Police Brutality: On The Rise

Whether police brutality is increasing in the United States.

Short Answer: Yes, police brutality is increasing the United States. According to, Police Brutality is Getting Worse and Shows No Signs of Slowing Down, there were 804 Americans killed by police officers in 2014 and at least 865 Americans killed by police in 2015. So far in 2016, there have been 896 deaths reported to, The Guardian’s Police Killing database. The 896 reported deaths were all Americans killed by the police. Rule: When police brutality occurs, people rely upon the Constitution and the Civil Right laws to help determine whether the police officer is in the wrong or whether the civilian is in the wrong. According to, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, the

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