Excessive Use Of Force In Police Tapes By Alan Raymond

In a bid to understand the policing and the roles of police officers in a neighborhood that was the criminals and crime activities, the filmmakers Alan Raymond and his wife Susan Raymond had to spend a whopping three months with the policemen of the New York precinct in the South Bronx. The filmmakers were interested in analyzing the activities that took place around crime prone areas and how the police officers did to combat the crimes. Interestingly the choice of their location provided the brewing place for the criminal activities. The three-month filming was condensed into a 90-minute documentary that was called Police Tapes. The documentary is about the criminal activities of South Bronx and the extent to which the policing of the area

There are some episodes where police officers use excessive force on suspected criminals. For instance, there is a scene where a young woman is suspected to be in possessive of some ammunitions and when she tries to resist arrest the police officer uses excessive force in her arrest. There are also other myriad instances on the move when the rights of the individuals are violated. This has changed over time. Human rights activists have come out strongly to condemn the excessive use of force in combating crime. They argue that a suspect should be perceived as innocent until proven guilty (Shelden, 2006). Also, the police officers have undergone massive training on the rights of human beings. Rarely will a police officer use excessive force to control crime. Unless in self-defense or a situation where it is deemed necessary the policing has been ‘softer’ in this age in fighting crime as compared as it was then back in the

The South Bronx precinct was one of those New York places where street protests were common. With the obligation of maintaining law and order, it was the role of the police to deal with the protests. The police had to ride in their patrol cars to ensure that there were no damages as a result of the protests. The problem with these protests in the 70’s they was very physical. The protestors engaged in a run and hit with the police officers. They used to carry stones and throw them on police officers who were on the lookout. These would leave scores of people injured in the protests. These days the protests have changed. People have realized that protests do not need to be physical to be noticed. Citizens have learned that they do not need to kill some three or four people to attract the attention of the nation and the government. There are myriad ways that they can raise their grievances and be relevant. With a simple hashtag in the social media, they can create more attention in the nation than they could do on the streets. Therefore policing has been a simple task to the police officers today. They do not have to engage physically with protestors who could have criminals in between them masquerading to be