Police Brutality Issues

Social justice issues occur in every “nook and cranny” of the earth. I believe that these issues are typically results of disproportional wealth and resources, unjust treatment of individuals in regards, but not limited, to race, age, sexual orientation, and/or religion. A social problem that relates to social justice, and is prevalent today in the United States, would be police brutality. Police brutality can be viewed as the deliberate use of exaggerated force by a police officer, which oftentimes results in bloodshed, bruises, broken bones, disfigurement and lately, in death. The fact of the matter is that most of these incidents are either “swept under the rug” or covered up. There is and have always been a blatant impunity and little to
no accountability for some police officers when it comes to upholding the human rights of communities and upholding the “To Serve and To Protect” motto. Seemingly, the “To Serve and To Protect” motto has shifted to more so, “To Shoot and Ask Questions Later” and “To Kill and to Lie.”
Police brutality is a systematic problem that needs effective and paramount systematic resolutions. The first tactic would be to require that all officers have fully functional, tampered proof body cameras during all shifts. While body cameras aren’t going to put an end to police brutality, they will make a huge difference to decrease it. As a follow-up, if an officer is found tampering (turning off cameras and turning off audio) with their cameras, during or after a stop or in the process of arresting someone, they should be held accountable and charged.
It’s evident that the relationship with police officers and community members has increasingly become strained over the past few years.
Therefore, the second solution would be to have police officers get involved in the communities that they are working in and establish rapport with the community members. By getting involved and establishing rapport, officers would be able to regain the trust of those community members that has dissolved over the course of the Rodney King, Mike Brown, Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice and the other cases of police brutality. The last solution to reducing police brutality would be to hold police officers and their respective departments, accountable. Holding both the police officers and departments accountable would insinuate the necessary changes across police enforcement. It is much harder to fix problems of police brutality unless one is fully clear about the extent of the issue. Therefore, small steps should be taken to provide the structure that would ultimately encourage officers to grasp the concept of
accountability. With solutions come challenges. The downside of supplying police officers with body cameras would be the possible invasion of privacy and the limitation of use. It is a slippery slope for privacy because footage, that could be deemed confidential, of innocent individuals and traumatic situations, could be used in some judicial cases and can be leaked online and exploited for entertainment purposes. The limitation of use would be guidelines that are set to allow officers the autonomy on when an officer turn on and turn off his or her camera. Encouraging police officers to get involved in the communities, of which they work, could be tricky. There could be a difference in ideas between community members and the relationship between them may worsen. Some community members may feel that police officers aren’t wanted or needed in their communities because it may cause problems that don't exist in the first place, which coincides with the quote, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” It may worsen because in some tough and crime-ridden areas because officers’ actions may not be perceived well and could possibly cause the community members to strike back to cause harm against them. The challenge of holding officers and their departments accountable could possibly occur due to the infamous “code of silence” that is prominent in, but not limited to, police departments. Some police officers tend to protect each by covering up crimes and participating in criminal activities with the knowledge and “blessings” of other officers. Departments also go for “investigations” of their own officers and find that the use of excessive force was justifiable in most cases.
The ethical values and principles that would guide my approach to addressing police brutality would be advocating for change, volunteering my time to help those affected by police brutality, and being respectful of the officers’ individual and cultural differences.
I would become actively involved with advocating for reformation of police departments and their organizational systems to challenge the injustices of police brutality against minorities and those with mental health challenges. Secondly, I would allocate my time to volunteer to perform community outreach to raise public awareness and lobby for laws to be implemented to decrease police brutality. Lastly, when addressing police enforcement on a large scale, I would approach the topic of police brutality by treating each member of that department with respect and being mindful of the cultural and individual differences and views in order to enhance the capacity of accountability to promote
change.
One of my ultimate goals is to work in the criminal justice system and provide services to incarcerated individuals and individuals disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system due to racial disparities. I would like to start out at the probation level as a probation or pretrial officer while leading groups for offenders on a range of topics that would help to reduce their recidivism rate. After this, I would eventually like to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and provide mental health services to inmates in jail, lead groups in jails, and continue working in institutions such as drug court, mental health court or therapeutic court. I know that these resources can be helpful to clients who need structure and support to maintain a non-criminal lifestyle and mentality.
My passion, for becoming a social worker, stems from my childhood, when most of my days were spent in welfare buildings. Growing up in Richmond, VA, I had to experience, at an early age, the many inequalities that many single parents, minorities in general, face when trying to take care of their child/children. My mom had me at the young age of 16 years old and became a single parent when I was just months old. Without the support of family, she had to do it all on her own. Therefore, she persistently utilized welfare services as a stepping-stone to better our lives. During the process, we encountered numerous of social workers. Working with those social workers, I was able to see how they used their broker and case manager skills to make referrals, to link my mother to needed resources in the community, and how they located and assisted her in accessing those services. Those social workers were a foundation of inspiration to the many reasons why I wanted to become a social worker. James Madison University’s Social Work Program has provided me with numerous opportunities in and outside of the classroom that has led to my ability to understand and work with vulnerable populations. A big component of our curriculum was volunteering in organizations geared towards human services. I performed 50 hours of volunteering for my pre-field requirements in the adoption unit at Richmond’s Department of Social Services. While there, I was able to participate in Family Assessment and Planning team meetings and observe home visits. This allowed me the ability to shadow adoption workers in assisting a diverse pool of clients. During the 2014 fall semester, I was chosen as a Social Work Intern for Blue Ridge Court Services for my field practicum site, which required 472 hours of field placement. As an intern, I was able to work with a diverse population of clients who were a part of Blue Ridge Court Service’s local probation and pretrial program, the Staunton-Waynesboro Drug Treatment Court, the restorative justice program, the domestic violence program, the home electronic monitoring program and the re-entry program collaborating with local jails and the newly implemented mental health court.
(Only paragraph not finished) Graduate school is stressful and working with individuals and communities with intense experiences can equally be undoubtedly stressful. I would first, utilize the Free Application of Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to help with paying for graduate school. Then, I would take advantage of the services offered by The Office of Student Success such as the Student Success Advisers and M.S.W Peer Mentors. I believe that self-motivation, time management, self-discipline and having a strong support system is also an important key for me to be successful in the MSW degree program.