 In the most recent decade, police brutality has become a prominent problem in America. It is beginning to be an epidemic and must come to a halt.  The definition of police brutality is "the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose" (Dictionary of American History). Many people are curious where this issue is stemming from and how we can put a stop to it. Although the amount of citizens who desire to be police officers is slowly dwindling, rigorous recruiting would help eliminate some of the police officers with inapposite motives before they even have a chance to contribute to the number of police brutality cases.  To cut down on the amount of police brutality occurrences, police officers should be trained differently. The job of a police officer is to protect and serve; through the recent significant increase in police brutality cases, this topic is clearly an issue and we must find an attainable solution, such as more in depth police training that adapts to our changing society over time.

Everyday, police officers risk their lives for the safety of the public and have to make quick decisions that are in favor of their desire to go home safe when their shift ends. Because of their swift actions, there is some leeway given of what is defined as police brutality in order to balance the safety of the public and the imperativeness of the officer being able to survive the situation. The measure of when force becomes excessive is well defined by Taryn Prusinski in her scholarly article "When Does Force Become Excessive?" Prusinski claims that force becomes excessive when it is ruled unreasonable. This is supported by evidence such as rulings of multiple court cases and the parameters of the objective reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. The objective reasonableness standard analyzes an officer's actions "to determine what a reasonable officer in a similar situation would do" (Prusinski 851). In police brutality court cases, this is the main factor in the determination of excessive force by a police officer.

According to an article from PressTV, the Department of Justice should hold the blame for the increase in police brutality. Since it is ultimately responsible for the curriculum and coordination of police training, it is "the real 'culprit' of police violence because it basically encourages officers to shoot if they feel threatened" ("DOJ Needs to be Questioned Over Police Brutality: Activist"). During the police academy, the soon-to-be police officers are taught the basics such as the laws, how to shoot accurately, first aid, and ethics. They are told about multiple stories from the past and are put in virtual situations to be shown how to properly react as professionally as possible while still having the ability to go home to their families at night. This type of training is effective, but not effective enough. This results in police officers often reacting to situations that they perceive are dangerous in a way that could potentially unnecessarily take a life. They react very fast because they discern a possible threat, acting with violence to be sure of their own safety. This is understandable, however, not efficient in protecting the public. It is not the police officer's fault; it is the result of inadequate training methods for our law enforcement officers today. This type of training encourages police officers to feel threatened. Putting the responsibility of the whole issue of police brutality on one organization is bold; however, this nationwide reform has to start somewhere.

The reform of police training should include reevaluating from the highly ranked officers to the brand new officers. After training, police officers have to go through another training phase at their department before they can do their job on the street by themselves. They are supervised and taught the procedures of their department by a Field Training Officer. These officers are experienced and have great knowledge of how the police force works. Although these Field Training Officers, or FTOs, are very useful and vital in the police training process, they should be trained differently not only as a police officer, but as an FTO as well. The way these leaders are trained trickles down to how the police officer will perform when he or she is able to patrol the street alone. The system of how the trainers are trained effects how the FTOs and instructors of the academy are trained, which, in turn, effects how the patrolling officers accomplish the duties of their job. We must improve the training of all law enforcement officials that are involved in the training process of police officers because the skills of these individuals will indirectly affect the actions of these authority figures.

Although police brutality has seemed to become a worsening problem during the past decade, it has always been a prominent problem in our society. With the uprising of social media, nearly uncensored television shows, and our changing American culture, this issue has clearly been brought to the surface and to the attention of more people than ever. The article "Police Training" by Cornelius F. Cahalane was written and published in 1929, showing beyond doubt that police brutality has been an important problem at least for the past century. Cahalane explains how "no public servant is more dependent upon his own initiative than the policeman", indicating that after training is said and done, police are on their own and can do whatever they want within moderation. They are not confined in a cubicle or have a supervisor lurking over their shoulder. Often times, when " [a police officer] is confronted with a problem he is generally alone, with no one to advise or assist him. In most instances he must act quickly and must depend entirely upon his horse sense. Sometimes he is right. Very often he is wrong and is censured for a failure for which he is not directly responsible, as he has had no way of learning what action to take under a given set of circumstances" (Cahalane 167). Therefore, the extent of training that the police officer received prior to becoming a police officer is incidentally responsible for not preparing the officer for that type of situation. If officers were trained for a greater variety of situations, there would be an increased chance that they would have the ability to react more knowledgeable according to the situation instead of with violence.

If a police officer is involved in a violent event that could scar them for life, they are affected forever. During the police-training academy, police officers are trained to adapt to reality. They must see a real dead body, view brutal pictures, and watch videos that include gruesome realistic images. These are all factors that a police officer could potentially encounter during his or her career. During training, it might not have a huge effect on the individual because, obviously, it is not a real situation. When they are faced with a situation such as shooting someone, finding a dead body, or witnessing something extreme that we wouldn't see in our everyday lives, this has a lasting effect on them that is sometimes unavoidable. Police officers are normal humans just like civilians; horrid images and scenes cannot be unseen by them either and it does affect them. In an interview, Officer Douglas Waters from Rockwall Police Department in Rockwall, Texas stated that he was in a high-speed pursuit that ended in a shooting and explained how he felt at the moment that it happened. He said, " I can remember all of the details even though it all happened so fast. My adrenaline was pumping and once I saw him look me dead in the eyes and pick his gun up, my first thought was my children and my wife. I knew right then what I had to do". Clearly, Officer Waters' shooting had probable cause. When asked how the shooting has affected him, he explained that it's the little things; for instance, every time he sees a Mini Cooper, the type of car that the offender drove, it takes him back to that night. Besides the shooting, Officer Waters has seen many other horrifying scenes, such as a suicide committed in a car, a toddler that drowned in a pool, and a baby that died in his arms because the father accidentally rolled over on it in bed. He elaborated that, "unfortunately, it all comes with the territory". Officer Waters does not like the negative image that comes with being a police officer now a days but admits that some of his fellow brothers in blue are the blame for that. Officer Waters' interview supports the fact that the training of police officers is inadequate and insufficient for the safety of the public today, which he also mentions.

Even police officers will admit that their profession is desperate for reform. In the Ted Talk "I Love Being a Police Officer, but We Need Reform" by Officer Melvin Russell, Russell reinforces the fact that the line of police work in general needs reform, as it seems to have gotten more about "coldness and callousness" than serving our communities. This officer has been able to see the change in law enforcement over the past few decades because he has been a police officer since "before pagers were invented", therefore, he has been able to see how police training has gotten to be less and less adequate to serve our society over time. This is proved by the notable increase in the number of police brutality cases in America.

Increased police training is one of the five suggested components of the reform of law enforcement in the article "We Need Less Policing" by Alex S. Vitale. In New York, New York, NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo accused a man named Eric Garner of selling loose cigarettes on the street. When Pantaleo went to arrest Garner, Garner snatched his arms away from the officer, which resulted in Pantaleo putting Garner in a chokehold for nearly 20 seconds. Garner was pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later due to the chokehold. Vitale states that, "Eric Garner may have been killed by improper arrest procedures, but he was also killed because the police were following orders to arrest people for selling loose cigarettes." Vitale is implying that instead of always acting with violence, police officer should consider the risk of the situation before they act. All in all, a man who was selling cigarettes is not a very high risk and should not have been confined the way he was. Police officers should be trained to assess the risk of an offender before they commit a violent act towards them.

According to "Officers to Undergo Psychology Training", there should be a segment in police training that involves psychology training to prepare police officers for every aspect of their job description, which goes greatly above and beyond the famous line "to serve and protect". This article claims that police brutality comes within and that the most proactive and best way to solve it is psychology training. It states "police officers will be going through psychology analysis training in an effort to change the mindsets of policemen following countless cases of police brutality reported by the public" (PNG Post-Courier). Changing the mindset after a police officer commits a brutal act is not a solution. We must advocate for a solution, not a remedy for the issue after it continues to happen. Summoning officers to psychology training after they commit an act of excessive force is not proactive and would be ineffective in solving the problem of police brutality. However, ameliorating the training of law enforcement officials would solve this problem eventually.

The article "The Police Lack Strong Leadership" targets the proposition of better police training by claiming, "training alone will not change the behavior of people. It has to come from within. One must love this job. To be a police officer should be a calling" (Masombuka). If the calling of being a police officer for a living were the sole universal reason of why citizens became police officers, we would not have nearly as many law enforcement personnel that we need to adequately keep our communities safe. Police officers choose their profession for reasons such as previous family norms, having the obligation to start out at the patrol level before they can join a more prestigious agency that they desire, and because they did not go to college but they want a good job, just to name a few. The desire to be police officer may be a calling to some, but to most that is not the case; therefore, training prior to the start of a police officer's career would proactively change the behavior of the police officer as much as possible.

Regardless of what we want to believe, police officers often have a common perception of certain races and individuals from certain places. Police officers getting to know the community that they serve could be a key factor in the prevention of police brutality, building trust and allowing the police officer to not make quick judgments. In "Contemporary Sociology", Carla Shedd explains the conflict theory in addition to the minority threat hypothesis and how these things affect the way police perceive people based on sociological, psychological, and organizational factors.  If an officer has been employed at the same police department for a decent amount of time, he or she will begin to recognize that parts of their jurisdiction that have higher crime rates than others. With that being said, they will judge the people that live in those areas with higher crime rates more deliberately than the people that are from the areas with lower crime rates. Over the past century, American citizens have expressed a concern in an increase of police brutality in their cities.  In the "Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online, 2012", there are statistics from this data that have increased drastically of individuals' perception of the amount and extent of excessive police force right in their backyards. There is evidence over the span of forty years that shows that the public has been made more aware of police brutality in the US that existed but was not made visible to the public because of lack of the resources that we have today. Resources that we possess that have been innovated through technology have the ability to inform the public of many widespread events that happen in our society, such as police brutality occurrences, and make millions aware of these incidents.

In this day and time, excessive force by police has become more normal than it should be considered. Police brutality has become a prominent problem in the last few decades. Recently, there has been an increase in police brutality stories shown in the media. There are plenty of diverse views of police brutality and why it exists. A few reasons that society perceives as motivation for actions of police brutality include routine use of violent force, lack of discipline, and most predominantly, racial motivation. Officer Melvin Russell's title of his Ted Talk says it all: "I Love Being a Police Officer, but We Need Reform." He has been a police officer for decades and states that "law enforcement is in a visible crisis and it has been for many, many years" (Russell). This coincides with "How Police Training Contributes to Avoidable Death", as the statistic for assaults on police officers from 2004-2014 was an estimated total of 57,000 officers per year (Stoughton). This excessive amount of assaults, along with the number of cases that involve police brutality towards civilians, could be decreased if police officers were trained differently from the beginning of their career. This problem is not only important to particular races, genders, or classes; it is important to every American citizen. As the popular motto goes, police officers are here to serve and protect us. They are normal human beings just like we civilians are; they also have families to go home to. If a police officer recognizes a potential threat, he or she will do whatever it takes to survive the threat, whether that means to go hands on, use their Taser, gun, baton, or pepper spray. The root of the problem of police brutality is inadequate training of police officers. To combat this problem, police officers should go through an in-depth training annually and before they begin their career that addresses topics such as weapon use, psychological factors, sociological elements, self-defense, ethics, problem solving, human relations, and conflict management, that is required by the government before they can patrol their jurisdiction.

