Time to Fight Police Brutality

Dear next president, The issue of police brutality has been a major problem and popular issue facing this country right now. The police are suppose to be the symbol of justice, our protectors. They are supposed to be the people we can trust our lives with and feel safe around. When I see a policeman I don't feel safe, I feel fear, I see a racist, I see someone who abuses their power and someone who creates crime not fight crime. I see the hands that choked Eric Garner, I see the result of Alton Sterling, Michael Brown, Rodney King and many more. However, most of those cases, the cops to be found innocent or left off the hook only to go back to the streets and continue their injustice. With all that in mind, I propose that you should create a program that all police officers must take before being an officer. It should be an intense psychological test to see whether the officers are cut out for the job. As president you’re going to solve the issue of police brutality by reforming the law enforcement; you should reform this by changing who is able to get into the law enforcement, how officers are trained, and find ways to restore confidence in the department. One of the major issues within the police departments today is racism. In fact, in 2015 Washington Post analyzed 385 fatal police shootings that had occurred in the U.S so far in 2015 (at the date of December 9, 2015) and found black people to be killed at three times the rate of whites and other minorities. Another statistic reported to the FBI found that nearly two times a week in the United States a white police officer killed a black person during a seven year period ending in 2012; it may be even worse now. It is quite obvious that there is racism within the law enforcement. Although it may be small percentage of the law enforcement that are racist, that percentage is still too big. Racism is one of the main reasons why I purpose that program to you. I believe that intense psychological test will help determine whether the officers are racist or not. Also I believe that during background checks, they should see if that certain officer has a racial history or not. If they do, and depending on how bad it is; they should not be given a badge. As the problem of police brutality and more specifically racism in the police field are huge, it creates another problem as well such as the lost of trust and confidence in and within the police departments. In fact in a statistic done by the Gallup Poll, in 2015, 52% of Americans said they have confidence in the police which ties the all-time low in the poll’s 22-year trend. I believe that due to all of the senseless killings and acts by police officers have caused Americans to lose their trust and confidence in them. As Americans lose their trust and confidence, it will cause the police to lose confidence while doing their job which might raise more problems like more crime. Although many believe the police are racist and shoot out of racism, others may argue that officers don’t shoot or kill out of frustration or hatred, they shoot because they are afraid. In the article, “How Police Training Contributes to Avoidable Deaths” by Seth Stoughton; he believes that officers shoot because they are afraid. He also states that in formal training they’re told they should be afraid as their survival depends on it. He provided an example as he stated that the officers that shot John Crawford thought he was raising his rifle to a shooting position despite the fact that the security camera shows him on swinging a BB gun back and forth while on the phone. In my opinion, If the formal training actually trains the officers to be afraid, then that would just make the problem worse. The officers would just shot anything or anyone they see as harmful. Also shouldn’t the officers know the difference between a BB gun and an actual gun. The arguments Stoughton had brought up are a few of the reasons why I purposed that program with the intense psychological test. It will give us officers who are mentally tough enough to be fearless and able to handle the job. As you can see Mr./Mrs. President, police brutality is a major issue in America today. It causes racial tension, lost of trust and confidence in the law enforcement, and takes away many lives who don’t deserve it. If you could somehow implement a reform system and intense physiological test for police officers, it could make America feel safe. Sincerely, Ryan