Social Issue: Police Brutality Paper Example

Introduction

The police have a significant role to play in society. The purpose of the law enforcement officers is protecting the citizens. Officers tend to look out for citizens while also attempting to ensure their happiness and safety. However, in recent years, there have been increased concerns about the use of racism, force and internal corruption (Hesselink & Haefele, 2015). Police in the contemporary world has been accused of misconduct. Some people argue that the media has had a role to play in misconstruing the problems of the law enforcers by blowing the identified issues out of proportion since the police in most parts of the world are only doing their job of maintaining law and order. However, other scholars argue that the misconduct by police is linked to inadequate training and law enforcement policies.

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Police brutality refers to the use of excessive and unrequired force by police when making arrests or in instances of dealing with the civilians. The controversies behind police brutality are not a new idea since it can be traced back to the 1800s. However, it is important to note that the issue has been controversial over the years. As Ajilore & Shirey (2017) indicate, police brutality could be of different and varying forms. Physical form is one of the most common and distinct forms of police brutality (Hesselink & Haefele, 2015). When dealing with the citizens, police officers use nerve gas, pepper, spray, and guns to intimidate the public or to hurt them as well, which is a form of police brutality. According to the law of the United States of America, for example, police are required to use force only in instances where a civilian is resisting arrest or is fighting back in a way that could hurt the law enforcers or the community as well (Hesselink & Haefele, 2015). In addition to that, the brutality of the law enforcement officers could be in the form of false arrests, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, corruption, racial discrimination, and the use of tasers improperly (Ajilore & Shirey, 2017). Such actions have been on the rise showing that police brutality is a common problem in the contemporary world that requires urgent measures. Therefore, this paper focuses on the social issue, police brutality, discusses its effects and possible solutions as well.

Analysis of the Problem

Police brutality is an issue facing most people in the world today. One of the facts of police brutality is the fact that most victims are usually unarmed. A majority of the people killed by the police is often unarmed, and only a few of the victims typically possess a firearm. Further, racial profiling is another common form of police brutality especially in white countries. Blacks, for example, are often killed by police due to suspicion and perceived threats in America. In such cases, police are likely to defend their actions with words such as, 'they felt threatened.' It is also important to note that despite the harm and depression caused by police brutality, criminal charges against the involved police officers are rare (Billings, 2017). Most law enforcers do not face punishment for police brutality, which has had a role to play in increasing its prevalence.

Further, police brutality has severe consequences. For a victim, first, police brutality can lead to manipulation of one's emotions, deprivation of sleep and senses as well. The effects of mental and emotional torture are not physically visible, but the results tend to be devastating and long as well. In addition to that, a victim of the brutality of the law enforcement officers could lead to shape and worthlessness feelings that could result in isolation eventually leading to psychiatric therapy (Hesselink & Haefele, 2015). Asides from that, police brutality affect a law enforcement officer significantly. In most cases, an officer could be withdrawn from outside tasks to desk duties while an agency is likely to remove the officer's gun. In some cases, the career of an officer is at risk.

Nonetheless, police brutality has substantial effects for a police department. In most cases, law enforcement agencies try hard to ensure that the police officers in their departments comply with the laws and regulations laid out for them (Shufelt, 2017). However, with the rise of the media particularly the digital media, police departments are subjected to extra scrutiny. Once the public becomes aware of cases of police brutality among police officers in a department, the people are not likely to help the police within the agency during investigations.

Lastly, police brutality has significant effects on the public. The impacts of cruelty on the society, however, are less as compared to the consequences of the vice on a victim. A public is likely to be wary of the police department and government at large. With this in mind, it is essential to understand the ideologies behind police brutality. The first ideology includes the fact that the officers often operate as a team (Robertson, 2018). Besides, officers ought not to snitch on each other showing that there is no much difference between law enforcers and gang members. The second ideology is the fact that profiling is critical and vital to officers since it alerts officers on the neighborhoods to watch when maintaining law and order. Besides, the black people are the commonly affected populations of police brutality.

Causes of Police Brutality

Police brutality results from different causes. Most of the law enforcement departments do not provide training for the officers in non-violent solutions. Police receive training on how to handle violent situations (Robertson, 2018). With this in mind, it is important to note that law enforcers do not know how to make peaceful arrests, which explains why brutality among the officers has become paramount. Asides from that, there are no limits to cruelty implying that there is no standard definition of police violence in most countries of the world today. Mainly, this means that police officers often do not know their limits when making arrests and dealing with civilians (Ajilore & Shirey, 2017). What one police may consider violent may not be violent to another. From this, one can see that the law of most countries especially the United States and other developed countries where police brutality is common are to blame for negligence and ignorance exhibited in the lack of a standard definition of police brutality.

Further, there are hardly any consequences for police brutality, which has had a role to play in increasing the vice in the world today. Most of the police perpetrators of cruelty often go free without any punishment. The actions of police brutality are a chain that stems from the heads of a department to the police officer committing the vice. With this in mind, one can see that it is difficult for police officers involved in violent acts to be arrested. In addition to that, most of the officers found guilty of brutality settle the victims from the city coffers. Research carried out by Alang (2018) shows that taxpayers often pay three times for officers who commit abuses repeatedly. For large cities, most of the settlement is worth millions of dollars every year.

Nevertheless, police brutality often results from the heightened cultural diversity in the world today. In developed countries such as America, the number of minorities is high. Most of the minorities such as the African Americans live in poor neighborhoods that are highly infested with crime (Billings, 2017). With this in mind, police have tried spotting the source of evil and linked offense to the minority population. As a result, profiling has become on the rise. Moreover, it is hard for police to carry out their duties of maintaining law and order in the society without profiling people of a particular region, culture, race, and religion as well.

Asides from that, the police are militarizing in the world today. According to Alang (2018), the local police of the United States of America have several weapons enough to conquer a small nation. Besides, police have different teams with several weapons. Such teams include the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT). Although the weapons have no cause for misconduct, it has a role to play in giving power to the law enforcers.

Solutions to the Social Issue

Solving police brutality requires the implementation of one primary solution. Billings (2017) indicates that the more the women in the police workforce, the better the results. Once departments hire women, there is a significant improvement in some outcomes especially in some of the incidences such as domestic violence. As Doherty (2018) indicates, police departments fail to hire more women as compared to men due to the frame of their job descriptions during the process of hiring. If the job description requires the use of force, the process of recruitment will focus on heavily built men instead of the women. However, when policing is defined as requiring highly developed communication, the people to attend recruiting will be women primarily. All this narrows down to the job descriptions of the police officers. With the right job descriptions, the cases of police brutality are likely to decline significantly.

According to Alang et al. (2017), when police departments have the desire to see a shift from the use of excessive force by the officers, the agencies need to be concerned with hiring women while also train officers to be right in communication. In addition to that, Alang et al. (2017) indicate that law enforcement officers need to have problem-solving and decision-making skills. Moreover, the agencies in the profession need to change the strategies for recruitment to involve more women due to the unique skills possessed by the females. Women are not likely to use force since they tend to have a compassionate heart unlike their male counterparts in their line of duties. From this, one can see that employing women will have a role to play in reducing police brutality.

Lastly, Doherty (2018) asserts that countries should consider changing their laws in a way that help ensure that police are governed. It is essential to understand that the role of a constitution is to provide rules and regulations for a country while the police work towards enforcing the rules. Police often have a misunderstanding when enforcing the laws explaining why they tend to use force. Mainly, this implies that police should have rules that they need to abide by when applying the law.

Summary and Opinion

Importantly, this paper discusses the social issue of police brutality. The extremity of police brutality has had severe consequences that include depression, sleep and sensory deprivation among other effects. From this, one can see that it would be essential to come up with possible solutions that could aid in solving the issue of police brutality. I think the best solution to this problem is employing the women. Women have morals while also they are compassionate. Such unique characteristics of the females could be of importance in the law enforcement departments. By employing female officers, police brutality is likely to reduce.

References

Ajilore, O., & Shirey, S. (2017). Do pass:[#]AllLivesMatter? An Evaluation of Race and Excessive Use of Force by Police. Atlantic Economic Journal, 45(2), 201-212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-017-9538-6

Alang, S. (2018). The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same: Race, Ethnicity, and Police Brutality. American Journal of Public Health, 108(9), 1127-1128. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304628

Alang, S., McAlpine, D., McCreedy, E., & Hardeman, R. (2017). Police Brutality and Black Health: Setting the Agenda for Public Health Scholars. American Journal of Pu...