TERMINATING POLICE BRUTALITY

By: Claudia Gutierrez

Salt Lake Community College

Sociology 1010 (8:00 a.m.- 8:50 a.m.)

TERMINATING POLICE BRUTALITY

INTRODUCTION
Police brutality has become a very big issue within todays society. Whether youre
African American, White, Indian, Mexican, or whatever else your race may be, one cannot deny
that it is a growing concern within the world. Although police brutality happens to every race, it
has been happening to African Americans more frequently. African Americans have been facing
police brutality 30 percent as a whole in the United States, a disproportionate number
considering blacks make up 12 percent of the U.S. population. (Jasper 2015:11). The percentages
are not accurate it is just an estimate, because police brutality goes unreported because the law is
usually on their side, they will believe the Police officer no matter what. (Scott 2015:12). There
have been various solutions to this problem but there is still a long way to go to tear down this
problem within society.
Police brutality has been involved mainly in physical aspects towards other people. It has
been issued mostly with people who are unarmed but seemed like a threat police officers felt
threatened and so they beat down someone who was innocent and seemed menacing. This
mainly only happens with people who are African American or of color. This has been caused
because of one main reason which is that people who are of the Caucasian race have more rights
with not only the state, but with society itself. Caucasian race has always been seen as a more
innocent race other than people of color. Its just the basic truth. Caucasian races do not face
racism as people of color do such as being African American and being stared at while shopping
because people perceive African Americans to be thugs or seeing a Muslim in the airport with

a Hijab and thinking that they are terrorists. All these things are aspects of racism which is a
big part of police brutality. This happens to every race as well, it has just been more focused on
people of color, but regardless of race, there must be a stop to this.
INFORMATION ABOUT RESEARCH
Police brutality has been happening so frequently that every 8 hours an unarmed civilian
is killed (Scott 2015:12). This is very worrisome. One incident that was an outrage in the black
community was an incident from an 18 year old named Eric Garner who was selling loose
cigarettes, and once approached, he told the police officers Every time you see me you want to
mess with me. It stops todayIm minding my business, officer. Why dont you just leave me
alone? after these words he got tackled and held in a choke hold by four police officers and his
last words were I cant breathe (Scott 2015:14). Eric Garner was unarmed and the force of
violence was not necessary which contributes to show how bad police brutality has gotten.
Another example of police brutality was when a man named Oscar Grant was shot and killed by
a police officer claiming he was reaching for his Taser and accidentally used his gun and shot
three times. He only served a year in prison for doing so. (Scott 2015:14). Police officers get
backed up so much by the law that they are almost always going to be seen as the victims.
According to The New York Times, the government intercepted a phone call between two
officers and police officer was caught saying he Fried another nigger when he arrested an
African American. (Scott 2015:15). Showing that racism contributes to the police brutality as a
whole. In an anonymous study done by the Washington University, they anonymously questioned
random police officers and asked them to be honest about who they would use Police brutality on
if necessary, people of color or a Caucasian. Over 75% reported that they would use it on
someone of color more than someone who is white. (Lopez 2015:60). This issue with police

brutality has not been a new issue. Police brutality has been going on since the 1960s when
citizens protested for the civil rights movement. (Scott 2015:16). Although we have a lot of
issues that have been reported with police brutality, we have come a long way, but still have a
long way to go to fix these issues.
According to other statistics done by the University of Oklahoma, they stated that if
police stopped killing unarmed African Americans, it would not affect the race at all because
African Americans kill twice of their own race than cops do alone. (Jasper 2015:11). This is
true, but considering that they live in poverty or in gangs, it is inevitable itll happen, which is
another issue that needs to be fixed. Plus, that does not justify anything that the police officers
are doing, it is not right that a trained police officer is mistaking his gun for a Taser, or seeing
someone who is unarmed as menacing and feels the need to shoot them 6 times just to be
safe. These issues are very upsetting and it has even been said that it seems like the civil rights
movement is happening all over again (Scott 2015:12). Not only has these issues been happening
with adults, but there have been innocent children being attacked as well. In one report, a mother
was walking her toddler outside to play with him, and a police officer claims to have
accidentally shot the innocent toddler by mistake by aiming at another target who was on the
run. The toddler was instantly killed and the mother simply stated We live in a world where
police brutality is deemed acceptable. I had no one crying or mourning for my child because he
was black. And thats the harsh truth. The law will hold the officer in prison for no more than 5
years. But if my child was white you sure would hear all hell break loose for little John. And that
breaks my heart to pieces. (Scott 2015:11). This is a very heart breaking issue, that although
was not meant to kill the toddler, it did and now that mother has to live with the heartbreak for
the rest of her life. Another case where police brutality was issued, was when a man called to

report that his medical alert bracelet was accidentally activated and he did not need assistance yet
the police officers ignored his statement, showed up to his house and called him a Nigger and
fatally shot him all because they said that a 68 year old man was menacing. (Scott 2015:14). The
officers were not fully charged and it was claimed to be a misunderstanding. All these issues with
police brutality are very real and it is possible that all the citizens facing all these problems want
to start a whole new civil rights movement.
CONCLUSION
All that has been happening, is affecting not only the people facing police brutality, but
the ones who are bystanders as well. It is giving a bad reputation to the United States of America
as a whole. We should not be seen as a nation that is filled with violence and racism. We are a
nation that states we are all equal no matter what and have the same rights and opportunities
regardless of skin color. If we are just bystanders we need to stand next to our brothers and
sisters facing all this police brutality and cause an end to this. All for one and one for all. There
have been some attempts to find a solution such as a study done by Rialto, Calif. police that was
conducted from February 2012 to July 2013. This study consisted that group of police officers
wore tiny cameras while they were associating with citizens. According to the New York Times,
the video cameras resulted in a 60 percent drop in the use of force because their every move was
being recorded, and it also resulted in an 88 percent drop in citizens filing police complaints.
This solution seemed very promising but sometimes even when they are filmed, the police
officers are not held with blame. One solution that could work is teaching our kids that skin color
is not an important factor. Although this is a solution that is reserved for the future, it is
something that needs to be done. We may have messed up this generation, but we have the
possibility to reserve a new generation that does not focus on skin color. We want to make this

generation something that will benefit our future children, and grandchildren so we do not live in
a world focused on skin color. Another possible solution is starting to teach kids in school that no
race is superior to another. We should also hold more police officers with a body camera, because
although sometimes the abuse is deemed as okay it can stop some police officers from using
brutality against unarmed citizens. Police brutality is a serious thing, but together we can teach
everyone that it is not right unless necessary. Police officers are not bad people, the majority of
them are here to help, but in other cases they can be seen as the bad guy, just remember they are
people like us as well, with a big responsibility. Always be respectful to police officers because
they are putting their life on the line to protect yours. Police brutality can be stopped if we base
our actions on treating others how we would want to be treated.

Annotated Bibliography:

Rion Amalcar, Scott. "The Etiquette of Police Brutality." The Etiquette of Police Brutality Winter
2015 (2015): 12-17. Print.
The author in this article speaks about how police brutality is a serious thing in todays society.
Many unarmed black males have been killed and usually its moments where shooting was not
necessary. There have also been many black children killed by police because they were
suspicious and the police decided the only way to stop a child is to shoot them. The author
researches and tries to find if it is possible for cops to do their job without killing.

Jasper, W. (2015). Are Local Police to blame? Are Local Police to Blame?, 31(18), 8-13.
In this article the author researches about how citizens are blaming police officers for police
brutality. He studies about incidents and realizes that in some situations the victim is of blame
just as much as the police officer. In other incidents he researches that the police is more to
blame than the victim because it is not right for them to shoot an unarmed victim. They are the
professionals there and they should act like it not like children with guns.

Lopez, Oscar. "How We Shoot Back." How We Shoot Back 164.2 (2015): 58-60. Print.
This author talks about ways that black activists can express change within the issue of police
brutality. The article talks about how the everyday person can protest about police brutality
without using violence. Citizens can do everyday changes as long as they do not give back
violence and do not give them a reason to blame the police brutality on the citizens themselves.

References:

Rion Amalcar, Scott. "The Etiquette of Police Brutality." The Etiquette of Police Brutality Winter
2015 (2015): 12-17. Print.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=1b697d6a-50f4-4dcda35c-ccd7276f4c9a%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4203&bdata

Jasper, W. (2015). Are Local Police to blame? Are Local Police to Blame?, 31(18), 8-13.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=17&sid=1b697d6a-50f4-4dcda35c-ccd7276f4c9a%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4202&bdata=JnNpdGU9

Lopez, Oscar. "How We Shoot Back." How We Shoot Back 164.2 (2015): 58-60. Print.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=15&sid=1b697d6a-50f4-4dcda35c-ccd7276f4c9a%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4202&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRz