Imagine growing up in a place, in which you thought that the law enforcement officers were there to protect you. Now imagine that those outstanding officers were to abuse their position of authority with excessive force. These incidents, have been occurring far more in recent years due to the evolution of social media and also with the support of growing racial tensions.
Personally, I grew up living in California, and in the sunshine state, I never saw or was met with any police brutality at all. When there was police were involved, I would usually just walk away and not think twice about it. But as I got older and wiser, I got more involved with the media, and my surroundings. As a result, I found out that the country, which I originally thought was outstanding and beyond the chains of corruption, was ultimately a lie. I was raised in places where I never got to experience such injustice, and I am grateful to my parents for allowing that to happen, yet I feel guilty that I wasn’t part of the large masses of people in the cities, that experienced excessive brutality from the police.
Police brutality has been occurring more due to racial injustice. In May 2015 the Washington Post analyzed that “385 fatal police shootings in the United States that had occurred so far in 2015. The Post noted its number, which came out to two officer-involved shooting deaths per day, was more than twice the rate that the government had recorded over the past decade” (Lowery). In the same report, it states that African-Americans were killed three times as much as caucasians or any other minority. This report from the Washington Post proves that racial injustice doesn’t just exist, but it thrives in America.
On top of racial injustice, racial profiling by police officers has been a main reason for police brutality. The Washington Post, mentions that police officers don’t “rat” on one another when they commit a crime. This notion means that police officers would rather stick to one another and not stay faithful to the law. Also the article notes that police officers believe that they slowly become above the law over time. This is a result of being in authority and having power over civilians. Also, having power over one group, leads to the possibility of being able to abuse the powers giving to them when they being officers. The post also mentions “White people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49 percent of those who are killed by police officers. African Americans, however, account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed by the police despite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population” (Lowery). This percentage of caucasians makes up more of the percentage of the deaths in the U.S. but however the African-American population is much smaller than the overall population and it makes up a much bigger chunk of the deaths in the U.S. by race. This ultimately proves the point that police officers are more likely to be involved in a shooting with an African-American person than a caucasian person, and it illustrates the real truth that minorities are at a higher risk of being fatally shot than a person of caucasian race.
Social media is also a very big factor in the recent outsparks of police brutality. For example, the first major case of the media shedding light upon police brutality was in Los Angeles on March 3, 1991. When officers pulled over a driver named Rodney King after a high speed chase, and after the chase had ended, Rodney King was brutally beaten by multiple police officers from the LAPD. An article about the trial, written by Peter L. Davis mentions that “different rules apply to police than to everyone else” (Davis). This also shows that there is a double standard when one group has been given extra privilege while being in a position of authority.
Social media, since the Rodney King video, has evolved into a platform that allows citizens to record police activity and simultaneously upload it online, so that masses of people can view the same material within moments of an incident. This new generation of social media has been able to connect people to other communities instantaneously and thus has created a sphere of information that people can have access to.
The significance of police brutality is that it affects each and every American citizen. Police brutality cases have become more frequent in recent history. For example cases such as the BART and Ferguson shootings have sparked riots that changed major cities. These riots have been known to create more arrests and violence based on the report from Our Enemies in Blue. The novel explicitly illustrates the destruction that riots cause. For example the LA riots in the 1990s had caused the city of Los Angeles hundreds of millions of dollars in destruction. It caused stores to be broken into, businesses ruined, and infrastructure to be damaged. Most recent protests have been peaceful yet a handful of people create havoc, which puts a negative effect on protesters. And these riots are caused due to people capturing videos of police using extremely excessive force upon either innocent or misdemeanor juveniles, and is spreads with the media.
The media influences what the public witnesses and what they are exposed to. It links the viewers to videos that show the excessive force of the police officers on civilians. It truly is a connecting portal for the American citizens and the crimes caught on video involving police officers and excessive force. The police officers of the U.S. have held an authoritative power over their civilians, and they have minimal control over one another. Officers who are poorly trained have been known to create ruckuses when given freedom among themselves. This freedom can lead to officers abusing the law and thinking that they are above the law in general. Officers also, let other officers by when they commit a crime or break the law. The Huffington Post reported, “Researchers identified 6,724 cases involving the arrests of 5,545 sworn officers across the nation between 2005 and 2011” (Ferner). This statistic backs up the amount of officers breaking the law and committing crimes. These sworn officers were held to a standard of honesty, pride, and respect, but with their unlawful actions, they have created a bad name for police officers across the country.
Excluding bad police officers, there are bad people that also create a problem in the topic of police brutality. Most police officers are not bad people, they are good honest working, family members. They are not the blame for all the deaths from police involved shootings. Bad civilians also make police officers look bad, they fight back with police officers by resisting arrest. They put police officers against the walls and make them have no choice besides using force. However these civilians are not responsible for every police involved shootings, and they certainly are not all responsible for their actions. Law enforcement officers must have the skills necessary to apprehend civilians without using excessive force, and they must be responsible for identifying each case from one another, in order to have the best outcome for each certain case that they deal with.
In conclusion, the amount of police brutality in America has been exposed, harder and more frequently. People have been exposed to more of this injustice that society calls excessive force. And with the evolving social media of this generation, people are more connected to one another than ever. These advancements have shown that police officers must be responsible for not just the actions of others but also most importantly the actions of themselves. They are held to another standard, one that must be equal and just, and one that is proud to be apart of. Because, if a person is proud to be a police officer, then they’ll be seen as respectful government officials in the eyes of the public.
Works Cited
- “The Impact of Social Media on Police Brutality.” The Impact of Social Media on Police Brutality. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. https://policebrutalityjourn.wordpress.com/
- Biography.com Editors. “Rodney King Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 23 June 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
- Davis, Peter L. “Maryland Law Review.” Maryland Law Review (n.d.): n. pag. Rodney King and the Decriminalization of Police Brutality in America. Digital Commons, 1994. Web. 11. Nov. 2016.
- Ferner, Matt. “Re’s How Often Cops Are Arrested For Breaking The Laws They’re Paid To Uphold.” Huffingtonpost. The Huffington Post, 24 June 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
- Lowrey, Wesley. “Aren’t More White People than Black People Killed by Police? Yes, but No.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 July 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
- Williams, Kristian. Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull, 2004. Print.