Elijah Niemeyer 

 Mr. Smith Period 1

 October 29, 2016

Dear Next. President,

Police brutality has become more of a problem in the last five or six years than it ever has been before. Unjustified shootings, irrational arrests, needless harassment and beatings of harmless, innocent civilians. I find that it has become more of a matter of stereotypes that lead to shootings, and not if the victim was at fault of a crime.

Over the past five years police in Albuquerque have shot and killed 28 people and have been at the giving end of many brutalizations. James Boyd a homeless schizophrenic was shot, tased, attacked by canines, and beaten all at the hand of the Albuquerque PD, on arrival police were supposed to escort him off the campgrounds and fine him for “unauthorized camping”, but he ended up in a body bag.

Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed on Aug. 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo. This lead to unnecessary riots and unrests throughout the nation, given Brown was said to be at fault of robbing a convenience store, officers never attempted to detain the teen instead, they chose to fire twelve rounds at the teen fatally wounding him.

Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot on November 23, 2014 by officer Timothy Loehmann. Tamir was innocently playing with a toy gun when someone called the police to report him. The civilian who called the police relayed the information that the gun was probably fake and that Tamir was a juvenile, but according to police that information was never let known to officer Loehmann. Officer Loehmann immediately upon arrival got out of his police cruiser and fired two shots and struck Tamir with one without any reason. Tamir later died the following day.

All of these people should still be with us today, but the ignorance and arrogance of our nation's justice system took them before god intended. This senseless violence must stop. Body cameras, extra training, or something more must be done to aide in the ending of this violence. Mr. President I believe that we can make a change, and we can stop all of the unneeded harm and violence. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Elijah Niemeyer