Running Header: POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

Police Brutality and its Reality in Society

Nathan J. Strandberg

Mona Shores High School

POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

With a newly founded importance on police brutality in the United States, the media has

begun to stir up controversy that isn’t truthful. This has begun to hurt public relations with

communities and has stirred up more shootings of police officers. This has caused fear in the

police, racial dividing, and fake statistics. What people don’t seem to notice is that police

brutality is not as big of a problem as the news makes it out to be.

BACKGROUND

With the shooting of Michael Brown on August 9th, 2014, protests were sparked around

the nation and called for the police officer Darren Willson to be convicted in a court of law. An

FBI investigation was launched after reports of Brown putting his hands up and saying “don't

shoot”, and the police officer shot him dead. After this FBI investigation was concluded, there

was no evidence that Brown had surrendered, but the city of Ferguson still rioted, and the news

said that the FBI investigation was not valid (Wikepidia, 2018). After this scenario, every time

there was a police shooting of a minority that could be questioned, it was questioned. The news

blew them out of the water and used public outrage to increase ratings and advance their political

agenda. The news has been able to control people and their political views, making it harder for

police to do their jobs and to police communities and the population as a whole. With the news

being such a big influencer in a country, allowing the news to spew fake statistics and instill fear

in the policing force makes this a dangerous time for America.

BODY PARAGRAPHS

With fear instilled into the police do to violent actions being taken against them, like the

2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, officers trying to do their jobs have become more fearful

while on duty. When it comes to policing, officers learn to survive by identifying dangerous
POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

people and situations. “Learning about these cases, you can see how the brain clearly shifts into

life preservation mode when it perceives a deadly threat” (Marcou, 2018). When dealing with

dangerous situations, police officers must make personal decisions on whether or not a person or

situation entails using force. This can make it hard for there to be a specific reason to use force

and decide whether or not it is a good decision too. When a sympathetic nervous system is

activated it ends up in the fight-or-flight response. This response could end up in the officer

using force. This is why when someone is killed by a police officer the officer responsible is

most likely in a situation where he is fighting for his life, or there is a reason for use of force.

These reasons have increased over time thanks to the news. In recent years, biased news

organizations have taken it upon themselves to start a crusade against the police in America.

They have preached racism in American police forces, and news organizations have given

reasons to be uncooperative with the policing forces in communities. “The media portrayal of

police brutality is often significantly different from reality. Although the cases of police

shootings mentioned in recent headlines are dreadful, there is no empirical evidence that police

brutality is rampant in the nation” (Redenbaugh, 2001). Yes, the death of any civilian is very

dreadful, but when it comes to a dangerous situation it could possibly be the police officer’s life

or suspects. By making the public think there is a possibility of being killed or hurt by a police

officer during an investigation; it makes it harder for police officers to keep situations under

control and calm. When it comes to a police situation, keeping calm and cool can be the

difference between a situation turning violent or staying peaceful. This is why we must inform

people of the reality of police brutality, and we need to help improve public relations with the

police and their communities.

POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

With there already being a divide in minority communities with police, having the news

blow police brutality and shootings of minorities out of the water will begin to widen this divide

in minority communities. It will make it harder to police in largely minority neighborhoods due

to the widening divide. “The police have simply withdrawn from the battlefield. They have done

so not out of cowardice or indifference, but because it has become all but impossible to enforce

the law in predominantly black neighborhoods without incurring charges of “racism” (Norman,

2004). In today’s society, there needs to be policing more than ever. Due to urbanization, the

density of crime and crime, in general, has been increasing. Racism being affiliated with police

has become a major problem for police officers as it makes it harder to deal with the minority

population mostly because of the possibility of being labeled a racist or a bigot in public eyes.

Most people, including the news, think that stopping this divide between minority populations is

easy. “The report implies that police shootings are primarily a racial problem, one that could be

resolved by “diversity” or “cultural training” initiatives” (Redenbaugh, 2001). The divide with

minorities and police has been present for centuries and is a complicated topic that is hard to

solve. This racial divide continues to be a present problem for police officers to deal with when

doing their jobs. Minorities tend to be more hostile, uncooperative and scared of the police do to

the misconceptions that police are racist and out to get them. This makes police brutality reports

come up more often than not due to communities not trusting police officers. This is why it is so

crucial for the news and public to try and understand what it entails to be a police officer and the

tremendous amount of courage it takes to do it daily.

With fear and racial tensions rising in America, there are statistics floating around trying

to make a problem seem much bigger than it really is. In the state of Maryland, the total African
POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

American population in 2010 was 30-35%. In an analysis, Gale, Cengage Learning mapped

police violence in every state by total officer-involved deaths per million from January

2013-April 2016. In the state of Maryland, there were 0-19.9 police-involved shootings from

January 2013-April 2016 (Gale, 2017). The state of Maryland as of 2016 has 6.025 million

people. This means that there were relatively low police shootings from January 2013-April

2016. This just goes to show that there were relatively low police-involved deaths in the state

with such a small population. With the numbers being so low on police-involved deaths in many

of the states just like Maryland; it goes to show that the exaggeration of police-involved deaths,

using excessive force or not, is relatively low. Another statistic that the news is purposely

avoiding is the fact that police deaths have risen to do to statistics and biased news. “65 law

enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, a rise from 50 officers killed in the line of

duty during the first half of 2016” (Davis, 2018). With officers dying in the line of duty due to

increased opposition to police enforcement caused by untruthful statements and statistics that the

news has portrayed as truthful, people have been given more reasons to defend themselves from

policing. This distrust that has been manufactured in communities has led to a higher rate of

police deaths. This is due to the misconception that police officers are against them and need to

be stopped.

COUNTER-ARGUMENT

There are many views on police brutality and its presence in the United States. One of the

biggest views is that there needs to be policing of the police force to better stop police brutality

and excessive force. The problem with policing the police force is it hinders their job to

effectively respond and protect a police officer’s life. “Research shows that perceived legitimacy
POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

of law enforcement is crucial to effective law enforcement” (Friedman, 2014). When a

community does not trust the people that are supposed to protect a community from harm, the

people protecting the community end up having to work harder to try and earn that trust before

trying to help you. This is a step that can mean the difference between a police-involved death or

a ticket. Another viewpoint is that there shouldn’t be the use of excessive force because there is

training designed for police officers to stop this. The problem with that argument is that police

officers are trained to protect themselves from any harm it perceives especially if it is deadly.

“Police are trained to stop a dangerous, life-threatening or murderous behavior. This holds true

for all police departments across the country” (Jacobo, 2016). This is why it is easy and

necessary for a police officer to use force. They perceive it as necessary to protect themselves

and stop people from getting hurt. Putting the blame on officers seems to be a problem. It is the

job of a citizen to act accordingly when in contact with the police and cooperate with them. It

isn’t the police’s job to let them be uncooperative and potentially gets hurt because they don’t

want to listen to orders given.

CONCLUSION

The United States has had a problem with police brutality for centuries but is being

exaggerated in today’s society. With the help of news organizations and political organizations,

police brutality has become a forefront in today’s political discussion. This is a problem because

of the increased fear, racial divide, and fake statistics being shown and presented in the United

States. The way police have been treated in the United States has become a problem and has

made it harder for police to protect their communities. This is why there must be more support
POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

for police officers and their duties to protect citizens the best way possible, even if that means

having to use force.

Reference Page

Davis, P. (2018). Police Officers Need to Use Excessive Force to Do Their Jobs. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ZYPJUY840638874/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OV

IC&xid=dde10b1c

Friedman, M. (2014, September 9). What Happens When We Don't Trust Law Enforcement?.

Retrieved from

http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brick-brick/201409/what-happens-when-we-dont-t

rust-law-enforcement-0

Jacobo, J. (2016, July 7). Why Police Aren't Trained to Shoot to Wound. Retrieved from

http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-trained-shoot-wound-experts/story?id=40402933

Norman, G. W. (2004). Unproven Accusations That the Police Use Racial Profiling Discourage

Effective Policing. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010057249/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&x

id=450f11fd

Marcou, D. (2018, February 5). How fear helps cops survive. Retrieved from

http://www.policeone.com/Officer-Safety/articles/470598006-How-fear-helps-cops-survive/
POLICE BRUTALITY AND ITS REALITY IN SOCIETY

Gale. (2017). Rates of Police-Involved Deaths in the US by State. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/WDEDUE089736920/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=O

VIC&xid=b19e41c4

Redenaugh, R. G. (2001). The Extent of Police Brutality Is Exaggerated. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010156234/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&x

id=6adbb5e0

Wikipedia. (2018, November 25). Shooting of Michael Brown. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown

The International Association of Police Chiefs. (2004). The Police Rarely Use Excessive Force.

Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010057235/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&x

id=b7e32138