Dear Mrs./Mr. President,

Police Brutality is happening around the U.S., and it needs to end. Police brutality is happening more frequently and it's increasing tension between citizens and the police. I brainstormed some ways that may help prevent police brutality from occurring again.

How do you define police brutality? This is something that needs to be looked at and defined by all using the same guidelines. The definition of police brutality that I found in my research was: “The use of excessive /unnecessary force by police towards a civilian.” An example that proves this statement true comes within the James Blake incident in 2015. James Blake was mistaken for a suspect in an identity theft ring by a NYPD officer with a history of using excessive force. According to Think Progress.org, the officer charged at him, picked him up, and slammed him to the ground. “During the first week of September in 2015, police killed more civilians than the total number of police officers killed so far that year. 99 civilians were killed with at least 77 of them being shot and killed.” In 2016 police have killed 865 people of whom were unarmed, mentally ill, and people of color. This drastic jump in numbers shows how police brutality has increased over time. This demonstrates the growing need for education and awareness for the growing problem of police brutality in our communities, neighborhoods, states and country. Do people think police brutality is a problem? From, the results 53% said yes and 47% said no. The reason people say yes, is because they believe police officers take advantage of how much power they have. People said no, because they believe police officers have the right to defend themselves. This question can be argued on both sides, but if we want to stop violence, we have to find a happy, fair, and just medium.

One topic that I would like to discuss is how police skills should be checked on a regular basis. A police officer's job can be exceedingly stressful. Stress can be a leading cause of bad decision making. Some examples of how stress can result in poor decision making are: impulsive reactions, short temper, and low tolerance in dealing with on the job demands. I conclude that this is one of the reasons why police brutality is continually occurring. How can we find a solution for this problem you might ask? Offering counseling and shorter shifts are two of the solutions I suggest. I think this will help the officers prepare for their next task, allow them a means of venting their on the job stresses, and provide them time to decompress before their next shift. Another topic I would like discuss is how we can avoid police brutality from happening again. There are multiple ways I believe that could help stop this violence. Some of the ways include: stop criminalizing everything, the use of body cameras, officer assistant/partner, no more military equipment, and increased police involvement within the community’s decision making processes. These are the ways  we can help stop police brutality from killing another victim.

Sincerely,

Zay 

Sources-

[Rice, Zak. 15 Things Your City Can Do To Stop Police Brutality. Identities.Mic, https://mic.com/articles/121572/15-things-your-city-can-do-right-now-to-end-police-brutality#.oLcrlR4pi. 10/24/16.]

[The worst cases of police brutality in septemeber,thinkprogress.org, Jess Colarossi.

From the survey provided by http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-police-brutality-a-problem]