What Are The Pros And Cons Of Police Brutality

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According to federal data, there were 1,217 deadly police shootings reported from 2010 to 2012. Additionally, blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while the rate for white males in that age group was only 1.47 per million (Excessive or Reasonable Force p. 25). As a result, many people believe that police officers are racists and use extra force on African-Americans because of their skin color. Not every cop is absolved from these assumptions, but that doesn’t mean that all cops are racists and against black citizens. The controversy surrounding police brutality has two sides and both need to be thoroughly investigated, so people can come to their own conclusions.
The 1991 Los Angeles riots brought the idea of police brutality to the mass public’s attention. March 3, 1991, Rodney King, a taxi driver, was beaten by four police officers. King was driving while intoxicated and got caught speeding and tried to avoid the police. He eventually pulled his car over and got out, but he was then tasered, kicked and beaten 53 times by the LAPD officers. A nearby bystander caught the scene on his videophone and released it to the public. This started mass riots killing and injuring several civilians which in
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Tensing made claims like he feared for his life but the video taken from his body camera showed no signs of danger. The video was enough to incriminate him, so Tensing was indicted and charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter. Technology was the reason that DuBose was given justice in his case. Technology also brought justice to another black man named Walter Scott. Scott ran away from a traffic stop, unarmed, and was shot in the back several times. The officer was fired and charged with murder. Rashad Robinson also said, “police don't police themselves,” which is not true in these cases because both officers were indicted (Curry