Persuasive Essay On Police Brutality

1230 Words3 Pages
Police officers make split-second decisions every time they interact with a suspect. These decisions can impact the lives of the officers, the suspects, and even civilians. Therefore, officers must decide when it is necessary to exert violent or lethal force to subdue a suspect. When the police use force, it can result in the death of the suspect or witnesses. However, failing to apply force in a confrontation, can endanger the officer or allow the suspect to allude police custody. Officers receive training in observing a situation and reading body language, so that they can assess a suspect’s threat. When an officer ignores their training and uses excessive or deadly force against an unarmed or yielding civilian, it is police brutality. Police…show more content…
However this assumption cannot be supported with sufficient evidence. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 requires the government to keep a record of all excessive force cases, but no database of accounts exists (McLaughlin, Eloitt CNN.com). This lack in documentation raises the question, is police brutality really increasing? Police departments all over the United States have neglected to file reports on excessive force cases, so there is not a definitive answer for whether or not police brutality is growing. A study was conducted in 2001 to see how many excessive force cases occurred that year, but the survey came up inconclusive when only 564 of America’s 18,000 law enforcement entities participated (McLaughlin, Eloitt CNN.com). Although documentation was a problem, new regulations are trying to fix the issue. Police departments are requiring Officers to wear a body camera while on duty. This new technology will help, but implementing them is a slow process and some cases could still go undocumented. Although police brutality exposure has escalated to its zenith in recent years, records and statistics are not consistent with an escalation in
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