Police Brutality Summary

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Police Brutality: Understanding the Complex Problem
Police brutality is an issue that continues to plague America and its citizens. Is it getting worse or is the ability to share any video with anyone in seconds making it seem far worse than it once was? What can be done to prevent it? I hope to arrive to an answer to those questions through my research and writing. I have read several articles and papers on the issue to expand my knowledge and help guide me to answer these problematic questions. To start my exploratory process I read “Understanding The Ethical, Legal, and Tactical Realities Of Deadly Force Encounters” by David Bolgiano. I chose this article first because it gave the law enforcement perspective on the issue as well as legal …show more content…

¨In over 36 years of carrying a firearm in the line of duty… I have never met a peace officer… who thinks, ´Gee, I hope I get to kill someone today´¨ (Bolgiano 30). The idea presented here matches up with what I believe when it comes to how policemen think. However, Rion Scott believes otherwise. In his article ¨The Etiquette of Police Brutality¨ he begins with a ¨mockery piece¨ about how officers use excessive force and brutalize people to maintain the law. He believes police use their power only to bully and intimidate. ¨The public has been filming and broadcasting egregious acts of police violence since the 1990s… This has done much to inspire the outrage of the public, but has seemed to do little to stem the tide of police abuse… ¨ (Scott 13). For over 20 years police brutality has been filmed and viewed by the public. Officers go unpunished. Without punishment they will continue to practice unlawful conduct and misuse their power. Filming it is one thing but doing something because of the evidence is another. Scott´s article opened my eyes to the fact that not every police officer is a law abiding person. They can be immoral individuals that do as they please just because it makes their job easier. They may not care about the general well being of the public. That alone is enough to cause worry and a want to punish those officers that break the law. ¨… police were cleared of any wrongdoing or faced relatively light or unspecified punishments, a situation that I imagine leaves police feeling comfortable in deploying any act of violence in their toolbox...¨ (Scott 17). This quote is in reference to what happens when police wrongly use force on a suspect. The officers are not even punished even though they may of severely injured someone that did not deserve it. As Scott said it most likely leaves officers feeling comfortable when practicing improper conduct. ¨An important question

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