The judge, jury, and investigator are sometimes better known as a police officer. Recently mass attention has been brought to the injustices brought against racial minorities by the police officers of America. Even after the police officers mistreat these racial minorities, they are then mistreated by the criminal justice system in their trial.  Due to this problem, invaluable human lives are being lost. Michael Brown was one of the biggest turning points of the current outcry against police brutality. When an unarmed black teenager was shot, and killed on August 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. Prior to the Michael Brown case, the Trayvon Martin case had brought massive attention to the disparities of the criminal justice system. Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, was shot and killed on February 26, 2012, by George Zimmermann. So, how do the police and criminal justice system in the United States mistreat, brutalize, and unfairly punish minorities? The police and criminal justice system in America brutalize, imprison, and unfairly target people of minority racial backgrounds because their method of crime fighting is quota-based.

Police brutality is a real problem in America that is often overlooked. For example, the San Francisco Police Department and the Baltimore Police Department were investigated by federal investigators. These investigators found that both police departments needed training reform and conduct reform. The United States Department of Justice found that, “The department found reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of: Conducting stops, searches and arrests without meeting the requirements of the Fourth Amendment; Focusing enforcement strategies on African Americans, leading to severe and unjustified racial disparities in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Safe Streets Act; Using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment; Interacting with individuals with mental health disabilities in a manner that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act; and Interfering with the right to free expression in violation of the First Amendment.” The San Francisco Police Department also has need for reform among their ranks. An article from the Los Angeles Time stated, “Though the city prides itself on its progressive values, San Francisco’s Police Department has found itself engulfed in the same outrage over brutality and racial bias that has swept other cities from Baltimore to El Cajon.” Clearly there is a root problem of bias inside of these police departments. It seems there is a root problem of a lack of training throughout these departments. Each state, county, and department trains their officers in different ways. So, this problem varies between departments based on their training regiments and their behavioral tendencies. Historically cases like the ones presented by the media exist, but public awareness wasn’t as focused until the arise of the camera phone. In the 2000’s. So, this problem has been in existence but it lacked the public attention to bring any reform from the government to police departments. There are contributing factors to this problem from both police departments and minority groups. The government cannot reform a minority group and their behaviors, that would be unconstitutional. What the government can do is reform the police departments across the United States.

The method of crime fighting that police officers use is quota-based. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson coined the phrase, “War on Crime.” This outcry caused Americans to believe that crime rates in the United States were out of control. Per FBI statistics, violent crime rates and murder rates have been steadily decreasing since 1993. Incarceration rates have exponentially risen in America since the 1970s and have recently started to decline since 2006. This decline in the incarceration rate and decline in the murder rates and violent crime rates illustrate that putting more people behind bars is not the main policy that makes people stop committing crime. In other words, correlation does not mean causation. The trend is not consistent with the conclusion drawn. Quota based crime fighting only seeks to incarcerate as many people as possible. This allows the police to target people of low income, which make up most the impoverished population. Impoverished people lack the resources needed to protect themselves in the legal system of America. Blacks and Hispanics make up roughly 64% of the impoverished population America. This allows the police to consistently pick out racial minorities and take advantage of their status. Income is directly correlated to education. People of poverty lack education and the monetary resources to battle for their rights against the police. The Federal Justice Department stated, “The department found reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of: Conducting stops, searches and arrests without meeting the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.” The police single out people of African Americans in most cases that involve use-of-force. This is a direct violation of the constitutional rights of Americans. The Los Angeles Times reported, “Federal officials reviewed 548 use-of-force cases between May 2013 and May 2016, finding 37% of the people whom city police used force against were African American, a larger percentage than for any other ethnic group. Nine of the 11 people who were killed during use-of-force incidents in that time frame were people of color.” Nine of Eleven people that were killed during use of force were African American. That data alone suggests that police are more prone to kill African Americans. 

Police officers in America are not being trained properly to handle the high stress situations that they encounter in their work. As stated earlier, The United States Department of Justice found that, “The department found reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of: Conducting stops, searches and arrests without meeting the requirements of the Fourth Amendment; Focusing enforcement strategies on African Americans, leading to severe and unjustified racial disparities in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Safe Streets Act; Using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment; Interacting with individuals with mental health disabilities in a manner that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act; and Interfering with the right to free expression in violation of the First Amendment.” This list of deficiencies within the department are due to a lack of training. Police officers need to take classes on the constitution and how it interacts with their jobs. This lack of knowledge leads the police to continue violating the rights of citizens without realizing it. Every department trains their officers differently but the federal government needs to push states to have extremely high standards for their officers. Officers of the law need to be well versed in the United States Constitution and how it applies to which actions they can and cannot take. Without possessing this knowledge police officers can take advantage of racial minority persons more often. Most impoverished people which are of racial minority backgrounds are not aware of their rights as a citizen. This allows police officers who think that they can search someone when they want to abuse their power through threatening to arrest someone for a crime they have not committed. This will then be a violation of that persons fourth amendment right to not being searched unless there is probable cause or a warrant. With each of these things there also must be an exact description of what things shall be searched and what the police are looking for. Even if the person of a racial minority background knows their rights. They are still being unreasonably searched when there is no need for a search to take place.

Militarization of the police force is occurring, despite crime rates having lowered consistently since 1993. The police do not need to be militarized any more than they already are. The ACLU reported, “The images on the news of police wearing helmets and masks, toting assault rifles, and riding in mine-resistant armored vehicles are not isolated incidents—they represent a nationwide trend of police militarization. Federal programs providing surplus military equipment, along with departments’ own purchases, have outfitted officers with firepower that is often far beyond what is necessary for their jobs as protectors of their communities.” This is a major factor that leads to more and more police brutality. Why do the police need access to assault weapons and riot gear? When gear like this is brought out into the public it only incites violence. People do not always start aggression at the police, but when officers are sent to contain people in riot gear the people will take that as a sign of aggression. The Black Lives’ Matters movement has faced constant pressure from the police. Most rallies held are met with officers lining the streets in riot gear. Yes, the people need surveillance and the police need to be on standby but not to move against the protesters. The police need to be there to make sure they can protest in peace.  

The police force should be reformed due to the ongoing violence between officers and racial minority persons. It is more logical to change an organization that has a set of codes, the police, rather than millions of people that are different than each other individually. One life lost to this police brutality is one life too many. Most of these lives lost are of African Americans and other racial minorities. This war must stop between the police and the racial minority community. The people of America are becoming divided because of an issue that should not be defined by race but by the value of human life. Officers are dying and people are dying all because people refuse to admit that the officers need to be trained better. The police do not need to be militarized anymore. Officers need more education and training to help them realize the racial bias they hold before they express it. People of poverty need to have their rights defended by the rest of America because income should not define the way they are treated by officers of the law. Crime rates are dropping yet we continue to imprison more and more people every day. This problem with the police force that effects racial minorities most is starting to bleed over and effect white people just as much. Officers are losing control and using tools they are equipped with in ways that exceed the violence necessary to resolve the situation. With just the simple reform of training programs for officers, the people of America would be better protected and represented by the good officers of America. Not all officers of the law are bad but there are enough bad officers in existence to make it a problem that should change the way officers are made. The police and criminal justice system in America brutalize, imprison, and unfairly target people of racial minority background because their method of crime fighting is quota-based. With reform of their training programs the police of America could uphold the rights of all Americans and be the protectors of the people. 
