guys” and want to hurt or kill them. Yes, police brutality and racism still exist, but not all cops are bad. Yes there are still bad citizens in this world that want to kill and harm others, but not all citizens are bad. People seem to react to these shootings by rioting quickly after a police officer has shot and killed someone without
Police are rarely held accountable for their wrong doing actions. As I mentioned above only 27 of 80 officers have been convicted, with only one convicted of murder for police brutality. Police are seen as a form of power and abuse that privilege. Officer’s do what they want knowing that they will not be held accountable. Police Officer’s beat people, shoot people and harm people (abuse of power) and blame it on the civilian they are harming. Most of the time the police officer’s will be believed over the civilian. When police officer’s abuse their power this leads to lack of trust between police officers and civilians. This also leads to lack of trust between police officers and communities. This divides us and makes us afraid of one another. Stress in police officer’s also causes police brutality. Stress can come from the civilians and the pressure of the job making officer’s take out all of their anger and aggression on civilians. Police brutality causes people and communities to be vulnerable. People become vulnerable to police officers because they are powerless. The officers take power over us, make us helpless, defenseless and weak at the time of a police brutality attack. In order to stop police brutality, the state and local governments must come together to reevaluate the officer’s code of conduct, enforce new rules and regulations for the officers and hold officers accountable for their actions of wrong doing. According to, Police Brutality is Getting Worse and Shows No Signs of Slowing Down, the only way to stop police brutality is to have officer’s wear body cameras, a complete overhaul on how law enforcement handles mentally ill men, women, and children and truly independent, powerful review boards for all police misconduct. According to others, some of the changes should consist of more community police, more foot patrols and engagement with residents. Police brutality will
A police officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to protect and serve all people, not to ignore racial equality. Because the U.S consists of many different races and ethnic groups, the ongoing conflict between police officers and citizens of color is constantly rising. Although police officers today are no longer allowed to have racial bias, which can be described as, attitudes or stereotype used against individuals of color to define their actions and decisions, officers sometimes abuse their authority going around racial impact tools and policies. This results in citizens viewing it as discrimination and mass criminalization. By changing the way laws and regulations unfairly impact Black and Brown communities can improve the justice
Since 1945, in what is defined by literary scholars as the Contemporary Period, it appears that the "refracted public image"(xx) whites hold of blacks continues to necessitate ...
In my opinion, the many different views of police culture can vary in many different situations. I say this because of the many different views this can be misleading at times. I think what's needed is reform of a police culture that has often infected relations between police and blacks, destabilized respect for cops and the law, and set the basis for the many deaths. The overall image of the police offers is an overview of the public’s perception of the police in reality. Without the public’s view of this police culture wouldn’t have the look it has now. Specific characteristics of the publics, association, or foundation remain interchangeable. Actions of the overall image are valuable because they
Whenever people discuss race relations today and the effect of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, they remember the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was and continues to be one of the most i...
In our times, the police have become the criminals. Some police are using their power to do bad things, and society has come to fear police. The law enforcement system needs change. The courts have failed the police, and the police have turn to other means of justice. We must stop the corruption in the police force.
Bridgman, T. (2011). Treading the thin blue line: Embedding culture change at New Zealand Police (Case Part A) Australia and New Zealand School of Government Case Program, Reference 2011-639.1.
Understanding the issue is just part of what’s needed. The purpose of the section is to identify a solution, or as may be the case, solutions. So, the question here is what can we do to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens. Over the years there has been many books written and studies conducted, all in an effort to find the best way to improve police and citizen relationships. To do this we must look at all available information. According to The Study Circles Resource Center’s Protecting Communities, Serving the Public: Police and residents building relationships to work together (2000), “Bring police and community together. We need to meet not just when there is a crisis or a big crime. We should do things to build relationships that are not so full of conflict. Then it would be easier to work together. We can build respect and trust for one another when we make time to meet with and learn about each other. This is the only way to do it.