Police Brutality Research Paper

Introduction

Police brutality is a form of police misconduct where undue violence is involved. Police brutality is prevalent in most countries such that police are known to use force in their operations. It is illegal to engage in police brutality but it can also be performed under the colour of the law. There are several pieces of literature that show the most affected individuals by police brutality and what consists of this misconduct. However, the case of police brutality is using excessive physical force where the intention of the users is to deliberately injure, intimidate and also kill the citizen in the incident that is related to enforcement of the law.

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Worden describes the causes of police brutality with theories and evidence that show how police use force. Police can employ force in the event where the offender does not want to cooperate and thus will the police are made to use some amount of effort to compel compliance by the unwilling subject. The causes of police brutality according to Worden include the likes of the subculture of policing which causes negative effects on the system (Worden, 2015). Majority of the officers in their duties and operations consider the law strictly and will enforce them on an offender even when it means there is the use of force. These officers are seeking to conform to the traditions set and the standards expected of the behaviour of the police. The rookies are expected to emulate how the senior officers implement the law and comply with the commands given or they will be at a risk to face potential ridicule, criticism for cowardness and the loss of their jobs. There is also what they refer to as the blue wall of silence which encourages the officers to stand by the actions of their colleagues and should not report cases of misconduct (Worden, 2015). The militarization of the police is also a potential cause of police brutality where there are traditional norms used for policing where they use the tactic of instilling fear. Worden states that police brutality can provide insights into the promise and pitfalls of governmental, administrative and managerial reforms.

Lawson states that black women are the most affected by police brutality. It is evident that most countries still have issues with racism and black women have fallen victims of the misconduct because they are considered the minority group (Lawson, 2018). There are many stories about African-American women that live in cities of the low economy and these are the most affected by police brutality. Evidence from videos that individuals take concerning police brutality reveal that the black women often are caught in the wrongdoing acts and the police exercise excessive force on them. Key findings state that nearly 60 per cent of the black women that police kill were unarmed at during the interaction. This is contrasted with the non-blacks where they are harmed at the time of interaction. Lawson states that it is important to try and reduce the cases of police brutality among the black women because it encourages discrimination on the basis of race which is not what the modern society is built on and it lowers the economic growth of a country. Every being has equal rights as long as they are citizens of a certain country.

Cooper states the war on drug policing and police brutality where he says that the war on drugs policing has failed to ensure a reduction in the domestic street-level drug activity. The cost of drugs has continued to remain low and similarly, the drugs are widely available (Cooper, 2015). The main objective of the research that Cooper presents is that in the light of the growing brutality of the police especially in the United States, he explores the interconnection between the war of strategies for drug policing and the violence that is police-related. The research he does is against most of the black adolescents and adults that are in the United States (Cooper, 2015). The suggestions in the discussion that Cooper presents is that there need to be better strategies on drug policing which will consequently lead to lower levels of police brutality than it has been witnessed in recent years. Substance use and misuse is the main reason why police are forced to use excessive force as the young people are adamant to obey.

The article by Rogers describes the impact of police brutality in that it harms mothers. Rogers creates a link between police violence and the reproductive justice movement. He gives an example of a man killed by the police by the name Michael Brown yet he was only eighteen years old and unarmed (Rogers, 2015). The killing caused major social protests by the public and highly emotional and politically charged social commentary on the racialized effects of police brutality. The police killings of African-American men are prevalent and they depict the issue of racial discrimination which Rogers states that it harms the mothers as these young people are set to be the productive members of the society (Rogers, 2015). Killings are extreme cases of police brutality and police should make sure that even when they use excessive force, it should not get to the point of murder because it kills the dreams of citizens at a young age.

Reid also shows how social media has exposed the harsh reality about the state of police brutality which is written under the Sandra Bland story. The research that the author does on police brutality seeks to illustrate the existing relationship between the use of social media and the effects it has on awareness of police brutality (Reid, 2016). It is important to educate the public on police brutality so that they work together with the government to ensure a considerable reduction in such issues. Social media has been used to assist in revealing incidences when police use excessive force which is an act of impulsive police brutality, especially on adult black women. The most common case is that if the black woman in Waller County, Texas (Reid, 2016). Social media is of great help in capturing incidences when police brutality occurs. However, social media only shows a few cases while there are others left. The question is how many more incidences are not captured and how many people are suffering from the case of police brutality. It is the duty of everybody to ensure that they create awareness and prevent police brutality.

Ariel and Farrar suggest ways that can be sued to reduce the instances of police brutality through the use of police body-worn cameras. Body-worn cameras help to ensure accountability of the police such that when they are engaging in excessive use of force, they know very well that they are being watched. This way, they will control the force they use of citizens which is better in helping them achieve greater law enforcement than the use of force to instil fear (Ariel, Farrar, & Sutherland, 2015). The body-worn cameras will record events and the operations of the police as well as their interaction with the public providing evidence at the crime scene. These cameras are efficient as they help to take note of any misconduct from both parties. Ariel and Farrar posses the question that whether the body-worn cameras reduce the prevalence of the use of force and the complaints of the citizens against the police. The relationship between the police and the citizens should provide a platform for free expression of ideas.

Spillar states that more female police officers would help in the reduction of brutality. Women in the police force tend to be less violent than men such that they only use the necessary force. There have been fewer cases of police brutality from women's side because they are more composed and like to handle cases without involving forceful operations (Spillar, 2015). They try as much as possible to get evidence while acting composed and this is better than how men handle the cases with a lot of force. More female police officers would help to stop the brutality of the police. Generally, police brutality is misconduct and should not be allowed. The public needs to speak about such kind of inhumanity by government officials. Maintenance of law and order by the police should be towards creating a good relationship with the public rather than instilling fear in them. Different scholars talk against the use of excessive police force because it adds to no good.

References

Ariel, B., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2015). The effect of police body-worn cameras on use of force and citizens' complaints against the police: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of quantitative criminology, 31(3), 509-535.

Cooper, H. L. (2015). War on drugs policing and police brutality. Substance use & misuse, 50(8-9), 1188-1194.

Lawson, M. (2018). Police Brutality Against Black Women. UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal, 10(2).

Reid, A. B. (2016). The Sandra Bland story: How social media has exposed the harsh reality of police brutality (Doctoral dissertation, Bowie State University).

Rogers, A. (2015). How police brutality harms mothers: Linking police violence to the reproductive justice movement. Hastings Race & Poverty LJ, 12, 205.

Spillar, K. (2015). How more female police officers would help stop police brutality. The Washington Post.

Worden, R. E. (2015). The causes of police brutality: Theory and evidence on police use of force. Criminal justice theory: Explaining the nature and behaviour of criminal justice, 149-204.