It's Still a Problem

Ever since humans were formed racism has been a problem. Throughout the years many people have tried so hard to stop this but despite their efforts racism is still a problem. Police have been brutally killing and/or beating black americans. “In May, the Washington Post analyzed the 385 fatal police shootings in the United States that had occurred so far in 2015.” (mic.com, #1) “Another Washington Post investigation from August found that black men — who constitute 6% of the nation's population — account for 40% of the 60 unarmed people who had been fatally shot by police by that time.” (Mic.com, #5) “It also found 98% of these events did not end with an officer being charged with a crime.” (Mic.com, #8) (PS: All the statistics here are based throughout the US.) This has been a growing problem throughout the US however mic.com states that “Mapping Police Violence found that black people living in Oklahoma were six times more likely to be killed by police than in Georgia.” I believe that Police brutality should be the main focus of the upcoming president due to the fact that the US was made to be a free country where everyone can be anything with no restrictions. To clarify, I think that Police should be able to use force to an extent. To start off, I believe that police should be able to use force to execute orders.For example If someone has just killed someone and you are chasing them. They are going to be armed and if you can’t use force they have a very unfair advantage that could cost you your life. Therefore you should be able to use force to save your life. To support this claim I found this article that states “ a woman named Kathryn Johnston was tragically killed by two Atlanta police officers during a botched drug raid in 2006. The 92-year-old woman was alone inside her home when the officers burst in without warning. She fired at them with a handgun, injuring three of the men, and they fired back at Johnston, striking her five or six times." (criminaljusticedegreesguide.com, #10). This is relevant because the police were under threat by the woman because she was armed and had shot 3 of the men so with their life in danger the other officers open fired. Now that I have proved that police should be able to use force I now will prove the second half of my claim, That they should be able to use force to an extent. :Let's say that someone drives by and kills someone, you would shoot at the driver and people inside, when you should have shot the tires to prevent any death or severe injury. an example of this was when Sean Bell was killed by NYPD detectives who fired 50 times at the car Bell and his friends were riding in on Nov. 25, 2006. One of the officers overheard Bell’s friend talk about getting his gun. In order to stop a shooting from happening, the officer confronted Bell and his friends while they were in the car and ordered them to stop. Bell started to drive off and the officer thought he saw a gun in the car, so he and the other police opened fire on the car (criminaljusticedegreesguide.com, #5) This is relavent because the officers could have shot the tires to immobilize the car and then call for backup to get rid of the threat. Therefore meaning that it was unnecessary for them to kill bell. Now that I have stated both of the parts to my claim, I will conclude this section by once again stating that officers of the police should indeed be able to use force to complete a task to an extent that I feel I have made clear. On the contrary some people may argue that when police are in life threatening situations they may not be able to think clearly because they are human, just like us, and I do understand how in the heat of the moment you do things uncontrollably. For instance if you are chasing an armed criminal on foot, and then lets say he turns around, in reflex you shoot and accidentally kill him, what you should have learned to do in all your years as a police officer is to not go for the kill shot but to go for the wounding shot like the leg or arm. To support this i found an article that speaks of a 48-year-old homeowner with the last name of Williams called 911 at 4:34 a.m. to report an attempted carjacking by a black male with a rifle, authorities said in a Tuesday press conference. Williams, who is black according to the Indianapolis Star, told dispatchers the suspect was last seen in a black car. The two responding officers approached the scene tactically, with their weapons drawn and the sirens off — and found a black car with its lights on sitting in the driveway. When the garage door opened and a man with a gun emerged, police shot him once in the abdomen. But the victim turned out to be Williams. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition. (nydailynews.com, article #1). This article clearly shows that when officers are in the heat of the moment sometimes they do things accidentally like in this example where they accidentally shot the homeowner instead of the robber. I think that police should still be armed but not with live rounds i think they should use some type of pepper round that hurts a lot, is not lethal, and possibly has a pepper spray effect. This would help the un's initiative because it helps prevent conflicts and war. The inequality right now is currently causing riots so without police brutality the riot rate goes down. This is a priority or the next president because if the US is perceived as a land of racial inequality and war, the US could crumble.