Dear Future President,

There have been events rolling around the news that have been exciting, devastating, or just plain surprising. An issue that has affected our society significantly is police brutality. ‘Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose’. I want all of the citizens in the United States to be safe and not be killed by the people who are supposed to protect us. I’m very passionate about this topic since one of my best friend's family member was a victim of police brutality.

In my opinion, I feel like the police officers are taking advantage of their authority. A personal example of brutal acts that police officers committed against people is that of Amadou Diallo. Amadou Diallo was the relative to my friend that was a victim of police brutality. He was an immigrant from Guinea that ran away from their undemocratic government to live in a country that they can have democracy. He wanted to have a better life and immigrated to the United States with his family. He moved into ‘the city that never sleeps’, The Bronx. He returns from Manhattan since he sold socks, videotapes, & gloves on 14th St. He arrived at his apartment to drop off his stuff to go and eat something. Once he was coming back on the sidewalk, 4 police officers dressed in regular clothing stopped him. The police officers were looking for a serial rapist and somehow Amadou matched the description. Amadou didn’t speak English so he didn’t understand the officer's orders. Amadou kept proceeding to his door, and tried to take out his wallet. Officers shot him 41 times, only because they suspected he was ‘armed’.  Diallo was a dedicated Muslim that wouldn’t smoke or drink, really friendly but could be really shy.

I have an idea that can decrease the statistics of killings by police officers. In 2015, more than 920 people were killed by the police. The suggestion is to put cameras on police officers to record every move they make on the daily basis. This can be used as evidence if something goes wrong at the time. It is also useful to control what the officers are doing. Such as, they aren’t going to do whatever they want since they are being watched. Also, to retrain every police officer so they know for sure what to do.

In conclusion, this issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible. People are losing lives when they could be starting a family, having a life, & going through their experiences just because of their race, religion, or description.

Sincerely,

Haley L