Policing in America: A Critical Examination

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Recommended: Conflict between police and minorities

Criticizing the Police One purpose of government is to preserve order. There are many ways the government does that; one way is having a police force. The police are an important part of the executive branch which enforces laws made by the legislative branch. The police keep the peace by catching lawbreakers who are then tried in court and punished for inappropriate behavior. Without a well equipped and trained police force, society will fall into anarchy. People will do whatever they want without consequences for breaking the law. Millions of people would die because of unfettered lawbreaking. America would decline from a world power to a land of chaos and crime. Police officers provide an important and necessary function; however, in recent months, there have been many people who have expressed their opinion about the police acting inappropriately. The displeased people feel that the police have discriminated against and mistreated African Americans. One widely known example of perceived mistreatment is the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. According to Buchanan, Fessenden, and Lai (2015), Michael Brown stole merchandise from a convenience store and proceeded to walk down the middle of the street. Officer Wilson stopped him and recognized Brown as a suspect in the robbery (Buchanan et al., 2015). According …show more content…

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

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