Police Brutality Riots

While police brutality is only recently taking the media by storm, it has been a large scale issue in the United States for over one hundred years leading to various riots, petitions, and presidential panels. In 1938 at the time of a great riot regarding police brutality the National Negro Congress stated “Our lives, our homes, our liberties each day are made less secure because of unrestrained and unpunished police brutality” in their petition against police brutality (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 1). African Americans have repeated this same sentiment in recent years regarding the large influx in police brutality. They feel as though the people that are charged to protect them are the ones that they are the least safe around.
It is clear that this sentiment is fueled by past actions by Caucasians, as it rightly should be, but it is important to understand that police brutality is a problem in America for all Americans, just some more so than others. In the eyes of African Americans "racial violence was fundamental to the creation of the United States. . . [It] is the scaffolding upon which capitalist exploitation and white supremacy are erected (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 1). While one can argue that this quote is invalid, it is easily arguable that the United States is a society that is racially charged and clearly favors one race above the others. After all, America was founded by kicking a minority out of their homes and then enslaving another to do the heavy work. While this is the past, it is important to look at police brutality as a whole while understanding that African Americans and other minorities do have the right to speak out against racial targets.
In a large public riot in Los Angeles, California the issue of police brutality first garnered major attention in 1992.
The 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion was a response to the March 3, 1991 brutalizing of Rodney G. King by three Los Angeles police officers. Twenty-three other law enforcement officers watched as King was beaten kicked and shocked by officers wielding batons and stun guns” (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 2). In such a stark overstep of power it was clear to the people of Los Angeles and others across the country that police reform was necessary. The riots allowed the issue of police brutality to be brought mass public attention and spurred some law enforcement reforms. While some reforms were brought about the problem was never completely handled. On top of this, police administrators have often ignored or been lax in using internal department policies and procedures to punish officers who have displayed a pattern of brutality and/or misconduct (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 2). While the problem is a difficult one that will require compromises from everyone, it is important to understand its complexity and importance to
society.
While law enforcement officers argue that their jobs require split second decisions, it is clear that officers would benefit from additional training on alternate methods to control various situations.
In contemporary America, police brutality is the preferred form of social control (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 2). The police are so feared or disrespected by people in certain communities that it gives officers great latitude in handling people when they respond to incidents. A 2015 report for the Justice Department analyzed 394 incidents involving deadly police force in Philadelphia. It was found that officers "need more less-lethal options” (Wihbey &Kille 3). A pervasive problem in dealing with police brutality is the obvious lack of training. Officers are not given the resources to handle situations that they will most likely deal with. Because they do not have the proper training there is no way to hold them accountable for their actions, leaving large grey areas for police brutality to fester. While it is clear that officers should be held accountable for senseless shootings it is also important to acknowledge how dangerous their work is. America has a higher homicide rate compared to other developed nations, and many more guns per capita. Citizens seldom learn of the countless incidents where officers choose to hold fire and display restraint under extreme stress. Instead, due to the intense media storms, citizens only ever hear about incidents that
involve police brutality and even then many of the details are missing or the story is heavily biased. "Some research has shown that even well-trained officers are not consistently able to fire their weapon in time before a suspect holding a gun can raise it and fire first; this makes split-second judgments, even under “ideal” circumstances, exceptionally difficult. But as the FBI points out, police departments and officers sometimes do not handle the aftermath of incidents well in terms of transparency and clarity, even when force was reasonably applied, fueling public confusion and anger" (Wihbey &Kille 2). It is important to understand that police officers risk their lives each day and that often times they do the right thing, however, sometimes things do go wrong. In instances where deaths are a result of an officers action it would help significantly if police departments were open and upfront about what happened instead of seeming to push things under the rug.
Due to the new and past attention surrounding police brutality a number of panels and organizations have been set up to discuss reform. Two examples of such things are the 1967 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (affectionately known as the Kerner Commission) and the much more recent panel of President Obama's. The Kerner Commission found that many minorities nationwide regarded police as an "occupying force"- presence that generated fear not security. Similarly, Obama's panel found the perception of police as an “occupying force coming in from the outside to rule and control the community” They saw that this perception had sabotaged the idea of law enforcement as protectors (Washington 1). Based on these perceptions, the Obama panel recommended civilian oversight of law enforcement,” calling this step essential to “strengthen trust with the community.” The Kerner Commission report had similarly called for the establishment of “fair mechanisms to redress grievances” against police (Washington 1). However, these ideas were quickly denied by law enforcement as a clear restriction of what they are supposed to be doing. Obama’s panel, like the Kerner Commission before it, has provided some palpable proposals for moving away from repressive and racist policing (Washington 3).
It is abundantly clear that while police brutality is not solely directed at people of color, people of color are at a much greater risk of being exposed to such violence. Research is largely varied on the statistics behind police brutality, but according to the Center for Disease Control in Oklahoma, "Nationwide, the rate at which black people are killed by law enforcement is 3 times higher than that of white people" (Wihbey &Kille 4). Another report concluded that young black males are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than their white counterparts (Wihbey &Kille 5). Although it is clear that police brutality is occurring, it is important to state, as research has shown, that a "small proportion of officers are responsible for a large proportion of force incidents, and that officers who frequently use force differ in important ways from officers who use force less often (or not at all) (Wihbey &Kille 4). Because of this research it is clear that society cannot paint all police officers in a negative light due to police brutality. A majority of police officers do their jobs every year without incident, however, their reputation is tarnished by a few officers who chose to abuse their power. While the research behind police brutality cannot definitively prove that they target people of color, research can conclude that "racial profiling" by law enforcement exists (Wihbey &Kille 5). This means that people of color are at a much greater risk of being stopped by police officers and therefore, are at a much greater risk of experiencing situations of police brutality.
While it is clear that police brutality has always been a prevalent problem in the United States, it is has become even more so in recent years due to such an intense media focus. Researchers have studied the coverage of these incidents and have concluded that the press often distort and justify uses of force. In addition, survey data confirms the existence of undercurrents of racism and bias in America, despite demonstrable social progress. A study from Stanford shows that awareness of higher levels of African American incarceration prompt Caucasians to support tougher policing and prison programs (Wihbey & Kille 7).While it is clear that there is a problem with racial profiling, the selective media coverage intensifies the issue. It is very rare that the news covers an issue of a Caucasian with police brutality, but they do cover instances with African Americans and are quick to either point the finger at the police, or at the victim, which ever will boost their viewership the most. It is important to understand that whatever is shown on the news is likely not the full story and it’s very unlikely that you will ever find the complete, unedited, unbiased story at any one place.