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Last Name

Student’s Name

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Institution

Date

Argumentative essay about why police brutality should stop

Police are using excessive armed forces not to stop and control protests, but they are only

showing their white supremacy. As the entire country is protesting over George Floyd and

Breonna Taylor's deaths, police are wrongfully exercising their power by targeting black

communities. Police brutality needs to stop because it has become a public health issue, and

if this level of white supremacy continues, the country will be divided. Intimidating the

public with military-grade equipment is not the right way to stop offenders in the on-going

protests. Police violence on such a level is raising alarms (Lastweektonight). People are now

voicing their opinion to bring about substantial changes in law enforcement to make it an

integral part of society (Last Week Tonight). If anyone commits a crime, they will be

prosecuted and charged, but why doesn't that apply to the police?

Police authorities tend to build up negative feelings towards black communities, resulting in

more abuses for black groups and societies. Even with the progress made during the civil

rights movement, this country's police department is advancing white supremacy. In 2015

and 2016, the law enforcement officials were responsible and accountable for wrongfully

killing 1146 and 1093 people, respectively (Peeples). Even with increased technology and

cameras, these police officers are not being charged with assault and murder, but they are
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merely stating that "we did what we had to do because it was within our scope of

employment."

Peaceful protests were disturbed by bringing heavy machinery, and in that situation, the

police brutality stepped over the threshold. This level of misconduct shown by the police is

unacceptable. Black men and women are terrified of this level of injustice, and police using

rubber bullets and tear gas on unarmed protestors is causing irreparable harm to the entire

country.

In the early months of this year, Trump declared himself the 'President of Law and order,' and

he wanted to decrease the crime rates caused by minor offenses to not result in any significant

offenses. However, this only led to the high saturation of police in low-income communities

of color. When this policing system recorded its peak in 2011, there were nearly 700,000

stops in New York. Out of this vast number, almost 65% were black and Latino people. This

shows us the ineptitude of police officers. Racial discrimination was causing police brutality,

but we must also look back on the history of policing systems.

Police brutality is expanding at an alarming rate, and it is because the government is funding

them with unlimited resources. With less social contributions, the government is putting

everything on the police to handle. In 2016, a police chief in Dallas, David Brown, admitted

that cops are asked for much too much, and the lack of mental health is causing many severe

issues in law enforcement. While we highlight and emphasize the consequences of police

brutality, we also have to register that the government made a series of bad choices that left

them as nearly the only public resource in some minority communities. There is much

evidence supporting this argument, but one that has no justification happened in 2004. A
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pregnant woman was shocked three times with a stun gun, but the appeal court ruled in favor

of Seattle's police. The immunity was given because the law on stun guns was not clear yet. If

that is how courts respond to such unlawful incidents, then innocents will always be left

hanging for justice (Last Week Tonight).

In the last few protests, we have seen people shouting, 'Defund the Police,' and they wanted

the government to redistribute the same funding to create more public channels to seek help

and safety (Lastweektonight). US law-enforcement agencies are facing high-level scrutiny

and criticism for the lack of right reform policies. Here, the main action to be carried out is to

hold the police accountable for their crimes against black communities. In numerous states, a

bill of rights for cops shields the workforce from examinations concerning wrongdoing. We

need to investigate those state laws and association laws that give either imperfect or

excessively defensive methods that protect officials from moral responsibility.

(Lastweektonight)

This has been one of the most significant issues faced by law enforcement, and even the FBI

director made it clear that there is no data of police killing innocent people. This shows the

lack of discipline in the police department for not recording and documenting the

demographics. An examination of Florida's freely available reports indicated that about 3% of

that state's police power had recently been terminated or had surrendered instead of being

excused. The investigation, distributed in May, found that these officials would, in general,

move to more modest organizations that served a marginally more significant extent of Black

inhabitants, however with no huge distinction in wrongdoing rates. They likewise had all the

earmarks of being bound to submit unfortunate behavior later on contrasted with officials

who had never been terminated. The law enforcement unions are putting more pressure to
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reinstate a fired officer, and even if justice is served, there is a high chance of that police

officer making a comeback.

The money spent on misconduct settlements in law enforcement over the last six years is over

a billion dollars. If the institutions are spending massive amounts of money, we know that the

system is into wrongdoings. The solution to this would be to stop police brutality and reinvest

some of the currently spent resources on armed officers (Peeples). The same money can help

fund many health professionals that can respond to calls for service in emergencies. Another

important element to add to reduce police brutality is for them to wear body cameras. If they

try to violate laws and policies, one can easily be held accountable. America is strong when

we are together and not when we deprive constitutional rights for communities of color.
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Bibliography

Ashita G. “POLICE BRUTALITY NEEDS TO STOP; POLICE REFORMS NEED

TO HAPPEN.” 2020, https://www.seisen.com/seisen-post/student-

journalism/~board/seisen-post/post/police-brutality-needs-to-stop-police-reforms-

need-to-happen.

Lastweektonight. “Police Accountability: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

(HBO).” John Oliver, 2 October 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=zaD84DTGULo.

Last Week Tonight. “Police: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).” John

Oliver, 7 June 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf4cea5oObY.

Peeples, Lynne. “What the data say about police brutality and racial bias — and

which reforms might work.” Nature- News Feature, Nature, 19 June 2020,

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z.