According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, there have been 264 deaths committed by officers of the law.
I will admit that when I first saw this large number (considering that we are only in the third month of the year), I was simultaneously blown away and unsurprised. I will also admit that it is not fair to look at this number and judge police officers without considering the fact it is a possibility that not all of these killings were unwarranted.
Police brutality is a complex issue, and because it is a complex issue that cannot be solved with a policy or an implemented law (much like gun regulation), things can get messy and muddled very quickly.
You have to be compassionate for the victims of police brutality, but you also have to be understanding of how police officers most likely felt in any of these incidences.
Like many others, I strongly believe that there is a difference between abusing the authority that you were given as an officer and simply reacting to a potentially dangerous situation.
In my Criminology 100 class, one of the first traits that they say a great detective should have is a sixth sense. A detective should be able to correctly read a situation or person without much effort and in a little amount of time. That takes experience, common sense, and an adequate (or a more than adequate) education (I believe that we have already established more than once that I am extremely partial to the idea that all police officers should have a bachelors degree at the least).
What amazes me, however, is the fact that even police officers are taught to fine tune this sixth sense, but they are never taught to nurture their compassionate side. Police officers know that their job is to maintain order, peacefully apprehend those who disturb that order, catch individuals who pose a threat to public safety, and help other emergency services should they need assistance. However, they should be reminded daily that an officer’s most important job is to help members of his or her community–not to criminalize them or, in instances of brutality, victimize them.
Police officers should work to make their community members to both trust them and feel safe around them.
As citizens and community members, we have a right to feel comfortable enough to go to the police whenever we need help.
Although, I will admit that it is tough to achieve that perfect balance in a relationship where police officers have our absolute respect while being friendly with us, but I do not think that it is impossible. This is where community-building activities would be extremely useful.
With all of this being said, I want to now discuss the relationship between police brutality and the death of minorities.
According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, police killed 1,146 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.
As a minority myself, this scares me. It really does, and it is hard to stay fairly neutral as I discuss this.
It is not fair to automatically judge the officers involved in these recorded incidences when we were not at the scene. It is scary to deal with people that you do not know, whilst trying to assert your authority, control the situation, understand what is happening, and stay safe. So, it is hard to read a report or watch body cam footage of an altercation and think about it from a neutral perspective, especially when I feel somewhat personal about this.
I oftentimes think, “How else can I explain the statistics that Black people are more likely to be killed by police other than attributing it to race? How else?”
How else can I rationalize the fact that “Black people are 3x more likely to be killed by police than white people?”
How else can I explain the fact that “30% of Black victims were unarmed in 2015 compared to the 21% of white victims?”
I want to attribute these killings partially to the stereotypes that are in place–the ones that actually work against Black people.
The stereotypes that make people subconsciously believe that Black people are educationally inferior (no matter their background), filled with attitude (or affectionately called “sass”), and, scariest of all, dangerous.
According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, “fewer than 1 in 3 Black people killed by police in America in 2014 were suspected of a violent crime and allegedly armed.”
Underneath the text, the website showed a pie chart which said that 31% were “allegedly armed and violent,” but 69% of them were actually “non-violent/ unarmed.”
That means that those officers simply assumed that they were in more danger because of the race of the people that they were dealing with. Their racially biased “sixth sense” told them that the people they were dealing with were more dangerous because of the color of their skin and the stereotypes associated with Black Americans.
While this is a loaded argument, this is one way that I can rationalize it.
But then, I began to think. What if it is not that innocent Black people are killed more by police officers? Maybe these are due to the fact that Black individuals are more involved in criminal acts….
According to ucr.fbi.gov, 52.6% of Black people were arrested for manslaughter (with 44.7% of White people), and 54.5% of Black people were arrested for robbery (with 43.4% of White people).
All other crimes with the exception of gambling were lower in percentage for Black people and higher for White people.
I do not know what to make of these statistics. I will say that it makes sense for a race to be more likely killed by the police (when simply looking at the numbers) if they are more involved in crimes.
What makes this issue more complex is when we consider the fact that Black people are only the majority in the three out twenty-six acts.
Before I pose my post’s question, I want to state that all opinions are welcome–no matter how polarizing or “insensitive.” Honesty is greatly appreciated.
So, my questions for you are: what do you truly think about police brutality? What do you think causes it? And lastly, what do you think of think of the relationship between police brutality and the death of minorities, and why do you think that this relationship exists?
(Below is a current tracking of the 264 police killings in America so far.)
As you said, this is not an easy topic to discuss. One aspect of your discussion that I am happy you included was that we cannot immediately jump to judging the police. I understand that I do not have the same connection to the situation as you or others may have, but vilifying the police in general wins you very few allies. By building better inroads with other officers, we as a society can begin to break down the stereotypes and hopefully in turn the violence. This is not something easy or fast by any means, but it is something we should try. Additionally its data like the points that you mentioned that can be used to justify this push for community action.
Honestly, I hated reading this because of how accurate you are. It is such a sad understanding as to why black Americans are targeted much more than whites when it comes to the rationalization of police brutality. It is no news that law enforcement has not been doing what its main job is- protecting the people. And on a side note, I had actually been talking to my roommate about this idea just last week. We both were pondering over how police go through so much intensive training in the academy so that they are able to channel that sixth sense in times of danger and yet still manage to “mis-judge” so many situations. It is truly sickening and I pray that one day it gets resolved. Great post!
You do a really great job stating different viewpoints on your topic. It’s simpler to take a side with your topic, but staying neutral has so many more benefits to your readers. One reason for this is that often police brutality is misunderstood by a lot of Americans simply because they haven’t been presented with the right facts. The right kind of education is so crucial to understanding the world. Anyways, the data, graphs, and maps you provided really aided in understand the content of this post, and your topic in general.
This is a great post with some cool graphics! Your initial statistic (of the 264 deaths) is an incredibly shoking number and a captivating way to start the post. This topic is one I think about very frequently, becuase we must be sympathetic to both sides. However, the numbers do not lie. You raise some great points and have shocking statistics to back them up. Nicely done!
Honestly, I was shocked when I saw that last map. I thought 264 was not that much on the grand scale of things and out of the millions of people living in the United States, but the map really put into perspective how many 264 actually was and the scope over the whole nation.
Police brutality shocks me. No matter how many times I read about it or hear about another act of police brutality all I think of is “you are supposed to be protecting us, all of us, even the person you are about to shoot.” Giving a dangerous person a gun does not take away their rights, this is why we have life sentences in prison and even the death penalty in states, but it is not up to the officers to decide. As frustrating as this might be in other cases, it is extremely important to follow the law in all cases, not just the ones that are convenient to follow due process. My AP Comp Gov teacher gave us this paradox: you are an officer and you have a suspect who has planted a bomb in Beaver Stadium, do you break the law for the safety of others or risk not finding the bomb in time. A lot of the responses tended toward breaking the law or other loopholes. Our teacher expected this and said: Ok but now you (someone who has sworn to enforce the law) have broken the law so the effectiveness of the law is gone. It really got me thinking and I think it is especially important to remember this with police brutality. I think that police brutality largely based on stereotypes that we take as commonplaces. I think the fault is in the mindset of how police approach a situation. In our justice system people are innocent until proven guilty, it makes sense that theoretically this should hold in the police force (and in suspect chases) as well. Now I know there are major differences, but I think that unless there is reasonable doubt (not just a twitch or running away) that the suspect is dangerous and/or agrressive officers should hold their fire.
Really great thought-provoking questions!