Joseph 1 Nick Joseph Mrs. Gallegos Language Arts 2, Period 2 10 March 2017 Black Lives Matter Police brutality can be defined as a form of abuse that officers use to enforce law. In the article “Police brutality and the abuse of power the new norm’” by Mai Nowlin it explains how police abuse their power in order to make themselves feel better about themselves. They falsify evidence and lie about it. In another article “Excessive or reasonable force by police"” by Wihbey and Kille it explains how police don’t abuse power, they are just trying to protect us. They are even afraid of people because they don’t know what is going to happen in the next few moments. As a result, police abuse their power because they are shooting people unnecessarily and they are dishonorable, Opponents of this view would argue that police don’t abuse power because police officers are just trying to protect us and make us believe in them; however, police still abuse power because police officers are not responsible enough to enforce the law and officers can't even be trusted with a weapon. Police abuse their power because they are shooting people unnecessarily and they are dishonorable. In the article “Police brutality and the abuse of power’? Mai Nowlin, the author states that “the police are shooting and killing residents, but then claiming somebody had a ‘weapon or made a sudden move causing them to fear for their lives”* (1). This means that the officers are lying because they don’t want to get in trouble. This is significant because the police officers are going back to work the next day causing more problems for the minorities and theJoseph 2 community. Another example of how police are disgraceful is when the author states, “The problem is heating to a rapid boil as the recent events surrounding the homeless man who was killed by police in Albuquerque have shown’” (1). This shows that the officers are not taking steps to stop the situation. This helps reveal that no one is really safe from the police. Opponents of this view may argue that police brutality is not an abuse of power because police officers are just trying to protect us and make us believe in them. For example, the author argues that “with a higher homicide rate the police officers are having a hard time controlling it”” (Wihbey, kille). This means that officers are trying to be stricter because of the murder that is happening. This significant because the high murder rates make officers fear for their own lives. Another example of how police don’t abuse power is when the author states that “when officers. are wearing body cameras we can trust them more because they can see everything that is, happening” (wihbey, kille 1). This shows that if police officers wear body cams citizens can feel more safe. This is significant because without police having body cams the murder rate would go up even more. Although opponents would argue that police brutality is not an abuse of power because police officers are just trying to protect us and make us believe in them. The reality is that police brutality is still an abuse of power because police officers are not responsible enough to enforce the law and officers can’t even be trusted with a weapon. For example, the author argues that “The rampant and heinous abuse of those officers who operate outside the perimeters of their ‘sworn duties has become much more than just troubling” (Nowlin 1). This shows that with officers running around killing innocent people who will protect if we can’t put our lives in the officer’s hands. This is important because it proves that can’t trust our so called trustworthy officers at all, and officers should stay in line and do their duties. Another example of how policeJoseph 3 brutality is still and abuse of power is because police are not responsible enough enforce the law and make us believe in them is when the author states that “The threat of police brutality and the abuse of power becoming the new norm is proving to be a deadly combination for both citizens and those charged policing them” (Nowlin 1). This means that police officers are just plain racist when driving around in public and they don’t care about the law and what it means. This helps to reveal that police officers think they are superior because all they do is punk people or bully them to show off. In conclusion police brutality is an abuse of power because they burst into people’s homes, they falsify reports it is an officers job to protect us, and they never are defending us. If police brutality and the abuse of power. Continues'to occur, then people will get abuse more and it will tum into anarchy. Therefore, to combat this abuse of power, people need to speak up and protest against police brutality because it is important for us to stand up against it so it doesn’t happen ‘anymore. People can do this by going to the police department and protest about the abuse that is happening. So finally we can have peace in our city.