Police Brutality

Police Brutality

Name:

Institution:

Police Brutality

Introduction

            Police brutality is a growing concern in the world. This is the excessive use of physical force, verbal attacks and intimidation of psychological nature by police officers. The practice is common in attempts to arrest law offenders, maintain authority, and make false arrests, sexual abuse, surveillance abuse, racial profiling and police corruption. In most cases, victims of police brutality end up having physical injuries, psychological trauma or even death. Despite the practice being illegal, it is widespread under the color of law. Different community groups have risen against police brutality with little or no action taken by the authorities. Police brutality should be stopped, as it is inhuman, illegal and ineffective in the maintenance of law and order.

Discussion

            Some of the major causes of police brutality include the pressure to abide by certain aspects of culture within the police, the rigidity of control and command structures in hierarchical foundation and the growing deficiencies in mechanisms of internal accountability. In the United States, 62.9 million people were recorded to have had contact with police officers in 2011 (Whibey, 2014). Stewart (2008) states that, “The citizen complaint rate was at 6.6 for every 100 sworn officers who were in full time basis.” Proponents of the excessive force defend the officers on grounds of hostile offenders. Heade (2011) supports the call for no tolerance on excessive force by the officers as there are laid down procedures of handling criminal elements in the society.

Conclusion

The existence of police brutality in several countries has increased over the years, leading to deaths of victims, suffering of multiple injuries from assaults and psychological trauma. Police brutality is an illegal means of law enforcement, which should be stopped by all governments. Community groups, civil organizations and justice committees should champion the efforts of convicting guilty officers and seeking means of ending abuses on human rights.

References

Heade. K. (2011). End Police Brutality. Law Journal for Social Justice, Vol. 1, pp. 1-13.

Stewart, G. B. (2008). Police brutality. San Diego, California: Lucent Books.

Wihbey, J. (2014). Police Brutality of Reasonable Force? Research Review and Statistics on Law Enforcement, Violence and the Role of Race. Harvard Kennedy School. Retrieved from http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics#