Proposal to reform policing and 1

prevent brutality

Police brutality dividing the nation and how to help

Serigne Sock
Montgomery College

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 2
prevent brutality

Police brutality dividing the nation and how to help

Police brutality and other forms of police misconduct have been around for many years.

As the years go by the issues of police violence become more apparent, especially in this age of

technology where police misconduct is constantly shown through different source of media. In

May of 2015, the Washington Post analyzed that there were 385 fatal shooting in the United

States just in that year (Wong 2015). The cases of police violence have not slowed down in the

following years. Police brutality does not only cause a problem on a surface level where families

are being wronged by officers through the death or severe injuries of loved ones, but it causes

multiple divisions within the nations. Police violence creates distrust within communities

creating tension between citizens and law enforcement and that tensions can lead to riots and

unjustified shooting. The problem of police brutality can be examined in three main perspectives.

These perspectives are sociological, psychological and organizational (Rosenthal 2016). These

three-major issues are the causes of police brutality. To develop change it important to examine

all three-major level and examine the problem on each level and propose a solution and present

benefit of the solutions.

The first level to look at police brutality is a sociological. This perspective comes from

the fact that many cases of police brutality happen to people of color. This violence toward

people of color is rooted in a hierarchy system, where people of authority believe they are above

the citizen that they govern and abuse their power because they can. (Kwon 2017). This

hierarchy develops a conflict between the weak and strong or wealthy and poor, and many people

in the weak-poor group are minorities which makes them targets of violence (Kwon 2017). The

conflict between these two groups create stagnation within the nation because the stronger

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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groups constantly bringing down or abusing weaker group. When this happen the less develop

parts of our country cannot grow which inhibits potential great mind from coming out of those

areas. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and if the link is constantly weak the chain has

no chance of strengthening itself. Another problem this conflicts between positions present is it is

simply unfair and unethical to target certain community and groups for no just motives. The

reason why targeting certain groups with no just motive is unethical is because it is profiling

people based on stereotypes, rather than the individuals character which is racist. The

sociological problem of police brutality is the unfair hierarchy system develop which create

stagnation and separation within the nation.

The problem is not only a sociological factor but a psychological one as well. One

perspective that is important to look at is the mind of the law enforcement officers. Police

officers are not superheroes. Officers face pressure and can be mentally broken down just like

the average person. Not only does the stress of the job take an affect physically, but also take a

mental and emotional toll. These officers constantly face criminals or are in high risk situations,

and when these officers constantly face high risk situations it makes them higher strung and act

with more emotions (Rosenthal 2016). When these officers become more emotional rather than

rational, they tend to act more aggressively and use excessive force. Excessive force is used

because these officers feel that it is the safest and that they have more control. This excessive

force creates these cases of police brutality where there are unarmed men being shot, and vicious

beating of individual leaving them paralyzed or dead. Police officers are not the only group that

faces psychological problems but so do communities affected by police brutality as well. When

these communities face police brutality it puts every member in the community at edge and

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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creates tension between the law enforcement and citizens (Desmond 2016). Now citizens feel

unsafe and police officers feel unwelcome. This tension develops an us vs them mindset

between the two groups. When this us vs them mindset is established there is citizens not

willing to cooperate with officers regardless if these citizens are innocent or not. This creates a

further distrust amongst the community and law enforcement. Now that there is not much trust

between these two groups they both feel unsafe and are more likely to act violently between each

other leading to excessive violence and a vicious cycle (Desmond 2016).

The problem is not just sociological and psychological, but organizational

as well. Part of the organizational problem with police brutality is within the police system and

the system established within the communities. The organizational problem in the police system

is the inadequate training, corruption, and stagnant department. Many departments have

inadequate training where they do not have regular fitness checkup or keep their standard low for

physical fitness (Inadequate Training 2017). Inadequate training can lead to police brutality

when you have officer not equipped to handle various situations they feel unprepared and resort

to lethal measure to handle their situations (Inadequate Training 2017). Many departments

lower training because of budget cuts. Lack of training leads poor police work and less safety of

the officers and puts the public at risk. Another issue is corrupt departments. Police officers holds

a special type of power, that power allows officers to get away with certain thing and protected

from others. Many cases of police brutality fall favoring the side of the law enforcement having

them get away free of any charges. This leads to more events for police brutality because if there

are not any consequences for these police officers actions there is not any threat for the outcome

on the officers. When there are no repercussions there is, nothing stopping an officer from police

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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brutality again or another officer from police brutality (Desmond 2016). The final organizational

problem in the police system is that there is minor changes with how law enforcement run the

system and it remain stagnant, but as time changes so does the way the system operates need to

change as well. On the Joe Rogan Experience a ex Baltimore police officer speaks of his

experience on the police force and one day while digging through some old files and discusses

the lack of changes within the police system he says it striking how much we do things similar,

one of the things we found digging around through files we found an action plan and this

action plan was from the 1970s and we found it in 2010 and it was the exact same action plan

as the shift commander it was the same, the same corners, the same response , the same plan, so

for forty years nobody has changed anything(Wood 2015). The other organizational problem

is within our communities. Many cases of police brutality happen in troubled communities and

the problem within in these communities is that individuals our trapped in these troubled

communities and are set up to fail in them rather than get out of them. The nation established this

system targeting less developed communities where there are little opportunities to be successful

and the system target these communities because society creates these predisposition on certain

groups (Bell, Craig, Hopson, Robinson. 2014, p.35). When people accept these created

stereotypes on these groups or let them run free people tend to believe them and further trap

these groups in these terrible areas because it accepts the reason to target these groups. When this

mindset is established police officers is more inclined to be more defensive or act more viciously

toward these groups because of this established predispositions, which can lead to more cases of

police misconduct.

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 6
prevent brutality

For any problem, there will always be solutions. There are many ways to solve these

sociological, psychological, and organizational problems. The change that is needed, the reform

that can make an impact to reduce police brutality need to happen on an interpersonal and local

level (King 2016). The first set of problems discusses were sociological and showed how the

system creates hierarchy between rich and poor, and strong and weak. This system creates

separation and divides our nation. The best way to battle this problem is to create a connection

between these communities and police departments (King 2016). In many cases the officers

patrolling these communities have no ties to the area, they do not live there, yet come from

different area to work in these communities. It is important to understand how you can help

something if you understand nothing about it. These department need to create a connection with

the communities and care for the individual that live in it, so when they do come in to work they

truly come to serve the people and better these troubled communities. This creates unity and

makes the members in the community and department want to benefit one another. Another

solution for the sociological problem within police brutality is that it is important to establish

equality. Police tend to target groups more specifically people of color and the treatment between

all groups need to remain the same. The unfair treatment of people of color by policing has been

made obvious. One example of this unequal treatment of people of color by the police force is

stated by Alice Goffman an urban sociologist in her speech about her personal experience living

in the intercity of Philadelphia. In her experience, she got to know a young black boy named

Chuck and she say Chuck was a senior in high school a kid in the schoolyard called Chuck's

mom a crack whore. Chuck pushed the kid's face into the snow and the school cops charged him

with aggravated assault. The other kid was fine the next day I want you to imagine for a

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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second what Chuck lives would be like if they were living in a neighborhood where kids were

going to college, not prison If Chuck had gone to my high school, that schoolyard fight would

have ended there, as a schoolyard fight (Goffman 2015). Other young people with more

privileges are doing the same things as these kids in these trouble neighborhoods, but these

privileged individuals action have no repercussions. Establishing these solutions creates a fair

chance for everyone regardless on of ethnicity, race, or any other factor and have more chances

for a successful nation. Rather than setting people for failure you prime them for success.

Now that sociological solution has been proposed lets look at the psychological solutions

of police brutality. The parts discussed with psychological problem of police brutality our that

the pressure of police work effects the mental state of these officers and as their mental health

lower so does the quality of their work (Desmond 2016). Another psychological problem is the

mental state of communities that face police brutality. To the address the pressure of the police

work the solution lies in constant psych-evaluations on a bi-monthly base. Without a doubt, it is

costly but these are the men and women who are meant to watch over citizens, and it is a huge

threat to public safety to have individual with lethal weapon and substantial amounts of power

over the people if they are not mentally stable or overly emotional. When these officers are

unstable or overly emotional it causes officers to act unration ally and brash. So, it is important

throughout the year to constantly check the mental condition of all officers. Another solution to

look at is to tackle this issue is increasing the requirement to become an officer it is special job

that should require unique quality for the individuals who do it. The other psychological factor to

look at is where the communities mind is at. The best way to do this is for local department to

start social work with communities that have faced police violence when you do this you

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 8
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reinsure the safety and trust with the people. There is a lot of hate that surfaces when cases of

police brutality happen and the best way to battle that hate is too show the people that there is

still love. Establishing constant psych-evaluation can only benefit the force and the citizens when

you have healthier more stable individuals they are able to separate personal life and feeling

from the work place and truly perform at their best because there are not any factors to inhibit

them from their performance in the work place. Also, establishing social work in communities

changes the mental view of police officers. It has been shown that the attitude toward law

enforcement is correlated with how officers treat citizens, and that safety in area decrease when

the citizen view of law enforcement decreases. This is shown in Matthew Desmonds Police

Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community. In his scholarly journal, he does

a study on a local community that has faced a case of police violence and analyze how this

community responds. The study showed after the case of police violence was broadcasted that

residents in the area were more less likely to report crimes and cooperate with the police the

effect lasted for over a year and resulted in a loss of 22,000 of calls for service (Desmond 2016).

The benefits from the solution are clear you have healthier law enforcement and better quality of

work and safer communities.

The final solution to examine is the organizational problem of police brutality. The major

organizational problems with police brutality are police system and the system the communities

faced. The problems with the police system are inadequate training and a corrupt and stagnant

department. The solution to look at here is to increase the amount of training that officers receive

and have constant follow ups on physical fitness of the department to see if the officers remain at

a physical state that helps them perform their job to the best of their ability (Inadequate

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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Training 2017). People cannot have inadequate trained officers with some of the most lethal

technology in high pressure situation it a formula for disaster. Another way to battle

organizational issue within the police force is have consequence set for officers who abuse their

power with misconduct such as police brutality. If there were more situation of officers having

repercussions for their action it will make officers more hesitant to act unjustly. Discuss earlier in

the paper at time department can remain stagnant not changing how to function their force

creating useless plan and never developing change creating a vicious cycle of misconduct. What

needs to be establishing is a reform on how to act on situation and change the environment

around them and constantly change the action plan. The solution for the communities is to

promote change with the youth a push more for success and have system work for these

poverties filled area so that people are being primed for success rather than jail. The benefit of

the solution is that it creates more prepared, just, and efficient law enforcement and increase the

quality of living for individual in their communities.

There are many benefit for these solutions. The solutions provided for the sociological

problem were to develop a connection with the communities and treat everyone equally.

Providing these solutions creates a better and interpersonal relationship with the police and

communities, also these solutions creates a fair chance for everyone regardless on of ethnicity or

race. Priming people for success rather than failure. The psychological solution provide were to

constantly have psych-evaluations for the mental state of the officers and social work to reassure

the communities and give them peace of mind. The benefits for these solutions benefit the force

and the citizens when you have healthier more stable individuals they are able to separate

personal life and feeling from the work place and truly perform at their best because there are not

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 10
prevent brutality

any factors to inhibit them from their performance in the work place. Also, establishing social

work in communities changes the mental view of police officers and makes the polices job easier

and the lives of the member in these communities better. The final solution presented were for

the organizational problem in police brutality. The solution was to reform department by

adapting these department with current times, have consequences for misconduct, and have

communities promote change. These solutions benefit the policing system because it shows

effort for improvement and show that there is consequence for action regard of position.

There are people who argue that most cases of police brutality are not brutality at all and

officers that are seen in a negative light for their violence reasons are justified. The argument

present with this group is that polices use of force is necessary since the job of a law enforcement

officers is constantly faced with high pressure and dangerous situation they should be able to do

anything necessary to protect themselves (CYR 2016). Another point made in this argument is

that officers our usually at their best because Officers are taught to control their emotions in

volatile confrontations and to utilize force only as needed. The psyche of officers is rarely

compromised since after any traumatic event they do have psych-evaluations. One of the other

major points made by this group is that in case of police brutality that the action of one

individual should not reflect or be accountable for the department and one bad cop does not

make a group of cops bad.

Police brutality happens on three major levels, which are sociological, psychological, and

organizational. The sociological factor creates a system where the nation is divided between

strong and weak or rich and poor but it is important to create a connection with group regardless

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 11
prevent brutality

of difference because the nation is stronger. The psychological side deals with mental state of the

officer and communities and that it is important to see both groups as human and support their

weakness to elevate both side. The organizational problem of police brutality can be solving with

adequate training and reform how policing is done and reward good and punished the bad and

prime everyone for success. To truly understand the issue of police brutality it is important to

have a look at the internal issue faced on both side with the citizens, but also the police officers

and have both side come to look at solution and make the people truly believe in the that the

protector can protect us.

This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

Proposal to reform policing and 12
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This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm

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This paper was prepared for ENGL102 taught by Professor Storm