Dear Future President:

Police Brutality continues to make headlines all over the world today. The awareness of police brutality has sparked many debates on social media. This issue has become more prevalent in recent years. The Black Lives Matter movement was created to protect black lives not only from police but also from discrimination.

Police shoot and kill blacks almost twice as frequently as any other racial group, MotherJones.org reported, after examining piles of federal crime data. There has been a 60% increase in reported cases of police brutality since the use of technology and the media became popular. (Alternet). The media often exaggerates police brutality cases; however, The public needs to be informed about the police officers using unnecessary excessive force. (nytimes.com)

“Two Minneapolis police officers followed proper procedure in a confrontation that led to the fatal shooting of a black man nearly a year ago and will not be disciplined.” The police chief announced on October 21, 2016. Campus Police Officer Trevis Austin shot and killed a young man by the name of Gilbert Collar. Officer Trevis had all the standard police equipment — which included a stun gun, mace, and a baton — instead chose to shoot at Collar, who was high on LSD. Despite all the evidence, including surveillance cameras, he was not indicted and was found to have used proper force. Another example is Seattle Detective Shandy Cobane. In April of 2010 he stomped on a suspect's leg. While videotaped evidence was found showing Cobane guilty of at least aggravated assault and/or hate crimes, he was not charged. Instead he was suspended thirty days without pay, demoted and reassigned a desk job. They took action only after a public outcry occurred with the release of the video. (MyMPN.com)

The number of officers reported for police misconduct each year is rising, yet the number of convictions against these officers has remained extremely low over the years.(CI Blog Police Brutality).This is an issue that needs to be resolved. The Black Lives Matter movement has created awareness for today's society. With so many reports of police brutality, you would think there would be an equal amount of convictions, but there are not. I propose that every victim, have a fair trial and officer a reasonable conviction.

Sincerely,

Ally Sutton