Police Brutality, Militarization, and Racial Profiling

A Column by Christopher Luna

Around the world, keeping order and honoring the law is a very important function
of the police and they are the enforcers and protectors of the laws. They have been
under fire lately for many things that the people believe is out of control. For
example, Brutality has been an issues for police forces in the US. When is the right
and wrong time to use firearms to neutralize a suspect? Using firearms as a first
resort instead of a last one? Or if the use of physical force is justified as a way to
bring down a suspect. Another issue on the plates of American police forces is the
rapid militarization of them. The use of military style vehicles that are anti-ballistic
which resemble tanks, military-style uniforms, heavy assault weapons, and other
crowd dispersing equipment. It has risen in debate because of how common its
being used and the sheer sight of it makes people nervous to see. It also provides
evidence that the US is slowly becoming a police state, which is taken on the
emotional and derogatory meaning of a government that exercises power arbitrarily
through the police. Racial Profiling has always been in the public eye since the civil
rights movement. The assumption that many police officers have on the people that
they might see. For example the fact that a police officers may see an African
American man with a hoody and his/her hands in their pockets, gets stopped by the
police under suspicion. This act brings out the idea that the police is racist because
they profile against minorities while others are ignored by the same police that is
meant to be a fair, just and follows the law.

The demand has arisen for reforms inside the United States to change the ways
the police handle themselves in the field. Because of the most controversial deaths
of Eric Gardner, Trevon Martin and Michael Brown have all brought up these issues.
All these men were killed by police officers who decided to use lethal force in
different situations that may or may not have called for it. An increase in media
coverage on both Michael Browns and Gardners death have inflamed the people to
protest over the courts decisions of each case. Tagged as an injustice because of
the death of people who did not deserve to die, the people of Missouri and New York
have erupted as well as other states in the US have organized protests. These
protesters have made it clear that they want attention to the racially profiling cops
that should be punished and not let loose.
Some reforms that protesters and groups have called for is the retraining of cops
to recognize and respond to different situations that should be treated cautiously.
Much like officers in the NYPD who after one of the officers stopped Eric Gardiner for
selling loose cigarettes refused to be arrested and was brought down by a police
officer who choked hold Gardiner and killed him because he had asthma. Mayor Bill
de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton held a press conference to
discuss new reforms to police officers. Saying that the "People need to know that
black lives and brown lives matter as much as white lives," de Blasio said, adding
that everyone needs to know that they'll be treated the same regardless of who
they are. Many believe the encounter between police and an unarmed Garner
should have been handled more calmly and judiciously. And giving officers more
tools, options other than force, is what the training is aimed at. To minimize the loss
of life should be the priority of the police, using more non-lethal ways to go into
contact with potential suspects.

As citizens we must organize and fight the problem to make sure to minimize the
amount of death. In order to stop this, I propose the increased use of more nonlethal weapons to, if necessary to neutralize a suspect. Not all contacts with
suspects must be met with the use of pistols and shotguns and with this
implementation, it will reduce the risk of death. Also it will be mandatory for police
officers to wear body cameras during their patrols, to make sure the police
departments and others know what exactly happened because It is essential to
know the perspective of the police officer in-case of criminal. Also police officers, if
necessary, must report to dispatch and be given the orders to be able to use their
firearms. It is understandable that during the line of duty every second counts and
that police officers dont have the time to call dispatch to get clearance to use their
firearms but the beauty of this is the fact that once officers get a call in their radios
and respond to the call, they must be given the orders to either use code-19 or
code-20 meaning Taser or handgun. They have to have orders by a superior officer
to be able to use it and if they do not request clearance they will be put in
suspension without pay unless they have a way to prove there was no way that they
could have contacted dispatch in time. Also if there is evidence of unlawful use of
force and or killing of citizens if found then those officers must be immediately
prosecuted and be taken to court.
The fight does not stop here my friends, no the road has just started and we must
continue on to Terminus. We must organize peaceful protests to get the public and
the US government to listen to us, grassroots mobilization of voters to ask local
states to have new regulations be imposed on the local police forces. To create an
effective ground-game that will rival the best the major parties have to offer, and
funding this is our movement through donations of the people who support us as

well as fundraising by selling food or home made products. We must take advantage
of the peoples feelings about police officers and the outcry for change that has
happened in the past month, the death of both Michael Brown and Eric Gardner.