Police Brutality: The Cause Of Racial Profiling By Police

Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are just a few social media outlets that along with 24-hour news gives the opportunity for people to see what’s going on in communities all over the world. Increased media attention chronicling incidences of police brutality on unarmed blacks has increased visibility, awareness, and subsequently sparked outrage in minority communities in the United States (U.S.). The 16-year-old Spring Valley high school student dragged out of her desk and slung across a classroom by a police officer for not putting her phone away in class, Philando Castile being shot in front of his fiancé and four-year-old daughter for reaching for his wallet, Terence Crutcher shot with his hands in the air in the middle of a Oklahoma road, as well as the fatal shootings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner are only a few of the countless cases, resulting in acquittal for the perpetrator, where individuals have lost their lives or have been terrorized by police over the past few years which indicates that there is a serious flaw in the judicial system.
Research on attitudes and perceptions of law enforcement focuses on attitudes of police officers but there is little research that addresses the ongoing trauma that individuals from minority communities experience from witnessing the victimization of police brutality. Psychological treatment may be necessary and beneficial for those community members who experience vicarious trauma from viewing these incidences in the media. Almost all of the police studies that focus on police brutality have neglected to assess the impact of the distress on community members who consider themselves the next target of police