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Alexis Cortazar
Ms.Nguyen
Literature & Modern Media
25 February 2016

A Modest Proposal to avoid harm from aggressive, wrongdoing Police Officers who have
gone through harsh disciplined formal training to avoid being hurt on duty, but instead go
out of their way to do the same to innocent civilians.
Andrew, a boy that is 17, took his nightly walk to a local Circle K. He was only going to
grab some ice cream and iced tea. As he was leaving the store, an officer pulled him over and
demanded him to get on his knees. The officer started to beat Andrew with such force that it
knocked all the air out of him, making him choke. Little did he know that he had mistaken the
boy for another suspect that was wanted in the same area. Unable to properly get Andrew
handcuffed, he put him in a headlock causing to cut any circulation of air to his lungs. All the air
in his system was gone, and his body went limp. It was to late when the Officer realized what he
had done. Unfortunately, the footage will go unseen because the officer's bodycam was
somehow turned off, and the camera of the store was out of reach. The problem is that situations
in which police use excessive force or weapons, sometimes end in death of life threatening
injuries.

First of all, what seems to be the biggest issue is the availability of weapons that can be
used against civilians? Out of all the cases of police brutality, 45% of those people were either
killed or had life threatening injuries by an Officer using a weapon against them. This is a very
large number that just shows how police officers tend to handle a situation with a civilian who is
being arrested. For this problem, there is a plan that could limit or eliminate how many weapons
police officers have on them. The plan that will help reduce or eliminate weapons of police
officers is called Demilitarization, which will ensure the end of the sale of military weapons to
the Nations Police Forces. This plan will help in taking weapons from police officers, and many
will ask how will police fight against real criminals. Its simple, for a fact, many know that police
officers can call for backup and use their excessive force on them. Demilitarization isnt the only
idea to end police brutality.
Secondly, there is another issue that concerns a lot of people. The problem is how police
officers use excessive force on civilians. Even if they dont have weapons, many will be
concerned about the thought of police officers brutally beating someone. A plan to end this will
be to limit the use of force. Monitoring the use of force will help a lot because they will have to
go through mental training so that they can be more effective for society's protection. This
training will also help in strengthening hand to hand attacks toward actual criminals.What could
also help is to strengthening the community.
Thirdly, a strong community could bring advantages to end police brutality. Every
community should be aware of what could happen if something like this happens. It could be a
tragedy to some but maybe the community will not take the issue seriously, A community
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oversight will definitely help by giving power to the community to fight back against police
brutality. This calls for an all-civilian oversight structure with discipline power that includes a
Police Commission and Civilian Complaints Office. Both offices would have specific
responsibilities and across-the-board power.
Finally, many state that racial profiling is the main reason why police act the way they do.
In some places, the main target is those who are African American. Not only do they target
specific races, but there have been cases in which the victim suffered from a mental disorder.
Ending broken-window policing will call for an end to the decades-long focus on policing minor
crimes and activities, especially in neighborhoods with people of color. Also addressed are the
need for different approaches to those with mental health issues and an end to racial profiling.
In conclusion, many an see why some of the theories have put forward may seem
superficial. What it comes down to is our law enforcement officers have failed to uphold the
same laws and standards that they have put in place. Therefore, these issues will continue to be
protested against and argued if we dont control our police officers from harming others that
what most think is acceptable. .