Dear Future President,

Racism causing police brutality is a recurring problem in the United States, and we Americans need you to help put an end to it. Cases involving the deaths of young black men, non-white suspects were less likely to be injured than white suspects, and to help end it the use of less lethal weapons as well as body cameras. As to establishing my authority to this topic, my mother was raised in the south in a predominantly white conservative town, and she is able to say how poorly police treated black males compared to white males.

In a number of closely-watched cases involving the deaths of young black men, police have been freed, generating concerns about equal justice. On Staten Island, N.Y., during the month of July, year 2014, death of Eric Garner because the use of a “chokehold” by an officer caused outrage. A month later in Ferguson, MO., the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson ignited protests, and a grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson triggered further trouble. In November, Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 12 years The 1,217 deadly police shootings old and playing with a toy pistol. There have been no indictments in these cases. These are all people who are victims of police brutality. It is important to learn off of what has happened to these young men, so we as a country know to never let someone be treated so poorly by a police officer.

Non-white suspects were more likely to be injured than white suspects. According to http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics, from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.”This statistically shows how young African American men expierence police brutality compared to young white males.

The use of less lethal weapons as well as body cameras could be a contributing factor to help end police brutality. Use of tasers and other CEDs (conducted energy devices) can reduce the statistical rate of injury to suspects and officers who might otherwise be involved in more direct, physical conflict, and after a police department began requiring all officers to wear body cameras, use of force by officers fell by 60% and citizen complaints dropped by nearly 90%. If we were to have police officers wear and use body cameras and CEDs, the rates of police brutality may descend.

I urge you to think about the facts I have provided you in this letter when confronting the problem of police brutality. As I stated previously, racism causing police brutality is a recurring problem in the United States, and we Americans need your help stopping it.

Thank you,

Annie F.

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