Police Brutality In The 21st Century

In 2015, one-thousand, one hundred and forty-six (1,146) people were shot and killed by the very people who have taken an oath to “protect and serve,” those in the blue uniforms who call themselves “peace” officers, so, what is police brutality? “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians,” according to The Law Dictionary. The excessive force that this dictionary is describing is a force that is well “above and beyond” the necessary force needed to control the situation and is not to be confused with police misconduct. Some people see America as a free society, but 21st century citizens are experienced with the ever-fearing, hate producing, acts of police brutality that appears to

First, what is racial profiling? According to Dr. Ronnie A. Dunn an associate professor at Cleveland State University, racial profiling is “the use of a person’s race or ethnicity as a proxy for suspicion of involvement in some form of criminal activity or threat” (961). Dr. Dunn is stating that if police are using a person’s race or religion (i.e. Hispanic, Black, or Muslim) as a means to suspect that they are involved in a crime just because of their color, this is considered as racial profiling. Racial profiling in still occurring in the twenty-first century more often with African-Americans that the Case Western Law Review report dictates that “there are at least two variables that remain relatively consistent: the race of the victim, primarily black, and that of the officer, overwhelmingly white” (959). In each of these studies, the victim was black and the officers were white. These two variables remained “consistent” throughout the study. Racial profiling is not only about being victimized for the color of your skin. It is also about freedom of mobility. Dr. Dunn writes, “The ability for all citizens to move about freely in public space unfettered by undue laws” (959). In other words, the Professor believes that all citizens have the right to shop, walk, drive, and go about their business without being restrained or inhibited by local law enforcement. If

As a Pulitzer Prize writer Junot Diaz believes that “The Police Chief should direct officers to cease engaging in stop and frisk” (442). By using this form of racial disparity the police officers are engaging in racially profiling members of the public by detaining tax paying citizens due to the color of their skin. Stop and frisk is primarily focused on minority civilians and not white members of the community. Initially stop and frisk were minimally invasive and the officers did not use excessive force. Mr. Diaz believes “this stipulation was that stop and frisks did not involve police force, such as handcuffs or guns” (1997). Meaning, that initially when officers used stop and frisk procedures they did not detain civilians and/or hand cuff them or draw a weapon on them just to perform a minor stop and frisk procedure. Now more often than not, officers are detaining minorities of color and even pulling them over by use of weapons. This behavior is more heavily focused on minorities and African-American