Essay on Police Brutality in US and France

Police brutality is one among the many forms of police misconducts. Police brutality includes intimidation, false arrest, political repression, racial profiling, sexual abuse and surveillance abuse. Police brutality is a widespread disease across the world, and the United States of America and France are no exception. Even though police brutality is illegal, it is still practiced in color of law. The principal purpose of this essay is to persuade the audience to help stop police brutality when they can and start to stand against police brutality in France before it is more frequent as it is in the United States of America.

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Police brutality has been on the rise in the United States of America in the last few years. The increase in police violence has prompted an outcry from the civilians through peaceful demonstrations and the social media. For instance, in 2015 there was protest in Baltimore and on the social media specifically through those linked to the Twitter activist group #blacklifematters. The movement #Blacklifematters was established to fight police brutality directed at the blacks in the United States of America. These protests were as a result of police brutality against minorities such as Ohios Samuel Dubose, Freddie Gray of Baltimore and Walter Scott of South Carolina (The Washington Post, 2015). In this same year, eight people below the age of eighteen years had been killed by the police in the United States of America. Among the teens killed was 17- year- old Jesse Hernandez who was shot by Denver police for allegedly trying to run the cops down in a stolen car together with her friends (The Washington Post, 2015).

According to Washington post, by May in the year, 2015 three hundred and eighty-five people were killed by the police. According to the Guardian through its ongoing interactive research project, by the end of the year 2015, nine hundred and twenty people were killed by the police. Black Americans are more likely to be killed as compared to the native Americans. The blacks are twice likely to be unarmed when killed during police encounters as compared to the whites. The research carried out by the Guardian found out that 32 percent of the blacks killed by the police in the year 2015 were unarmed compared to the 15 percent of white people and 25 percent of the Hispanic and Latino people (The Guardian, 2015). Based on this report by the Guardian the blacks are and others living in the United States of America apart from the native Americans are the ones affected most by police brutality. According to the report by Washington post, nearly a quarter of those killed by the police were listed as mentally ill by either the police or family members. In this report also the young are affected with the youngest to be affected being 16 years old. Other teens were also hit by the police brutality including 17-year-old Jesse Hernandez who was killed by Denver police.

In France, the situation is no better as far as police brutality is concerned. The cases of police brutality in France also are on the rise in recent years. The increase in police brutality cases in France can be evidenced by the killing of a 21-year-old French eco-protester Remy Fraisse. A police grenade killed Remi on the Sunday morning of October 2014 (Newsone, 2014). He was among others who were protesting against the building of Sivens dam. In the year 2016, 28 years old Guillaume Vadot who is a Ph.D. student and a lecturer in the University of Paris-I Pantheon-Sorbonne complaine of police brutality by intimidation. Vadot claimed that he was intimidated and also sexually harassed by the police after he witnessed the police brutality towards a lady who was arrested. A 22-year old man identified only as Theo was assaulted by the policemen in France as they were checking identity cards (The Guardian, 2015). These cases clearly indicates that also France is no better as far as brutality by the police is concerned. There is a trend in the increase of brutality by the disciplined forces in France, and hence there is a need for everyone to try and stop this before it reaches the extent of United States of America or even surpasses.

Police brutality has been on the rise in recent years, hence the need to find a solution for this menace that has affected many in the United States of America and across the globe. Several remedies can be employed in an attempt to curb police brutality. The possible solutions include: using technology to fight police brutality. Technology can be of great importance in this battle since we can use the cameras in our devices, surveillance cameras and also the satellite pictures to capture these incidences and report. The photographs and the videos can be used as evidence in the prosecution of the perpetrators. Peaceful protests both on the ground and on the social platforms is also a suitable solution to the police brutality menace. Although peaceful ground protests are not the best option as there is a risk of the demonstrations turning chaotic, protest in the social platforms has proved to fruitful as it is the case of Shaun Kings a civil rights activist in his movement on Twitter #blacklifematters. The social platform can also be used to enlighten the civilians about forms of police brutality and to call those abused to come out and report.

Conclusion

In conclusion, police brutality has been on the rise in recent years across the globe. To minimize these incidents and ensure that it doesnt become frequent in France as it is in the United States of America, people need to stand up against police abuse through protests both on the ground and on the social platform and employ technology to curb this menace.

References

Newsone. (2014, June 13). Retrieved from Newsone: https://newsone.com/138441/five-ways-to-effectively-combat-police-brutality/

The Guardian. (2015, August 16). Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/black-americans-killed-by-police-analysis

The Washington Post. (2015, February 23). Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html?utm_term=.0227d997aca2