Arnel New York

Unnecessary Police Brutality

Police brutality needs to stop because it is wrong, and innocent people are dying just because of the color of their skin.

Police brutality needs to stop because it is wrong and innocent people are dying just because of the color of their skin. A black man is three times more likely to be shot than a white man. Washington post noted that ''only six percent of our nation is made up of black men." They went on to say that "as of August 2016, 40% of the 60 men harmed or killed by police, were black.'' 

In November of 2014, Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 12 years old and he was playing with a toy pistol.This is an example of police brutality because he was only playing with a toy pistol not a real one. Instead of shooting him, they could of asked him if it was real.

Another example of police brutality is in November 2011, the family of Kenneth Chamberlain filed suit against White Plains police for killing the 68-year-old African-American ex-marine last November after he had accidentally activated his medical-aid alert. The alarm company notified police, but while they were banging on his door, both the alarm company and Mr. Chamberlain told them he needed no help. He shouted through the door that they should leave him alone, and he became increasingly fearful and agitated as they pounded incessantly and drew their guns.  After unsuccessfully demanding entry for an extended period of time, they broke the door down and, shortly afterwards, shot him to death. In May the local district attorney announced that no one will be prosecuted for any crime. This is an example of police brutality because he accidentally activated his medical-aid alert and he told the police that he didn’t need help but they didn’t go then they busted down the door and shot him and nobody was prosecuted for the crime. 

Police brutality is a topic that has a lot of attention on social media. Police brutality is wrong because it is a form of racism and some police officers are abusing their powers. Everyone does have the right to an opinion, but it is not okay to do something to someone just because you don’t like their race or skin color.

The way many American police are abusing their powers on the street is now at a crisis point. "Many people argue that this is not a new problem and that the only difference between 10 years ago and now, is the fact that we can police the police with cameras. No matter how you say it things are getting out of control and this has sparked backlash from local and global communities and given birth to movements such as 'black lives matter' due to these issues effecting the black community a hugely disproportionate rate when compared to other races."

Crop Crisis states, “Cops are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for Citizens is 90%.” 84% of officers say they have 'Witnessed fellow officers using more force than necessary' and 61% say they Do not always report serious abuse by fellow officers."

The Guardian goes on to add, “Young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015”.  I have some  solutions for police brutality: one solution to this problem is to have cameras on the bodies of the police officers to understand what happens better. Another solution is to have a more diverse police department. One last solution is to require more training than they get now. 

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Arnel  

work cited: http://truththeory.com/2016/08/24/17-solutions-to-tackle-police-brutality-in-america/

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics

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