Angela Walker

ENGL 1020 Kent

Assignment 3
Amalcar Scott, Rion. "The Etiquette of Police Brutality." Crisis (15591573) (2015):
12. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
I see myself including this into my paper around in the beginning of the paper because it
sort of explains the history of police brutality towards African Americans and why they
do it. It also explains what they do and what it means and also the reasons as to why it
still occurs in todays day and age. This article shares a specific story that is a true story
of the following people; Eric Garner, Kenneth Chamberlain, and Prince Jones, and how
they were mistreated by the police. This shares their experience and the consequences
that they have to face due to their retaliation towards the police officers for their harsh
treatment towards them. This article takes place in the 1960s which means that this
article is not very relevant, but it does share background for my subject. Being that it
gives history and details to a true story, I feel that it is still or can be a possible asset to
my paper.
Bennett, Drake. "Building a Better Police Department." Business Week 4407 (2014): 2425. Business Source Premier. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
In this article the source is the website Bloomburgs Business in the politics/police
section. The content is about the decisions of grand juries in Missouri and New York not
to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men. Drake bennet the author of
the article is relevant because he wrote the article around the same time the whole
Ferguson and Michael brown being shot as an un armed teen being executed was going

on and with all the police brutality on black teens and killing black teens cases were in
the happening he wrote this article on December 11.2014 The shooting of Michael
Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. One of the strengths of this
source is that it can be pretty accurate because it was in the same time period that a lot of
the police brutality with black unarmed teens was going on and he got first hand facts on
the situations. This article was on time because after the mike brown shooting and killing
of the two New York police officers on duty on December 20.2014 the author was in the
middle of it all so he probably got insight from people who was experiencing the drama
as it was going on. This article can defiantly be used in my article it specifies what police
are trying to do to prevent the black teen death and put everybody in a better situation in
this category it also show that the president is actually trying to show the people that he is
dealing with this problem first hand by making this training mandatory.
Hodson, Hal. "Why Are Police In The US So Violent?." New Scientist 224.2999 (2014):
1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.
This article shows the different cases of police brutality that has been taken place in the
United States of America. This article speaks on Michael Browns story of police
brutality, and Eric Garner stories of abuse by the police. This research was done by a man
named William Terrill and he called the research Broken Windows. This article speaks
on how their stories are so important and moving that each of these stories sparked
protests and marches and numerous events that spoke on these young men and the issue
that was at hand. This is a relevant topic to speak on because the material is up to date
within five years. This article explains why police are as violent as they were in the past
as well as possible reasons why they do the things that they do. Police officers have a

hard and scary job. Many people that they deal with either do not like them or they are
scared of them and both of these emotions will put an officer at risk of some type of
danger.
Hughey, Matthew W. "The Five Is of Five-O: Racial Ideologies, Institutions, Interests, Identities,
and Interactions of Police Violence." Critical Sociology Sept. 2015: 857-71. Print.
This source deals with my stereotype area. It talks about race and profiling innocent
people. It defines race, brutality, and police treatments. This source is an article and I found it in
the Auburn University at Montgomery database. The author and publication is relevant because
this was just published last year in September and it discusses an issue that I am going to be
discussing in my paper. This will go under my subtopic about why police stereotype people by
the way that a person looks. Some strengths in this resource is that it focuses on the racial
stereotype and profiling. It mostly deals with race and cruel treatment towards the minority
which is African and Latin America. It also speaks on why White America supports the treatment
that African and Latin America gets from police officers. This resource is weak in the area where
the only classes of police brutality that is being discussed is African and Latino America. I am
looking at police brutality in all races for all reasons and why. I am not just focusing on
minorities, I am focusing on all of America and discussing that police brutality is wrong no
matter who it is done to. This article does stand on valid information and does allow me to input
mu discussion into this in order to use this in my final paper. The writer presents his information
well supporting it with facts and reasoning. It can and also cannot stand up to a strong critical
evaluation from an academic scholar because it only discusses two types of social classes being
abused by police officers. In order for it to stand alone strongly, I feel that it should present
information for all social classes that get harsh treatment by police officers. I see myself using

this resource in the stereotype section of my paper to be able to discuss the racial issues of
stereotyping. This is indeed one of my building blocks for my paper, it is not one of my biggest
ones, but it is one of many.
Markman, Abe. "Why Are So Many Unarmed Black Americans Killed By The
Police?." Humanist 75.4 (2015): 8. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
This is another article also from the Auburn University Montgomery database. This
article brings up topics about the cause of law enforcement disorientation. To me this
author is focused on reasons why the police feel like they have to use such brutal force
when it comes to black teens even in situations. Other topics brought up in this article are
establishment of natives to incarceration on this topic the author probably discussed why
more young black men sentencings are demanding less reliance on mandatory sentencing
and the death penalty meaning why does it take them doing less than any other race to get
sentenced this punishment. Other topics include president Barack Obamas "Task Force on
21st Century Policing," this is a training for law enforcement, I would think this is for
protection for police officers and black civilians but basically putting them in situations
where they would have to address black teens in react in a nonviolent way and using
tactics to handle the scenario, he also want to reduce surveillance in neighborhoods when
crime is low probably so that African American neighborhoods wont feel scared or
threatened when law enforcement is in their neighborhood and that the race would know
that the only time law enforcement would be in the vicinity is when there is a crime
taking place.
Miller, Lisa L. miller@polisci.rutgers.edu Theory & Event. 2014 Supplement, Vol. 17, p1-1. 1p.

This article is about the shoot death of an unarmed teen by a white police officer who
shot him even after he said he surrender and had both hands in the air. This article was
found in the AUM multi search service. The name of the article is Racialized State
Failure and the Violent Death of Michael Brown. This article was based on an event
about police brutality and black teen lives. The strengths of this article is that it is based
on the Michael brown event that started as a an unarmed black teen execution, rapidly
became famous all over the U.S. and began riots and killing of cops and threats to kills
cops from enraged African American people and other citizens of the U.S. but all of these
events point back to police brutality. A good weakness of this article is that it doesnt
really speak from the police side of this situation it doesnt say what the officer was
thinking in the event of an unarmed black teens death or why he kept shooting after mike
surrendered or why he blew Michaels brains out on the concrete after the first couple of
shots it is just from angered individuals point of view. This article doesnt stand on its
own as a valid argument because it only supports facts from one side of the situation like
what if Michael said to the police Im going to get my gun to shoot you and took off
running or what if Michael and the police officer got into an altercation and Michael took
off running so the police didnt have a choice but no facts on any of these ideas or
thoughts. No this article would not stand up to a strong critical evaluation from an
academic standpoint because the argument are from one side so all the facts arent there.
I foresee myself putting this in my paper as evidence to support my topic of discussion.
PINTO, NICK. "When Cops Break Bad." Rolling Stone 1228 (2015): 42. MasterFILE Premier.
Web. 18 Mar. 2016.

This article above presents a Chicago shooting of a seventeen year old boy who was
bothering a police officer with a knife. In this sense, if the person is bothering the police
and does not stop, I feel that the police has all right to do any and everything to protect
oneself from danger. In that case, the police was in danger. The one thing that the police
did that was absolutely wrong is shooting the boy sixteen times to death. But, it was
proven that the police officer indeed murdered him and was abusing the young boy. The
people who protested the video being seen such as investigators, and the police
departments, were hiding that it was in fact a murder scene. They then apologized for the
death of the boy and the police officer was punished. This is reliable to use because it is
relevant and also because it is another sad story of abuse by the ones who are supposed to
be protecting the people of our country.
Rutkin, Aviva. "Policing the Police." New Scientist 226.3023 (2015): 20. MAS Ultra - School
Edition. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
This source tells how the president is trying to oversee the police departments and the
police officers reactions. The street cameras and cameras at stores, food places, and gas
stations and located in various places along the roads are not just for the people of the
city and to keep or driving the way that it is supposed to be; it is also for the purpose of
watching and capturing police stops that way there is video footage of what happened if
and when there is an incident. This shows the judges and other police departments and
other forces of authority that are above the police to know what really happened instead
of trying to decide who is right and who is wrong and whether or not it was murder or
defense or an accident if the person who is stopped by the police. Having video footage
and cameras to take various pictures help in a sense because one cannot say that

specifically something did or did not happen because it will be shown. This article also
explains how the footage will not be unable to be seen by authority.
Staples, Robert. "White Power, Black Crime, and Racial Politics." Black Scholar 41.4 (2011):
31. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.
This is another article and I found it in the Auburn University at Montgomery database.
This article talks about the way that African Americans are treated by the police officers. It
speaks on the punishments, discrimination, and profiling that Americans get from the police
officers in the United States. This article also discusses the brutality that is released upon the
minors and minority suspects. This publication is relevant because even though it is a 2011
article, these actions are still going on. This article is a strong article for my topic of discussion.
This is because it speaks on the action part of the bad treatments that police display among the
world. I do not see any weaknesses in this article, but at the same time I will not use completely
all of this articles information in my paper. It does stand alone in the argument, and it also can
be added into my paper because it has to do with police brutality. The writer presents the
information in this article very well. This is because there is support and there is also details. I
see me adding this into my paper in the stereotype area. This will be a more detailed source to
use. The source will be a building block because it provides details for me to use in the paper.
This article talks about how whites have the power and incriminate blacks and that it has mainly
to do with racial issues that the whites may have against blacks or even the other way around. It
still should be known that there is also black police officers that bother blacks just as much as the
white police officers do.
Straight Outta Compton. Dir. Gary F. Grey. Perf. O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason
Mitchell. Screenplay, August 15, 2015. VUDU.

This movie demonstrates a true story of how not only were poor black men treated
wrong by the police officers, but also that these men were rappers. They were famous
stars in the music industry who were not doing anything wrong. There was one powerful
scene in the movie where the group N.W.A., which stands for Niggas with Attitude, were
harassed by a couple of police officers. The officers came into the studio and got the
group and said that they were doing wrong, that they were not working in the studio and
that they did not belong and that they had to leave. This is not even the most surprising
issue. The surprising issue is that one police officer is white and the other is a black
officer and the black officer is harassing them more than the white officer is harassing
them. Police brutality is not always just white on black crime, it can also be the same
race harassing a person or group of persons. It took their manager having to stick up for
them so much that even he was almost arrested to get them to be released from the police
officers.

Working Title: How Can We Stop Police Brutality?

Working Introduction:
Police Brutality is not anything new to the world. Police brutality is something
that has been going on for decades and decades. Towards the end of the 1900s, police brutality
was very bad being that there was heavy racism and segregation for a while. Police brutality does
not happen to just the opposite races, it also happens to people who are the same race as the
police. We can stop police brutality by decreasing racism, social profiling, stereotyping, and
prejudices, and increasing the age that one can become a police officer, have more maturity, and
better training when becoming a police officer. If these things changed, we would have a better
system protecting the world and people would feel safer.
Working Thesis: We can stop police brutality by decreasing racism, social profiling, stereotyping,
and prejudices, and increasing the age that one can become a police officer, have more maturity,
and better training when becoming a police officer.
Entry 1:
Racism is an issue that has been in occurrence since old times and needs to be decreased
significantly. Racism causes unnecessary hate amongst people and is a taught behavior. No
person is born racist that is something that the parents teach a child and raises them on. Racism is
a belief that members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, and
this is used to distinguish it as inferior or superior to other races. This definition itself is not
something that one should believe or liv by because not one characteristic or ability belongs to
one specific racial group of people. An example of this is the police saying that the characteristic
of a criminal is only found in African Americans such as stealing or selling drugs but in reality,
anyone can steal and anyone can sell drug. A recent case of racism comes from the multimedia

search I found in the AUM database called Racialized State Failure and the Violent Death of
Michael Brown; this is a true story that recently happened where a young black man named
Michael Brown was over killed by a white police officer. The police officer shot this boy many
times even after he was dead and persisted to shoot his brains out after shooting him to death.
The police officer says that he felt threatened, but the boy had no weapons and also had
surrendered to the officer. Many other stories that were in the media a few years ago when this
happened said that the police officer stopped him because he had on saggy pants and a white tshirt and looked suspicious. Decreasing racism will really help the world change because all
people will be able to get along and not automatically dislike a person because this racial culture
is said to do certain things or look a certain way.
Entry 2:
Another issue that should be decreased and resolved is social profiling. Social profiling is
using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. In
this case, this comes from the movie Straight Outta Compton, the police officers stopped the rap
group N.W.A (Niggas with Attitude), from working in the studio because of how they were
dressed and because of the fact that they were black. The officers told them that they did not
belong there and that they were not doing any work leading to them being arrested because they
were up to no good in that area. It took their manager who was a white man to get them from
being arrested. He told the officers that they could not arrest them for doing what they were
supposed to be doing and for being young black men. Their manager almost got arrested as well
but his words to the officers made them realize that they were wrong and they left them alone.
Entry 3

Stereotyping is yet another that should be decreased because it does not help society as a
whole to become better at communication and connection. I say this because no one person does
not know if they actually like another person or have something in common with someone if
there is a stereotype that is in the way of them talking to someone and getting to know them.
Stereotyping is fixed image or idea of a particular type of person. Not only does society
stereotype, but police do it as well. Almost every police officer stereotypes just because they
need someone to be suspicious of when something has happened. For example, in Matthew
Hugheys "The Five Is of Five-O: Racial Ideologies, Institutions, Interests, Identities, and
Interactions of Police Violence, speaks on the stereotypes of African and Latin Americans and
how bad treatment towards these races are supported or overlooked by White America. It speaks
on the foods that these two cultures eat, the clothing that is worn, and the things that they do and
why it is all right for these two races to be treated wrongly. No race should be treated differently
because of their culture. Police do this in a sense of if someone is dressed in rough clothing or
oversized clothing, they are most likely to cause trouble. This is not a true observation because
there are poor families that have to shop in the places that they can and deal with too little or
oversized clothing. Other situations are when parents have many children and cannot afford
clothing for each child. This is where clothes are passed down to each child from the oldest one
or two. Another scenario is when churches or organizations give away clothes to the poor and
therefore they wear what they are given. Just because someones clothing is not fitted correctly
does not give anyone or even the police especially a reason to bother them.
Entry 4
The last thing that should be decreased is the prejudice that is carried around in this
world. This is similar to all the others before because it is another form of dislike of a person

because of either their race or culture. Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on
reason or even actual experiences. This is almost the same as stereotyping, but it is not a fixed
image of a person. Police often racially profile people in criminal acts Robert Staples, "White
Power, Black Crime, and Racial Politics" speaks on the prejudice and profiling that the police
often do as well as the crime that takes place after the discrimination and the prejudice. If the
police kept their feelings and personal racial issues to themselves and not brought it to their job,
things would be better off for the world as a whole. The personal issues, racism, stereotypes, and
social profiling are what causes these violent altercations amongst citizens and the police
officers.
Entry 5
However, with decreasing racism, social profiling, stereotyping, and prejudice; we should
increase the age that a person is able to become a police officer. Right now the age is eighteen
and nineteen years of age after completing the police training classes and graduating from the
class. I feel that this is too young of an age because one has basically just graduated high school.
One is not ready for that type of duty and responsibility, the mind of that person may not be fully
ready yet and the experiences that person is about to encounter is not like any other experience
that they have had coming from high school. The person needs to know the difference between
personal and professional. This means that if this person does not like a particular race, they need
to be able to not automatically accuse that racial group for a crime, meaning if someone got
robbed the newly police officer would not automatically blame every persons in that area that
was black, white, or whomever race that they oppose to. This also has to do with the maturity of
the person as well. With increasing age comes increasing development of the mind.
Entry 6

If maturity increased in police officers there would be less overkill of a suspected person.
Maturity is something that gradually happens throughout time. One is not fully developed at the
age of eighteen years of age. Most men and women are not fully grown and developed until
around age twenty-three to twenty-five. I do not feel that these are the ages that one should
become a police officer, maybe at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two. At these ages one will
have surpassed all the ages to do any and everything and will be more mature and smart. One
will be more focused on their life instead of themselves. Immature police officers are the ones
that shoot and kill for no reason when someone is unarmed and not being a threat to them and
then the police overkill the person just as in the Michael Brown case. Another case I found is the
New Scientist, Why Are Police in The US So Violent?" by Hal Hodson where there are more
cases of unarmed killings of young black men in America. The beatings and the shootings have
to stop because if the police do not, the civilians will not stop. This will become a war from what
I see because the more and more the police get violent for little to no reason, the more the people
of America is angered and grieved and come together to retaliate.
Entry 7
The last thing that should be increased is the training. The better and more training that
the officers are given I feel would be better than the training that they get when becoming an
officer. I feel that the training should not be just on how and when to use the weapons. They need
to train the officers on not only that but also why it is used and what the weapons purpose is. I
feel that officers should be trained in being professionals and to have compassion for everyone
that they encounter in the daily duties of being a police officer. The police officers should be
stern and professional, yet still having compassion and consideration in cases that they are
dealing with a victim even if the victim may be at fault, such as a car accident. Police officers

deal with many cases every day and it is important that we have good people protecting America.
They should be trained to put aside their personal oppositions such as racism, prejudice,
stereotypes, and social profiling to certain persons when on the job because this is how
altercations occur and violence happens. A police officer has no right to beat, accuse, or shoot
anyone for any reason besides in danger or threatened and they should be trained on that.
Conclusion:
Police brutality of any sort because of the following above is not acceptable because it is
simply a personal belief or feeling in that persons head. There is no reason for a police officer to
shoot, beat, or harm anyone who is not harming them or a hostage. Even if the police is the one
doing the killing and beating, it is still a crime and they can get punished for it. The punishment
may not be released to the world or be much at all, but they do get punished. I do believe that the
punishment should be just as hard on them as it is for citizens of America because they are no
different that the people of America. They have committed a crime and should be judged and
punished just as harshly as they would do anyone who is not a police officer. Honestly,
sometimes I feel as though just because the police are the police, they should be punished more
harshly than the citizens because they are in an authority presentation and are committing crimes.
Just decreasing the negative emotions towards other people that a person has and bettering the
departments and training of police officers, I feel will make a major positive impact on the
world. Police brutality is not something that is called for, it is something that the police choose to
do.