Police Brutality

Police Protality: Introduction Police brutality has been and continues to be of major concern in society. First of all, police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks or slurs, and threats by any law enforcement officer. Efforts to police communities, throughout history, have been tainted by brutality ans abuse of power to some degree. The term police brutality is commonly used very loosely to any and all forms of police misconduct. When in reality, the excessive force element of police misconduct is what clearly defines police brutality and abuse. By taking a quick look at http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?page_id=3336, we can see that excessive force reports make up 25% of all reports. This is a significant chunk of the whole. As a result, this raises the issue: Why would law enforcement officers use such excessive force when they are trained to only use the force necessary to accomplish the task? Some may argue that several people working in law enforcement may gradually develop an attitude or sence of authority over society, and in some cases the police believe that they are above the law. There may also be other social or phycological causes, such as bias, prejudice, stereotypes, and emotions that play a role in the isuue. However, these vary from individual to individual, making this a very extenssive and serious problem today.
I agree that police brutality is a growing concern in society. As a criminal justice major myself and an Auxiliary Police Officer, I have gone through the police academy and have been taught the meaning of "excessive force". In the state of New Jersey, Police Officers are only permitted to go one step above the "force" being applied to them when dealing with a suspect. There are strict guidelines regarding the use of "excessive force", and these guidelines should always be adhered to and understood by each and every officer.

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