Police Brutality: It's a problem

Police brutality remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States today. Police brutality includes unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal choking’s, and rough treatment. This brutality persists because overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for police officers to escape due punishment and often repeat these offenses. It's virtually impossible to hear about police brutality unless there is public scandal and/or prosecution. Their are fourteen large cities in the United States where police brutality is persistent; Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

In all of these cities the systems to deal with abuse have similar failings and complainants face huge barriers in seeking administrative punishment or criminal prosecution of officers who have committed human rights violations. Their are shortcomings in recruitment, training, and management. Also, officers who repeatedly commit human rights violations are a small minority who taint entire police departments, they are routinely protected by the silence of their fellow officers and by flawed systems of reporting, oversight, and accountability. Officers with long records of abuse, policies that are overly vague, training that is substandard, and screening that is inadequate all create opportunities for abuse. We also need to understand that police officers, like others, will make mistakes when they are under pressure to make split-second decisions regarding the use of force. Also, we must understand being a police officer today in the U.S is the one of the most dangerous jobs out there.