Can one imagine the excruciating pain a mother or father must feel when they receive the news that their child has been killed unjustly by the figures put in place to protect us? Police reform is mandatory in order to end the loss of lives by police brutality. Officers have become very bold with their actions because there is little effort made to punish the ones who act outside of the standard police procedures. There have been countless instances where an officer used an unnecessary amount of force in detaining a subject and many of which have ended in death. Stricter control of officers and harsher punishments will limit the amount of police violence and ultimately increase the quality of life for everyone. 

Racism has become so engrained in American society that it will represent itself in various forms. The foundation of America itself was built off of slavery and even though that occurred hundreds of years ago, its lingering effects of prejudice towards blacks is still ever present. From slavery to Jim Crow laws, it seems like there has always been some barrier between equality with blacks and whites. In Paul Sniderman’s and Thomas Piazza’s The Scar of Race, the authors discuss how race influences everyday life and raises the question of “is there a new racism more subtle and covert than the old (2)? And now as we continue to progress into the 21st century, sadly it seems as if history is repeating itself. Black males are the biggest group that have a target on their backs in regard to who will become victims of police misconduct. Is it possible that these police violence cases are not independent events, but part of a bigger scheme? Is there corruption within the police institution that has signaled out people based off the color of their skin?

When examining police institutions, one cannot assume that every officer is ‘one of the bad ones’ but this a reality for many minority groups in America. Even though blacks are the people who receive most of the violence from police officers, Hispanics fall closely behind them. The lack of trust that these groups feel towards police figures is due to the aggression that is always directed towards them. Malcolm D. Holmes argues in ““Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” that police control is structed to benefit dominant groups rather than the minority ones. Black people are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than white people (Lowrey) and 16% of Hispanics are killed out of 585 in 2016 (Downs). If there were ever a heinous crime committed against a white person, it is certain that that person would receive consequences. But, the fact that this same attitude is not presented when a minority has been attacked, delineates that there is discrimination being allowed.

This discrimination and prejudice has dated all the way back to the nineties in one of the earliest police brutality cases. The first major one was the beating of Rodney King and this occurred in March of 1991 and was so wildly popular because there was a video recording showing him being beaten by four white police officers. King was the suspect in a high-speed chase and when he was finally pulled over, officers dragged him out of his vehicle and proceeded to beat him with batons (Sigelman et al). Not long after this incident in November of the following year, a similar one aroused when officers were detaining a drug suspect by the name of Malice Green. The difference between Green and King is that Green lost his life at the hands of his assailants. Green received so many blows to the head that he died of blunt force trauma. One might be surprised that such a violent event could happen right after another highly publicized ones, but it is believed that the verdict of the Rodney King case it what began to create a world of trouble. Each other officers were found not guilty of their crimes even though it was obvious there was an excessive use of force. Because those four officers received no consequence, it welcomed the idea that their actions were acceptable. 

Since the nineties, there have been hundreds of police misconduct cases such as the deaths of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. There should be no reason why in 2017 there are still stories of more police officers killing when the loss of life could have been avoided. However, when you give a system too much power and exert little control over them, it does not take long before the power starts being abused. Joel Berger, who was a former executive in the New York City Law Department, touches on this issue by stating that in order to discipline police officers, there needs to be stronger penalties against them. It is a known fact that many of the officers who commit violent crimes receive temporary suspension or paid leave, but it is rare to see someone fired. Because officers are allowed to escape punishment, the end of police brutality does not look like it will be near. As a matter of fact, the number of people who were fatally shot in the first half of 2017, is nearly identical to the count for the two years prior (Sullivan et al).

Many people believe that any issues with police officers can be avoided so long as the person in question is being respectful and following orders. A veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department Sunil Dutta shared that police officers often get a bad reputation when there is news of another person killed at their hands. Dutta believes that it is not up to the police officers to prevent these types of incidents from happening, but the people who are being detained. He continues to feed his argument by saying that no cop goes out into the field with the intention to harm someone and a compliant person will walk away from a traffic stop (or whatever the interaction may be) unscathed. I personally know that Dutta’s statements are not true. Back in Georgia, my hometown, the Gwinnett County Police Department was under a ton of scrutiny regarding how two of their officers detained someone in a traffic stop. Demetrius Hollins was being pulled over for improper lane changes and even though he did not resist arrest, Robert McDonald and Michael Bongiovanni proceeded to kick him while he was on the ground and in handcuffs. Hollins even admitted that he remembered Bongiovanni being intimidating and aggressive in a previous traffic stop and this made him be sure to comply with all of his orders. Hollins is a black male and his assailants were two white males and I cannot help but question whether Hollins’ race was the motivating factor behind this violent encounter.

Furthermore, a major aspect of police brutality that goes unnoticed is the impact it can have on the mental state of those who have to suffer through hearing about another life being lost. There are people who experience symptoms similar to posttraumatic stress disorder after having an unpleasant confrontation with a police officer. As someone who was raised to never identify one bad apple as being representative of the entire group, even I found myself in a state of fear when I got pulled over one time. One can never be sure of which type of police officer they will run in to and it is extremely stressful to have to differentiate between a ‘good’ cop and a ‘bad’ cop. Jesse Valdez recounts the time that he was arrested by a mall police officer for riding a skateboard and got shoved to the ground with a knee in his back and a taser being brandished behind him (Jackson). Even though Valdez was found not guilty of revisiting arrest, nothing can take away the emotional trauma that he must live with for the rest of his life. Valdez also happened to attend the same college that Sandra Bland graduated. Sandra Bland was ordered a night in jail after a traffic stop and was later found dead under suspicious circumstances. He states that he thought about Bland during the time of his arrest and could not help but imagine if his fate would leave him in a position similar to hers. No one should have to ponder whether or not they will lose their life in the face of a police officer and it is frightening to know that this is what has become of the police institutions in America.

It is a sad realization that some officers are not equipped to perform their jobs in accordance with the law. It would put a lot of people’s minds at ease to say that there are only a handful of officers who do not follow police procedure, but there are hundreds more in the force just like them. As previously stated, I believe the police have become out of control because they let the amount of power they have get to their head and believe they are above the law. But I think another problem that deserves attention is that some officers may not feel like they are part of the community they are serving. In Malcolm Holmes’ and Brad Smith’s Race and Brutality: The Roots of an Urban Dilemma, the two authors suggest that when a predominantly white police force serves a community of blacks of Hispanics, its becomes easy for stereotypes to cloud their better judgement. If there is a disconnect between the officers and the people, both sides will be uncomfortable in the presence of the other. When someone is in a position of authority and thinks their authority is being questioned, they will tend to mask that insecurity by thinking themselves as superior. Integrating officers into the communities they work with could greatly influence the tension between police and minority groups.

It is obvious that ending police brutality is not an issue that will come to an end with relative ease. Its demise requires an understanding of the damaging effects that will ultimately result in a huge conflict between the people and the police. One step that needs to be taken begins with the police and criminal justice system. When training people to become police officers, the heads of the department should take the time to do a mental evaluation and personality test of each of the candidates. Anyone who shows signs of prejudice or not being able to use their better judgement and separate people from their stereotypes should not be allowed on the police force. This type of detail should not just occur in the beginning stages of someone’s police career. Throughout a person’s time as a police officer, it is not surprising that every once in a while a complaint may be filed on them. But when those complaints become recurrent and the chief of police looks past them, this is where a problem begins to arise. An officer will develop the mindset that he or she can do whatever they please and face no consequences, but without consequences, they will never learn from their wrongdoings. 

The criminal justice system plays a big part as well when those complaints against an officer are not taken seriously and one day lands the person in court. An officer is aware of the fact that a judge is someone in higher position than their commanding chief and that the consequences can be harsher than just a slap on the wrist. Let us say for instance an officer has had multiple complaints filed of being aggressive towards civilians and using unnecessary force in detaining subjects. One day while in the field, this same officer gets uses too much force and ends up killing someone.  Had this issue been addressed when complaints started piling up, it might not have gotten to the point where someone’s life was loss. But, now it is up to the judge to determine whether this person is still fit to be a police officer and what punishments should be implemented. If the judge finds them guilty of murder and requires that he serves jail time, this sets the bar for how cases will be handled in the future. If this course of action is used in all police misconduct cases, there is bound to be a change in officers’ behavior.

It is unlikely that the police and judicial system will experience reform on their own. Change will be initiated through the people. And this does not just mean blacks and Hispanics because they are directly affected; action is required by those who do not make up the minority as well. It is apparent that the minorities’ voices are not being heard when they express their rage as another one of their people’s lives are taken. White people must learn not to take a blind eye to the situation just because it rarely affects them. Of course there are many white people who see the problem and chose to address it alongside their fellow citizens, but their numbers are not large as big as they should be to really make an impact. A Tale of Two Beatings did not only discuss the King and Green cases; it also took note on how different demographics responded to the news. White people were shown to not be as aware of these events or showed less emotions as blacks did. Unification amongst different groups of people will raise awareness to the problem at hand.

Although reform will not happen overnight and neither will unification, it is imperative that an end be put to police violence. Allowing this violence to ensue will only continue to create problems and more lives will be lost and damaged. The issue has been addressed, and solutions have been proposed; now it is up to collaboration and working towards a common goal to make sure this monster is silenced once and for all.
