Speaker: Kyla Williams
When most people think of the police, they think of people who are in place to protect and serve the community. However, this is not always the case. As we have seen through recent events in our country the police do not always protect and serve. Said events have made people take a harder look at the police systems. When you look at the history and effects of the police the question can be purpose, “Yo, is this racist?”. This question has had many people thinking about possible solutions to this issue of the police system being racist.
As defined by Wikipedia is police brutality “ excessive use of force by law enforcement can be legally defined as a civil rights violation, where law enforcement officers exercise undue or excessive force against a subject.” Then when you take a look at the history of modern police you can see that police brutality is rooted into the system. Before a formal police system was set up the colonies were protected by a night watch. The first official police groups in the North were responsible for controlling new immigrants in America. Formed to deal with the rise in crime caused by the influx of people. While the first form of a police system in the South were slave patrols, the earliest of which being in Carolina in 1704. Patrols rode on horseback and carried whips, ropes, and even guns. These patrols duties consisted of chasing and hunting escaped slaves, terrorizing slave communities to prevent riots, and to keep plantation owners in check. Patrols like this lasted until the Civil War and ended up leading to the Ku Klux Klan. Fast forward to the 50s and 60s during the Civil Rights Movement which challenged not only segregation and racial discrimination but also police brutality. Where activists were met with beatings or attacks from police dogs. For example the March across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama where marchers including John Lewis were met with brutal attacks by state troopers. Or in many instances police officers would sit by idle as activists were attacked by whites. An example being the Freedom Riders who were attacked by a mob armed with pipes, chains, and bats. This all occurred even though police officers were warned hours earlier that there would be an attack still to only arrive after the assault had begun. The involvement of police shifted when the Black Power Movement began, which was from the late 60s into the 1970s. One of the major groups during the movement, the Black Panther Party, was a constant target of not only local police but also of the FBI. Members were not only harassed by police but also killed by them, the most notable member to fall to police was 17-year-old Bobby Hutton. The FBI would form COINTELPRO the job of which was to infiltrate, disrupt, undermine, and discredit political organizations. Their targets were not limited to the Panthers but they did focus heavily on them. Often leading raids on Panther offices without a warrant, which allowed for the killing or arrest of those in the building. Many of these indiscretions like this went unsee because they were the law.
Speaker: Puja Patel
We can all see that Police Brutality not just has uncovered concealed prejudice; however, it has started to cause division in our country. Police ruthlessness is a genuine issue that makes a colossal separation between individuals. Police are the peacekeepers and the vast majority of them are acceptable, yet some brutality their capacity and authority. This impacts their lives and how they act in the public eye consistently. The public administrations should serve general society and cause them to feel sheltered and ensured not terrified, anyway police ruthlessness just is by all accounts deteriorating and reports state that the police utilize over the top actual viciousness which just contributes towards these charges, numerous others have likewise noticed that police severity doesn’t simply stop at actual mistreatment it incorporates enthusiastic and sexual savagery just as obnoxious attack and mental terrorizing. Individuals under their insurance must not lose confidence in them. By far most of the police power all throughout the world join to make their locale a superior and more secure spot, a few in any case, lose the method of the pledge they take, that says they will treat everybody with equivalent rights and regard, and begin to manhandle their capacity, however confidence should even now be placed in them. Some may state that all police are degenerate and are just there for power and additionally to profit themselves, and we ought not confide in them. While state-endorsed savagery towards people of fluctuating races of shading isn’t new, the documentation through scramble cams and regular citizen cell phone film has uncovered the cruelty. Over the recent years America has started to recognize police cruelty as a major issue.
Police harshness influences general wellbeing since it influences a pointer of people wellbeing, which is future, it causes passing, lessens future, and expands the demise rates for specific populations. To start with, actual wounds and demise. This makes families self-destruct because of the departure of a friend or family member implying that individuals may even take their own from not having the option to adapt and leave families lamenting. Besides, mental pressure, this causes individuals who have gone through it because of police harshness to either be terrified of the police or agitator against them framing packs/gatherings to battle them or mob. Police severity impacts psychological well-being far in excess of its real occurrences, however. The thing is, it’s not exactly when an occurrence of police savagery occurs. It is the consistent expectation that it could transpire, it could transpire you know. It merits calling attention to here how this dynamic of dread and doubt reared by bigoted police brutality takes care of into a self-sustaining pattern of heightening in police experiences prompting more brutality, and much more doubt with obliterating impacts on general wellbeing.
Speaker: Logan Sigler
Police brutality and systemic racism still plays a major role in today’s world and has led to detrimental effects that disproportionately affects black and brown communities. Now that we have laid out the groundwork explaining the history of police brutality and the long-term consequences of it today towards communities of color, we will be exploring potential solutions while recognizing their implications and limitations.
One recent slogan that has come to fruition during nationwide protests has been “defund the police.” The slogan is often misinterpreted in several ways, but one of the most common misinterpretations is that some believe this is a call to action to completely abolish or take away all funds from law enforcement. To clarify, this is not at all what the slogan is calling for. The general idea behind this slogan is to not abolish the police, but rather redirect a portion of police funding towards housing, education, healthcare, and other public programs. The argument is that redirecting these funds will help communities of color that are usually underfunded and will hopefully give them equal access to public programs and reduce crime rates. Los Angeles became one of the first major cities to do this in which they cut the police budget by approximately $150 million dollars, however, this is only a fraction of the original amount that was allocated for the department ($1.86 billion). Some have argued that this decision did not go far enough, was just right, or went way too far thus raising the question of how much money should law enforcement receive? There is no clear answer as no major department has seen this large of a cut, and there aren’t nearly enough studies on this potential solution, however, it very well could still be a viable solution, more research just needs to be done.
Another call to action that has arisen from the protests is for legislators to end qualified immunity. The ACLU made the argument for ending qualified immunity in an article published on September 10th, 2020 named, “Lower Courts Agree — It’s Time to End Qualified Immunity.” In the article, they define qualified immunity as “a legal defense that can shield police officers from liability for misconduct.” Victims of police brutality are supposedly able to press charges, however, in 1967 the Supreme Court said that officers cannot be held liable if they could prove they were in good faith or had probable cause for their actions. While this may sound reasonable, it has long protected police who have committed clear acts of violence, especially towards black and brown communities. The ACLU argues that this type of immunity has contributed to police using excessive force as they know they are highly unlikely to face consequences. District Court Judge Reeves argued, “Let us not be fooled by legal jargon. Immunity is not exoneration. And the harm in this case to one man sheds light on the harm done to the nation by this manufactured doctrine.” Ending qualified immunity would let victims of police brutality hold police accountable, potentially reduce the amounts of excessive force used, and require police to take appropriate actions.
While none of these solutions are easy ones to achieve or are deemed to be 100% effective, they would help reduce the amount of police brutality committed, make law enforcement think about their actions, and give communities of color a better chance at receiving equal opportunities and aid underfunded communities.
Works Cited:
“ACLU News & Commentary.” American Civil Liberties Union, September 10, 2020. https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/lower-courts-agree-its-time-to-end-qualified-immunity/.
“Police Brutality.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality.
“Defund the LAPD? At This Pace, It Would Take 20 Years to Hit Black Lives Matter’s Goal.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, August 11, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-11/defund-lapd-la-budget-spending-priorities.
Olito, Frank. “Protests against Police Have Broken out across the Country. Here’s How Policing Has Evolved in the US since Its Beginnings in the 1600s.” Insider, Insider, 3 June 2020, www.insider.com/history-of-police-in-the-us-photos-2020-6.
