Police Brutality: A Horrible Miscarriage of Justice
A tremendous amount of recent public attention has focused on the issue of police brutality. Allegations of brutality frequently arise when police are required to use force against offenders. Whether or not the police are guilty of brutality depends upon a resolution of whether or not the force used by officers was excessive. While the answer to such a question would seem clear-cut, the fact is that law enforcement officers are presented with real-life situations, not text-book examples of criminal scenarios. Therefore, it is important to recall that many arrests and non-arrest situations require the use of force. In addition, the force necessary to effectuate an arrest or prevent criminal activity may be greater than could be determined by an observer, which indicates that the actual incidence of police brutality is lower than reported. Finally, the racial bias demonstrated in police brutality figures gives an inaccurate picture of racial discrimination by police officers. Instead, when one considers that members of those same races are also disproportionately convicted of crimes, it follows that members of those races would be at the center of police brutality allegations. Therefore, while police brutality is a serious
In a perfect world, the arrest of criminal suspects would be accomplished without the use of force. However, police officers function in an imperfect world. Criminals are frequently armed with weapons and intend to actively resist arrest. Even when suspected criminals do not present a physical danger to officers, the officers may need to use force in order to accomplish an arrest. For example, a drug dealer may not intend to use violence against police officers, but may evade arrest for the purposes of destroying evidence. Therefore, it would be necessary for officers to physically detain the suspect before he could do so. In addition, officers have to be concerned about the safety of non-suspects in the vicinity. For example, an officer responding to a domestic violence call has the duty to make sure that the victim is safe. While a suspect may be very compliant with police requests, an officer has to make sure that the suspect is sufficiently restrained to keep them from harming a victim. Therefore, officers frequently have to use force when making an arrest. Furthermore, it is naive for those outside of the law enforcement community to suggest that they know what level of force is appropriate to use in certain situations. In everyday life, it would be excessive for multiple people to detain a single person. However, criminal suspects are not drawn from the general public. Instead, criminal suspects are o
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Approximate Word count = 964
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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