Police brutality became a major issue when four police officers were caught on camera beating Rodney King in the year of 1991, this incident lead to distrust in the police department in many communities particularly blacks. There was a rise in rap songs that consist of expressing their hate for the police department such as N.W.A's biggest hit "Police". In the year of 2012, a teen was killed by, a watch volunteer, George Zimmerman; society was waiting for Zimmerman to be charged with the murder of Martin. The verdict came in on July 13th, 2013 that Zimmerman was not guilty. Even though Zimmerman was not a police officer he was a person acting as one and this began a conflicting road since then. The following year, Eric Garner died while being arrested and placed in a chokehold by police officers in New York; the use of brutality by the police resulted in the death of Eric Garner. Years following the public witnessed and viewed videos of police brutality of not only blacks but civilians of various races.  Questions began to rise as to why such things happen and some make their own conclusion relating the brutality to racism. This issue has made individual not trust in the justice system and often fear that they could be the next case that ends without justice. Other issues pertaining to differing viewpoint, stereotyping, and protests arise around this matter due what footage is shown. Police Officers should be charged for crimes they commit in any form of what could be categorized as brutality; when they are not charged, issues arise and cause a great deal of society to harbor anger and general avoidance of the police.  

 When there is a case that involves a police officer using brutality or the brutality lead to the death of a civilian, the police officer is not always charged for their crime. Police brutality is the use of unnecessary and/or excessive force including but not limited to the use of: a taser, pepper spray, baton, nerves gas, or their gun. Police brutality is not limited to just physical encounters, brutality can also be psychological intimidation and/or verbal attacks. When we think of someone killing another person, it is common to think they will be taken to trial and charged for their crimes no matter if it was involuntary or self-defense. This is not always the case when it comes to a police officer being involved. When Eric Garner died, the police officer responsible for the chokehold was not indicted December 2014. According to Gottschalk journal, there was a research done on the correlation between the crime and the sentencing done by police officers. The data showed that of the 61 cases he studied, 31 percent did not receive any sentencing; 13 percent received less than two weeks of sentencing (Gottschalk). If the police officer did the crimes, why is there only some that receive little to no sentencing? The correlation for police officers getting charged for their crimes was 0.592; non-physical crimes lead to longer sentencing then actual physical crimes (Gottschalk). This data shows that all police officers do not get charged for their crimes even if it was physical, leading to more issues pertaining to stereotyping.

 With only some police officers not being charged for their brutality, it then leads into some civilians making their own conclusions to make sense of the matter as to why some and not others are being charged for their crimes. According to Robinson's Bad footage article, there are ten states that have laws for recording others, including police officers. Within these states, it is against the law to record a private encounter without the knowledge of the parties (Robinson). This particular law is put in place due to how media uses the footage. In today's society, there are videos that cause controversial discussions like the footage of a police officer saying "we only kill black people". After this particular incident, discussions came about referring to the stereotype that police officers really do act in that manner. Bad footage either makes the victim or the police officer look like the criminal and then the public stereotype to make sense of the matter. When broadcasted that the police officer was not charged, such footage is misconstrued to make the victim look like they were thugs or racist and in the wrong when it is not always the case. Due to bad footage of encounters, police officers have the stereotype of being "pigs" and unjust making those around trying to find fault in everything that the officer does. Such actions can lead to avoiding police officers in fear of being one of the brutality cases where justice is not served. 

 Police officers should be charged for their crimes because when they don't, it causes a divide within society; with such divide, there is harbored anger towards police officers. According to Clarence, she believes police officers attempt to control the black population by giving longer sentencing than any other race. This belief is something that is believed in the black community; such belief created distrust in the justice system by blacks. After brutality among blacks and the police officers not getting charged this created a divide within communities with various races. Recent police brutality cases where the police officer was not charged lead to the creation of the movement Black Lives Matter to make sense of the injustice. Black Lives Matter purpose is to bring the injustice of black victims into the light to gain justice. " 1 in 15 blacks between the ages of 18-26 years of age will be incarcerated in contrast to the 1 in 106 for whites"(Hurwitz and Peffley). With such data, it is hard to believe that blacks are a minority but are the majority within the prison system and when police brutality is used, their cases aren't always successful; some aren't even taken to court. The divide within society accounts for different reasons behind this data. According to Hurwitz and Peffley's study, whites believed blacks were more inclined to criminal activities; black believed those police officers were unfair and often use racial profiling.  These dividing views lead to the creations of different moments: All Lives Matters and White Lives Matter to support opposing viewpoints of the Black Lives Matter. When police officers aren't charged the different movements react by protesting. The Black Lives Movements protest when the police officers are charged. All of these movements voice their viewpoints. When voicing their viewpoints, the divide within society becomes greater. When all police officers get charged for their crimes then such divide can decrease instead of increasing.

 With all the different swirl of emotions regarding police brutality cases, thoughts about the reasons behind police brutality and why some aren't charged are often unnoticed. All police officers don't get charged because their encounters with civilians are different. Police officers are excused for their brutality if it's "necessary and serves a proper purpose" (Harmon).  It is often that police officers need to use excessive force/brutality to restrain the person. When it comes up that a police officer used brutality to capture a suspect, the police department looks at all of the factors for the encounter. Questions that pertain to the suspect helps determine if the police officer was in the wrong or was it solely the police officers' fault. According to Burns, police officers are at a higher risk of a threat between the hours of 8 pm and 2 am, therefore more likely to use brutality for their protection and duty (Burns). Police officers have to fear for their lives when on duty, they are also at risk of being harmed or even killed. Fear of police officers being harmed or killed lead to the creation of the movement Blues Lives Matter. This movement was like the other movements due to the purpose of getting justice for police officers when they aren't always in the wrong due to their use of self-defense. Police officers are dealing with people who have potentially done a crime and all police officers aren't using police brutality but they still get treated as if they do. To be a police officer, they are at risk of being killed every day they are on duty, it's a very life-threatening job.

 In police officer's defense for their use of brutality, their actions are seen as reasonable but this is not always the case. Police officers have to fear for their lives but there are cases where the police officer was not at risk of a threat but used unnecessary force/brutality. In the case of Armstrong versus Pinehurst, police officers were called to help a mentally ill person be transported to the hospital. In this case, the multiple police officers tased the patients when he was wrapped around a stop sign; Arnold Armstrong died as a result of this encounter. The police officers were granted immunity and this is an example that their actions were not necessary but they weren't charged for killing a civilian. It was a total of five officers that used their tasers on this one person. Police officers choices for when they have an encounter with a civilian are: to restrain, allow them to escape, or run (only when they're in flight) (Harmon). In recent police brutality videos that made the news, a few were running and got shot instead of stopped with a less deadly weapon like the use of the taser. When brutality is used it is believed that it's "bad act with good intentions" (Gottschalk) but how can this be said when some police officers are using brutality when it's against people that need help like Armstrong or aren't potential threats to their well-being. This is why all officers should be charged, all their acts aren't with good intention and it's hard to decipher which were and which were not.

 When police officers aren't charged for their crimes this creates issues in society including the harbor for and avoidance of police officers. Police brutality is an issue that has been around for centuries but became an eye opener in 1991. Videotaping of police officers using brutality have been captured and distributed to media outlets and social Medias. Bad footage cause stereotyping of not only the police officer but the victim as well. When shown the general interpretation is that it's either "bad police officer vs civilian" or "good police officer vs criminal". Someone has to be in the wrong. With only some police being charged this created a division of society after the public has made their own conclusion for the justice or the injustice. The creation of different movement like Black Lives Matter, All of Lives Matter, White Lives Matter, and Blue Lives Matter, resulted in the expression of different viewpoint. Blue Lives Matter expresses the fact that being a police officer is a risky job. Police officers are at risk of being harmed or even killed when they are on duty. It is their jobs to restrain the suspect that is potentially a criminal and this sometimes requires brutality. However, some police officers are not at the risk of being harmed and still use brutality. With so many emotions on this issue and differing viewpoints, there is an avoidance of police officers as well as harbored anger towards police officers due to the fact that all police officers do not get charged for their crimes. By making all police officers getting charged for their crimes this can lessen the divide that among society and allow the society to get rid of the "kill or be killed" mentality.
