865 people. That’s how many people have fallen victim to police brutality in this year alone. That number is alarmingly high compared to finland, whose entire police force fired 3 bullets in 2013. The police are there to protect the civilians from criminals, not strike fear in the population.

In the 865 people who were killed so far this year, 206 of them have been of color or different ethnicity. According to Think Progress, 5.49 out of every one million native american people are killed by police. For blacks, the number is 5.16 per 1 million people. Those numbers might not seem high, but compared to the 2.13 per one million of white people, those numbers are alarmingly high and spark questions of racism within the police force.

Along with killing those of race, they use unlawful force and peaceful protesters of any race. According to The Free Thought Project, “Police from no less than five states sporting full riot gear and armed with heavy lethal and nonlethal weaponry, pepper spray, mace, a number of ATVs, five tanks, two helicopters, and military-equipped humvees showed up to tear down an encampment of Standing Rock Sioux water protectors and supporters armed with … nothing.” As you can so, there is no reason for so much brutal force for a bunch of peaceful protesters.

Along with abusing peaceful protesters, they use unnecessary violence on prisoners. The New York Times, tells a horrific story of brutal treatment. “Mr. Cannon served 24 hellish years in prison — nine of them at a supermax facility. But by the time state prosecutors finally dismissed his criminal case, it had become clear that his torture story was no exaggeration and that a cover-up had been undertaken to hide this period of police abuse from view.” Mr. Cannon is just one of many prisoners who was mistreated.

Police are there to defend the civilians, not harm them. If you ever see a police using unlawful force on a civilian, record it on video so it can be used as evidence in the case.