Alleyne 1

Victor Alleyne
Rhetoric and Civic Life
Dr. Lyn J Freymiller
Persuasive Essay
4/6/17

Putting an End to Police Brutality

Young Black men were nine times more likely to be killed by police than any other

American in 2015 with the total amount of deaths reaching 1,134 at the hands of law

enforcement (Swaine). This statistic is just one of many describing the dire situation between

Americas police and minorities, specifically African-Americans. It not only demonstrates the

systematic problem that police have with use of deadly force, but also the implicit racial bias that

the system perpetuates as people of color continue to be victimized the most. This social justice

epidemic is one that can be traced back past the inception of the Civil Rights Movement, though

this was the time when it began to gain the notable media attention. The federal government

needs to address police brutality because it constitutes a deeply-rooted structural problem that

has caused unimaginable amounts of grief and anger as it has been ignored too long by those in

command and requires action before any more lives are lost senselessly. Efforts at reducing and

eventually eliminating police brutality would include: nationwide stricter legislation on standard

operating procedures, race and gender diversification of police departments, wide-scale

implementation of body cameras, implicit bias eradicating activities and national use of the

community policing model.

Standard operating procedures have played a monumental role in police brutality

incidents as theyre almost always cited as the primary reason why officers shouldnt be

convicted because they obeyed the law and acted accordingly. A recent example illustrating

exactly why these regulations need to be revised in order to prevent further injury and loss of life
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took place in Fort Collins, Colorado on the 8th of April 2017 between twenty-two year old

Michaella Surat and an unknown police officer (Stelloh). The officer was attempting to subdue

Surat, who was minimally resisting, when he performed a standard arresting technique that

made her flip forward and face-plant on the ground. The video has since gone viral, sparking

mass debate as to whether the officer acted appropriately or used excessive force. As usual, the

Fort Collins police chief John Hutto claims that the footage doesnt tell the full story and that the

public musnt jump to conclusions until the internal investigation has been completed to uncover

what really transpired (Stelloh). This case was rather fortunate as Surat was able to walk away,

however the next adherence to standard operating procedure didnt end as well for the victim.

A video from March 31st, 2015 in Vineland, New Jersey depicted K-9 officer Louis Platania and

his partner Richard Janasiak allowing their dog to repeatedly bite the upper portion of Philip

Whites unconscious body including his chest, neck and head (Chang). Dumbfoundingly, police

chief of Vineland Timothy Codispoti stands by his statement that officers Janasiak and Platania

acted in accordance with the law and that the video doesnt depict the whole ordeal as White

allegedly reached for one of the officers guns. White was later pronounced dead at the

hospital, yet officers Janasiak and Platania havent faced any charges related to the incident.

There is a clear discrepancy between the standard operating procedures of law enforcement and

the safety of the public because too many victims have been claimed in events where police

officers abided by their instructions.

The graphic nature of Philip Whites K-9 assault and Michaella Surats takedown have

provided a well-needed and insightful point of view to the reality of law enforcements failing

standard operation procedures. These cases demonstrate why its essential to draft firm and clear

directives explaining the dos and donts for police officers because the nature of their work is
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difficult enough with the amount of discretion they have, however when that is coupled with

hazy and vague statutes, its unrealistic to hold them accountable for tragedies, even when it was

their actions that caused it. Furthermore, well-thought out and meticulous nationwide standard

operating procedures for Americas law enforcement would greatly assist in reducing police

brutality because it would clarify the line between necessary and excessive force which seems to

have been blurred for a while.

An introduction of more women and minorities in police departments is directly

correlated with improved public satisfaction rates notably resulting from a significant drop in

cases of police abuse of power. Studies have followed women and men police officers into

similar situations and have found that women are less authoritarian and reliant on physical force

leading them to become more effective communicators than their male-counterparts (Stringer).

This shows promise that the future of police is to some degree contingent upon its population of

female employees as theyve shown theyre considerably more successful at mediating situations

that have the potential to become aggressive and physical. The average male officer is more than

eight times more likely to have a complaint of excessive force sustained against him than the

average female officer due to the female officers reduced need to respond to defiance with

sudden use of force or confrontational language because they arent as personally challenged by

difficult suspects like male officers (Stringer).

A diversification in gender of law enforcement would also benefit society as a whole

because it would overcome the stereotypical gender roles that only men can be good, strong and

fast police officers, which is a notable advantage to the decrease in rates of police brutality that

increasing numbers of female officers would bring. Launching a campaign for larger numbers of

minority police officers doesnt exemplify as strong a correlation to a lack of police brutality
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incidents, though it has shown evidence of a deterrent effect because of the relationships that are

able to be established within the community (Stringer). Its crucial to note that these relationships

between minority police officers and minority community members arent facilitated alone by

their race and ethnicity nor is it the sole reason for why there arent tensions within the

community towards the police, rather the shared identity of race and agreement on policing

methods between the two parties are two factors that have probably led to the drop in law

enforcement maltreatment. Cases of police brutality could decline to a generous extent if the

federal government debuted programs that attracted substantial amounts of women and

minorities to police departments due to the way they make police brutality occurrences plummet.

National application of body cameras for police officers is a noteworthy component to

this process of decreasing law enforcement cruelty because it provides close to absolute

surveillance of an officers daily actions on the job. The body camera that police officers wear

symbolizes accountability and responsibility for their actions like never before because the

employment of this innovation is unprecedented in this line of work and they know every move

they make will be highly scrutinized. The use of this device has brought notable positive changes

in the interactions of police and the public as seen in multiple studies; police officers wearing

body cameras were more likely to initiate encounters and issue citations than those who didnt in

one study done with the Mesa Police Department in Arizona (Ready and Young 450). The most

probable reason for increased encounters while wearing the body camera is that the officers

mightve been worried about their superiors questioning their inaction of not addressing minor

violations and thus wanted to cover all their bases. The study found that police officers wearing

body cameras were 23.1% more likely to issue citations for ordinance violations, 13.5% more

likely to interact with public, 25.2% more likely to view cameras as beneficial than those without
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body cameras (Ready and Young 451). These statistics signify a strong correlation between

police behavior abiding by standard operating procedure and utilization of a body camera, which

is better in the long run for mutually positive relations with the community.

Inversely, the study revealed that police officers not wearing body cameras were 6.9%

more likely to make arrests and 9.8% more likely to perform stop-and-frisks which have been

deemed unconstitutional in certain places because theyve been tied to racial profiling policing

models (Ready and Young 452). Officers not wearing body cameras and following these racial

profiling policing models would be more likely to engage in police brutality because of the

nature of their activities and the element of racial bias in law enforcement abuse as a concept.

This doesnt mean that police officers who wear body cameras dont engage in controversial

activities or abuse their authority because there is plenty of evidence contrary to that notion,

however there is a greater probability that because of the lack of supervision that officers have

when not wearing body cameras, theyre more susceptible to participate in law enforcement

barbarity.

Bias reduction programs arent straightforward in directly leading to an ebb in police

brutality, though they still play a key part due to the promise that it has depicted in various

studies. The purpose of these meetings is to identify the implicit bias of police officers which in

this context refers to positive or negative mental associations one has of racial or ethnic groups

concerning descriptors like criminality or danger (Maron). One method that these programs take

is in the form of a lecture and discussion as designed by the Center for Policing Equity which

educates one on the destructiveness of implicit bias because it can cause discriminatory

judgements. This study was able to find that the police was nearly four times more likely to use

force against Blacks than Whites thus directly stating that implicit bias was a source of police
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brutality (Maron). Another method based in California police departments that also used a

discussion format found progress seen through Oaklands reduction in injury shootings by 38%

between 2012 and 2015 using violence-reduction strategies based on procedural justice

principles (Maron).

Additional encouraging evidence from psychology professor E. Ashby Plant, who created

a simulation with a Black and White suspect either holding a wallet or a gun, shows a future for

implicit bias training. Initially, all fifty officers continued to mistakenly shoot the Black suspect

and mistakenly not shoot the White suspect until halfway through, the officers were able

recognize their racial bias and correct it by disassociating the suspects race with the presence of

a weapon (Maron). Even though implicit bias training is still relatively new, the sizable amount

of studies favoring its effect on reducing police brutality is appreciable and serves as something

to look forward to. An implicit association test involved participants associating images of races

and ethnicities with threatening words and images; the majority of the participants repeatedly

associated Blacks with threats and that observation coupled with the fact that Blacks are 50%

more likely to be subjected to nonlethal uses of force testifies to the correlation between bias and

police cruelty. Mandating countrywide bias programs would assist the effort of reducing police

brutality because it would make officers, in theory, avoid being unjust and discriminatory.

The utilization of the community policing model is the linchpin of all these components

because they wouldnt be merely as effective if they didnt have this broad encompassing idea

that specifically targets community relations with the police which has everything to do with

police brutality. Community policing model refers to the system that police use to develop

interpersonal relationships with community members in order to work together and solve the

underlying causes of crime in a particular area. It has proven effective in lessening law
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enforcement cruelty cases through its positive relationship with police trust, legitimacy and

satisfaction (Gill 412). Approval by the public illustrates that the improvements of policing in the

community are distinguishable. Therefore, there shouldnt be many cases of police brutality, if

any. A study employing this framework found that 80% of these cases received majority citizen

satisfaction as they felt police interventions utilizing this style treated people more fairly than

before and it was associated with 5% to 10% greater odds of reduced crime (Gill 414).

Community policing represents a unique and genuine approach in criminal justice that is like no

other; it employs foot to foot patrols, educational programs and door to door surveys increasing

solidarity, integrity and respect of the community thereby unifying the police and the

neighborhood. Likewise, community policing is integral to declining rates of police cruelty

because it overcomes barriers and establishes concrete relationships that assist in avoiding these

cases.

The federal government should mandate firmer standard operation procedures,

employment of racial and gender diversity in police departments, use of body-cameras, implicit

bias programs and community policing on a national-scale to effectively begin the burdensome,

but necessary task of reducing and eradicating police brutality. Are they going to allow more

innocent lives to be taken by trigger-happy police and more communities be torn apart or are

they going to step up and take the first step to eliminating police brutality?
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Works Cited

Chang, David. "Police Chief Stands by Officers in Phillip White Case." NBC 10 Philadelphia. NBC 10

Philadelphia, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Gill, Charlotte. "Community-oriented Policing to Reduce Crime, Disorder and Fear and Increase

Satisfaction and Legitimacy among Citizens: A Systematic Review." Journal of Experimental

Criminology. 4th ed. 2014. Print.

Maron, Dina Fine. "How to Reduce Police Violence." Scientific American. Nature America Inc., 22 July

2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Ready, Justin T., and Jacob T.N Young. "The Impact of On-officer Video Cameras on Policecitizen

Contacts: Findings from a Controlled Experiment in Mesa, AZ." Journal of Experimental

Criminology. 3rd ed. 2015. Print.

Stelloh, Tim. "Caught on Camera: Police Body Slam Woman in 'standard Arrest Technique'."

NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 09 Apr. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Stringer, Kate. "We Already Know How to Reduce Police Racism and Violence." YES! Magazine.

Positive Futures Network, 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Swaine, Jon, Oliver Laughland, Jamiles Lartey, and Ciara McCarthy. "Young Black Men Killed by US

Police at Highest Rate in Year of 1,134 Deaths." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 31

Dec. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.