Policing in America

The abuse of power by the police, which lowers public trust in them, is one issue that American policing must deal with. The most terrifying words in the English language, according to Ronald Reagan, are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” (Stringman). One might ponder whether one could apply this way of reasoning to the police. It is obvious that the respondent determines the response. For instance, a lot of liberals think that the cops in America abuse their authority. As required by the rules governing their job, they are no longer concentrated on defending the citizen. The conservatives believe that the police are doing a great job, and any de-policing will make America unsafe. Therefore, some citizens believe that the police are playing a critical role in the community thus reducing the crime rates (Stringman). With many residents complaining of the policing department, I agree that there are problems in America with the police force.

First, the police are abusing their power. To establish it, today’s studies indicate that the level of confidence in the police department is at its lowest operation standards over the last 20 years. The confidence has decreased among Americans of all education levels, age, race, and income with the minorities and the youth recording highest lack of trust. Nine out of every ten people argue that the police are doing a poor job regarding the issue of equal treatment and exercising their power. The police are supposed to protect the citizens including the crime offenders. However, many of them are exerting violence on the offenders becoming a big problem in the country (Stringman). The law enforcement department is enforcing and implementing discrimination with violence. The minorities especially the Afro-Americans and Muslims are discriminated by the law and subjected to brutal punishment in case they have done a crime. The Afro-American children are often told that any stray movement in the presence of the police might lead to their legal killing. A top cop spoke to his son on being skeptical to the police. It is terrifying as one tries to understand how the police can be legitimate. The police are involved in behaviors such as choking people to death, shooting people over loud conversations, and beating of children and women on the traffic island. The government seems powerless and unwilling to stop the brutal and violent mishandling by the police. The police department seems to have for a long time under the crisis that the concerned parties are not able to solve. The problem still continues to grow especially in this era of the Republicans rule. There are segregation and discrimination based on racial and religious groups (Coates). The law enforcers are likely to use violence on the minority and discriminated group of people.

The American police are in turmoil. There are many reported cases of killing executed by the police. The minorities such as the black immigrants express their danger of being murdered by the police. On the other hand, the Blue Lives Matter expresses the concern that the police are facing the risk of being killed by the citizens as they do their work. In 2015, the police killed 1,207 Americans which increased the tension concerning the rates of violence in America populace. The American policing are faced with problems (Stringman). The San Francisco police department found itself in the issue of outrage over brutality and violence from the police, and racial bias has affected many cities such as Baltimore and El Cajon. The police are using force on people of Afro-American orrigin and have searched for them more often than they do it for the whites. The police are using force, and it has been established that nine in every eleven American citizens are killed during the force incidents especially the minority black race (Queally and Mozingo). For instance, during the Mario Woods case, a black man was shot 21 times by police. The federal investigators also established that the black and Latino drivers were subjected to use of force encounters with the police more than the whites who were rarely found in contraband. The law reform system had been resistant to change because of the failure of the management to be careful with the brutal police force.

Moreover, Donald Davis said in his statement that “it makes clear the significant challenges that lie ahead for the police department and the city” (Queally and Mozingo). This is because more than 90 findings report on the operational deficiencies in the police system. The officers were said to have sent racist texts that were regarded as extreme bias. The police used words as ”rag heads” to refer to the Afro-American people and ”beaners” to the Latinos (Queally and Mozingo). The bias policing and racial profiling have a direct connection to the mentality which makes the police to use violence on the citizens. After several controversies of shooting, the national and federal governments have to intervene and call for transparency in the police department. Furthermore, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues the problem in the police comes as a result of the expectation from the government and community. The police are expected to do much in that every social ill has to be corrected by the criminal justice system. He wrote, ”Vexing social problems” has to be handled by armed police officers. The police are trained to enforce law and compliance not to give therapy (Coates). However, I do not agree with Coates views that the police should be responsible for solving social problems. Indeed, the police cannot be called to settle social issues such as drunkenness and homelessness. Coates take on the police problems is that they are structural and inevitable. However, the pessimistic arguments discount the importance of police training and attribute the problems to the American police culture that values over-reliance on force and violence.

To conclude, the American police are faced with problems that have continued to increase over the past 20 years. The citizens are no longer confident about their security and police department. Instead of the police officers emphasizing on protecting the citizens, they are involved in brutal and violent attacks as they perform their daily work. The violence is executed following the racial minorities and the less privileged. However, it seems that the government is unwilling to control the fallen police force and bring them back to their primary purpose of protecting the citizens. The above-mentioned three articles summarize the idea of increasing brutality among the police force and the issue of discrimination based on racial groups. I strongly agree that there is a problem in the America police department that needs to be addressed.

Works Cited

Coates, Ta-Hehisi. ”The Near Certainty of Anti-Police Violence.” The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/the-near-certainty-of-anti-police-violence/490541/. Accessed 06 March 2017.

Queally, James, and Joe Mozingo. ”Feds Fault San Francisco Police for Violence against Minorities and Recommendation 272 Reforms.” La Times, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-francisco-police-bias-20161012-snap-story.html. Accessed 06 March 2017.

Stringman, Edward P. ”Is America Facing a Police Crisis?” Infonews, http://gonzaloraffoinfonews.blogspot.com/2016_08_09_archive.html. Accessed 06 March 2017.