SOLUTIONS TO POLICE BRUTALITY
The
problem that is police brutality, which is more than often influenced by class
distinctions and racism, has a great effect currently and in the past across
American society. It is not just a problem in Ferguson, where Brown was shot
and killed on August 9th, 2014 or in New York, where Abner Louima was sodomized with a broken broomstick on 1997. Although it is true that police work will always include the possibility of justifiable homicide by cops, there are existing laws at the local, state, and national level that can help generate an organism of responsibility that does not produce large ratios of ‘justified’ shootings and that restores the trust in police forces. Many other modifications can limit the kinds of civil-officer interaction police officers are permitted, ordered, and even required to have with civilians.
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Body cameras and other types of surveillance
Police body cameras have gotten a lot more exposure since the Brown case in Ferguson became national news. However, it is extremely alarming that this system has yet to be adopted leads to even more problems that are needed to be addressed. Ed Krayewski, in his article Four Police Brutality Reforms to Focus On: A Libertarian Take, states: “Now the police department says it’s going to raise money for body cams and dash cams as part of an effort to rebuild trust with the community. The lack of dash cam is particularly disturbing—one study found dash cam video exonerated cops in 93 percent of instances, something Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey mentioned in a 2013 column, ‘Watched Cops are Polite Cops.’”
As recent as of December of the past year, President Obama established a plan to put an end to police brutality in which he talked about creating a $75 million dollar budget to spend on just police body and dash cameras for police agencies nationwide. However, in his article Flitting Between Solutions For Police Violence, Gene Demby discusses with two experts the fact of police cooperation when using the recording equipment provided by the departments, to which they responded: “"One key problem: officers control the record button. They decide when to turn on and off the cameras and have little to fear when violating department policies about recording, Fusion's analysis found. In many use of force incidents, camera footage doesn't exist, is only partially available, or can't be found. And when body cameras are turned on, the footage usually favors the officer's account, according to police, law enforcement experts and public defenders we spoke with."” |
A More Representative Police Force
During the protests in Ferguson there was one fact that kept being tossed around, and it was the large distrust between the city's black residents and its police officials. Fifty of the fifty-three officers in the St. Louis suburb are white, while more than two-thirds of Ferguson's resident are black. Sadly, this doesn’t happen just in Ferguson but in many cities in the U.S. This has led to the prevalent call for police departments to diversify. However, it is not known if diversity has a positive effect on the relationship between the police and community or the shootings. Officers, regardless of race, can become and become accustomed to the attitude and methods followed in their departments. “Black officers aren't necessarily viewed with less suspicion when they're doing the job or less contempt when an encounter becomes calamitous”, states Demby. Police diversity might be a praiseworthy goal and there might be a vast amount of reasons that police and civilian encounters should be recorded. However, both approaches are distinct from bigger and far more challenging conversations about law enforcement policy. |
education and training for police officers
Historically, many citizens have demanded that police officials gain more education and training as part of one the many attempts to solve the problem that is police brutality. Nowadays, this seems a less vital issue. This is because the educational levels of American police officers have had a drastic change in recent years. According to the American Civil Liberties Union in the 70’s only 3.7 percent of the nation's police officers had four or more years of college and by the late 80’s it had risen to a shocking 22.6 percent.
In addition to that, the training of all police personnel has improved. “The average length of police academy programs has more than doubled, from about 300 to over 600 hours; in some cities, 900 or even 1200 hours are the rule” states the ACLU. Not only that but as a result of the time spent training, the academics have become more demanding by adding courses in the academies such as race relations, handling the mentally ill, and many others. As stated in all the points earlier it's extremely hard to know for sure how police diversity, police training and body cameras might affect the use of force. Whatever the solutions to the problem of police brutality might be, it's hard to argue that any thing might be a solution when we don't yet have a clear grasp on the possibilities or consistency of the problem. |
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Gallery
Sources:
- Knight, Floyd. "A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality." (n.d.): n. pag. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
- Huggins M. Christopher. “Traffic Stop Encounters: Officer and Citizen Race and Perceptions of Police Propriety.” American Journal of Criminal Justice 37.1 (2012) : 92-110. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Feb. 2015