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Holden Price

Professor Hunter

English Composition II

7 February 2022

Factors of Police Brutality

As everyone’s life comes to an end, most people imagine going out in a peaceful way.

Maybe going out while you’re asleep or watching the sunrise. Many people die in a calm and

soothing manner. Some are not so lucky, especially in the case of George Floyd. Picture this, a

man holding his knee onto your neck, not allowing for you to breathe. Several minutes go by and

you

Fig. 1, France-Presse

decide to plead for your life, begging the man to let off so you can breathe. The man does not

listen and instead, leaves his knee there for even longer. More minutes pass and eventually, your

body can no longer take it and it gives out. What a way to go out. Your final breaths are taken not

only in an uncomfortable way, but in a horrific way. This is only one of many different scenarios

that play out throughout the world. These events are a direct representation of police brutality.
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Police brutality is “the unnecessary and unwanted use of force by law enforcement” (Kellings 1).

It is a civil rights violation and is also recognized as a severe form of police misconduct. With all

of this in mind we are led to the question, What are the factors that go into police brutality? The

only factors to look at when discussing police brutality are lack of accountability, job stress,

inadequate laws governing police officers, and improper training of police officers.

Decades ago the whole entire idea behind police brutality was different. It is very

stereotypical for police officers in movies, that are set back in time around the 1900’s, to do

things that you do not commonly see today. Although they are just movies, in reality the same

things occurred and are still occurring to this day. Actions by police officers were not put out for

everyone to see as they are now. In this current day in age, police brutality and other aspects of

law enforcement are put out on display for everybody. Now, people are not scared to speak up for

themselves and for others. It is common now for people to videotape the police while they are

interacting with them or others on the street. Recent events that have led to riots and protests

have caused this change.

As we already know, the killing of George Floyd was tragic and heartbreaking. George

Floyd’s death is not the only death that has taken place in this manner. Many other people are

killed by police officers, and some are even swept under the rug by not being reported in the first

place. Other popular names thrown around the surface of the internet are Breonna Taylor, Daunte

Wright, Andre Hill, and Manuel Ellis. These are just a few of the many names people need to

hear. These names and many others are recognized through a movement that has been created

called “Know their names''. Another popular movement labeled “Say their names'' was also

created in order to bring awareness to the people that are killed in the United States each and

every year. Many of these people lost their lives over things that they could not control. Daunte
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Wright was shot during a traffic stop when he attempted to get back into his vehicle. The officer

claimed that she mistook her gun as her taser. Thankfully, the female officer was charged with

second degree manslaughter (Jazeera 3). Police brutality events do not always end this way or

lead to proper justice for the deaths of these people. As I previously mentioned, many cases go

unrecognized and unrecorded.

A lack of accountability, something that most people do not want to associate themselves

with. This leads us into our first factor that contributes to police brutality. Police officers are

supposed to have respect for life, liberty, and property. The same as everyone else in our country.

According to OJP.gov, They are “guided by the principles of justice and are supposed to have the

highest ethical standards that they possibly can.” One of the main concerns when it comes to the

lack of accountability for police officers, is the way in which they are investigated. In many

parts of the country, police are allowed to police and investigate themselves without any

oversight being needed. For example, according to the American Bar Association, In Maryland,

police are provided a variety of protections that let them investigate themselves without any

oversight being needed. The Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights states that police only

investigate themselves and that police also get to decide the disciplinary actions for their fellow

officers. The Maryland Public Information Act does not allow for records on the police to be

given out to the public for them to review. This is basically saying that the community has no

way of participating or even knowing about the investigations going on regarding police officers.

If communities around the country want to hold police officers accountable then policies such as

these need to be addressed.

While our main focus is looking into the factors of police brutality itself, we can see how

the lack of accountability for police officers influences police brutality. One way suggested to
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address the lack of accountability is the issuing of civil payouts to the families of those that are

killed by the police. As if there is even any amount of money to make families forget about

losing their loved ones. Many people feel that this is taking the easy way out to excuse the

unlawful killings of people by the police. A major issue discussed when it comes to the lack of

accountability would be the rehiring of officers that have been fired for some sort of misconduct.

If an officer does something wrong for a department that is serious enough for him to be fired,

then it would make sense for him to not be qualified to work for another department. One final

aspect to take a look at when discussing the lack of accountability for police officers would be

the amount of time it takes for police officers to be charged. According to Brookings.edu,

“prosecutors want to make the assumption that every time a police officer is involved in

something, they did it for good reason and were justified in their actions.” Sometimes

prosecutors make this assumption when the complete opposite has occurred. This allows for

police officers to consult with lawyers, and in some cases look and view evidence from the case

being built on them. If they were normal citizens and not police officers, they would not receive

this special treatment. Prosecutors tend to take their time, and make sure that they have complete

confirmation that they need to move forward with pressing charges on police officers.

The next factor up for discussion would be the job stress that police officers go through

on a daily basis. Before we get into how job stress plays a role in police brutality, let’s first

discuss stress signs and the emotions that police officers go through. Big indicators are a sudden

change in behavior either at work or at home. Erratic work habits are also common. Police

officers that seem to be sick more often than usual could be potentially exaggerating to avoid

going to work. An increase in worrying and paranoia in the job. The paranoia is one of the

biggest ones as it can affect police officers at home, causing them to scare their own family.
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There is the stress of knowing that there are people out there either counting on you to protect

them, or there are people out there who are against you and do not respect you. Another thing to

factor into job stress is the excess amount of paperwork that needs to be done because of the

things police officers do throughout their shifts. Many officers report that they feel like they do

not have enough free time because of all of their responsibilities outside of their normal working

hours (Rayshawn Par. 6). Many times, officers are asked to appear in court because of their

affiliation with a current case. All of these things can lead to a massive amount of stress being

brought down onto a police officer, thus leading them to act differently than they usually do.

Police officers are also at a greater risk of various health problems due to the stress brought upon

them by their profession. (Chickmen 4). Now that we know the factors leading to the stress of

police officers, we can see how these different types of stress lead to police officers lashing out,

leading to police brutality.

With these different stresses, comes different actions by police officers. The biggest

factor is when police officers feel as if they are not respected. When police officers feel that their

community does not respect them and does not enjoy their presence, they tend to lash out. Most

of the time they are not put in the situations to lash out, so you do not always see it. However, if

a police officer is put into a high stress situation where they may not have control, that is where

you can see them lash out and do something out of the ordinary such as being overly aggressive.

When there is any hostility brought towards a police office, especially one that is already stressed

out from their job, problems occur. Many times, the police officer will reflect on the bad

decisions they made and realize that they let the stress and emotion get the best of them.

Typically, if a police officer ever does come to these terms with themselves, it is usually too late.
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The next factor that contributes to police brutality is inadequate laws that govern police

officers. This starts from the top of the food chain. Before looking at police officers themselves,

we have to talk about the people that give police officers their orders to follow. Lethal force is a

big part of this discussion. Lethal force is “the use of force that is likely to cause serious bodily

injury or death to another person” (Harmon Par. one). Surprisingly enough, lethal force is

something that is addressed and actually recommended by some places in the country. Many

states have laws governing lethal force, explaining that their police officers need to be educated

on when lethal force is necessary and when it is not. However, here in the United States there are

9 states that do not have any laws specific to law enforcement and their ability to use lethal force

(Amnesty International Par 7). This allows for free range for police officers to decide for

themselves when lethal force can be used. Lethal force is a big controversy when it comes to

police brutality. Police brutality is made up of lethal force and excessive force that results in

serious injury. Many people believe that there should not be a place in the world that does not

have specific laws set in stone regarding the use of lethal force.

These inadequate laws do not completely excuse the actions that officers take when they

use lethal force in an incorrect manner. Police officers themselves should be able to know right

from wrong when it comes to these things. They are the ones that are supposed to know the laws,

and make sure they are being enforced to the best of their abilities. However, these places that

either have no law or inadequate ones governing their officers, should take part of the blame.

The final factor that leads to police brutality is improper training. Police officers spend

many hours in the police academy, learning laws and how to enforce them. On average, police

academies spend around 8 hours on conflict resolution and de-escalation tactics. They also spend

upwards of 60 hours on firearms training. 51 hours are also put into self defense skills. (Preston
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Par 9). Now the balance between those hours is not very even. Many argue that if police officers

spent more time working on their de-escalation tactics, then police brutality would not be as

prevalent as it is today. With a small amount of time being spent on de-escalation, it can be easy

to see why some police officers may not have those skills mastered yet. Reforms have been

suggested, and in some places in the country have passed. These reforms range from new and

improved programs to police academies all the way to the people that are qualified to instruct

cadets attending police academy.

Law enforcement experts say that many police academies and academy instructors

believe that their way of doing things is correct. They are all mostly opposed to change and

reform in their academies. The argument can go back and forth. The current way that most of the

police academies in the country operate is a military style based training program, focusing more

on the physical conditioning along with hours and hours of firearm instruction. Little amounts of

time are spent on the mental side of being a police officer. As previously mentioned, it would be

easy to see how police officers can find themselves with charges against them for police brutality

actions, if they have not been trained in a proper way to show them how to do their job correctly

while also respecting others rights.

Many people try to argue that police brutality has nothing to do with a build up of

multiple different things. Instead, people believe that it is solely based upon racism. They believe

that every single aspect of violent acts by police are racially motivated and that there are no other

leading factors that can contribute to police brutality. The argument also spans over to the fact

that the majority of the people killed by the police are minorities. Black people are the lead

minority when it comes to these statistics. Many of the names previously mentioned here were

people that were African Americans. It does seem all too common that it is a black person that is
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being killed by police officers. The main idea of the argument is that the one and only reason that

police lash out and commit acts of police brutality is because of race. While you cannot speak for

every single person that has been killed or seriously injured for unnecessary reasons, it cannot be

assumed that it is always about race during every single incident. The fact of the matter is, there

is a build up of several factors that do contribute to police brutality events taking place. While

there are some people that believe that the factors cannot be used as an excuse, there are some

that believe the factors still play a role. It is not fair to say, even when talking about the police

officers that do horrible things, that they did it out of pure meanness and racial aggression.

Rather, you have to view all of the contributing factors and look at the things the police officer is

going through or already went through prior to committing the crime that they committed.

After it is all said and done, any excuse, any well explained factor, will never be enough

to comfort or dismiss a man or woman losing their life. There is no excuse for a man to have his

knee on another man’s neck for several minutes. As the minutes went on, George Floyd begged

for his life. He even begged for his mother in order to show the police officer the distress that he

was currently going through. Police brutality is something that has been brought to the attention

of many people in recent years. Rightfully so, the events that have transpired throughout the

country have led people to formulate their own opinions about police officers and their actions.

Police brutality has led to protests, riots, looting, and more violence. With the uprising of

technology and the increase in the amount of people willing to speak up, it has led to more

attention being brought towards police brutality. All of the people we see killed by police officers

each and everyday brings us to asking many different questions. What are all of the factors that

contribute to police brutality? Questions like these are asked by millions of people across the

world. People want to know why their loved ones are being killed when they did nothing wrong.
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People also want to know why their loved ones' killers are not being charged. Lastly, they want

to know why instead of receiving some sort of justice or closure for their loved ones, some of

them are receiving a cash payout to keep them quiet. They want to know what different things

led up to the killing of their loved one. The only factors to look at when discussing police

brutality are lack of accountability, job stress, inadequate laws governing police officers, and

improper training of police officers. As previously mentioned, no matter how well these factors

are explained it will never be enough to make up for the loss of anyone’s life. Let’s just hope that

enough attention is brought so that reforms can be passed, allowing for nobody else to take their

final breaths, while underneath a man’s knee.

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Works Cited

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https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/police-brutality/.

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