Did you know that African American males face the highest risk of being killed by police at a rate of 96 out of 100,000 deaths as of 2019? Between the years of 2005 and 2017, 80 officers have been arrested for on-duty shootings. Police brutality has been a prevalent issue in America since the 1950’s. Police brutality is a form of police misconduct involving undue violence by police members. This will be explaining why it occurs, a recent example of this type of incident, and the process that happens to an officer in the aftermath.
Studies have proven that police brutality occurs when there is lack of training, fear, and racial profiling. In 2015, 224 unarmed Americans lost their lives at the hands of police, of which 57 percent were African American or Latino. While it is important to recognize that police officers have a dangerous job, it is also important to realize that they take an oath to serve and protect their community.
Killing unarmed citizens is a violation of that oath. Police departments across the nation are currently reforming their policies to reduce excessive use of force by reforming their training to focus more on de-escalation tactics. Whether this will successfully change the perception of police officers from one of warriors to one of guardians has yet to be known. Currently, training focuses too much on firearm skills and omits vital exposure to non-lethal weapons and conflict management. The median time of basic recruit training is 18 weeks, not counting field training.
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Nationally, police departments spend an average of 60 hours on firearms training and 44 hours on self-defense. The ability to defend oneself is an important skill for police officers to have. But the emphasis on firearm skills and self-defense should not compromise the training on mediation skills and conflict management. Police officers need to have the necessary training and knowledge to manage their emotional and physiological reactions, particularly in high stress situations. Fear has also become a factor in police brutality in which the officers would be in fear of extreme danger or even death. Police officers would often use racial profiling as a reason for excessive force especially towards African Americans, specifically males.
In July of 2016, a 32-year-old Minnesota man by the name of Philando Castile was fatally shot during a traffic stop by Officer Jeronimo Yanez. Diamond Reynolds, who was Castile’s girlfriend, live streamed the aftermath of the incident and said that Castile was reaching for his ID when he was shot. Yanez fired seven shits at Castile, in which two of them hit his heart and the other five hit his left arm, which resulted in Castile passing away later that day. The trial began May 30, 2017, under Judge William H. Leary. Jury found Yanez not guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
In the event of an officer-involved shooting, the officer will be discharged of his firearm. Next, the officer will be interviewed or asked to write a statement regarding the incident for purposes of an internal policy investigation. Then, the officer is put on paid administrative leave until case is fully reviewed where it’s decided if it’s justified or not, and if there are any charges. However, most cases are proven justified by internal affairs.
In conclusion, police brutality has been a widespread issue across America for decades. This was a proper and throughout explanation on why it happens, a recent case, and the post-incident process.
