Looking at the news today is a sad reflection of our society and what it has become in the area of public trust and protects and serves government services. Cops once looked upon by our parents and children as individuals to look up to and trust in a time of need have wasted their honor and acted in a most bizarre and unacceptable manner while on or off duty. The most recent acts of brutality have cast a dark shadow on those who we trust to wear the badge. Searching the internet for stories of police brutality, one doesn’t have to search too far to find numerous stories or reports of such tragedies.
The Los Angeles Times reports that “[Kelly] Thomas, a homeless man with schizophrenia, died five days after a July 5 struggle with six police officers,[from the Fullerton Police Department] in a case that has garnered national attention. Officers approached him after receiving a call of someone trying to break into cars in the parking lot next to a downtown transit center.”Instead of forming neighborhood watches against criminals groups are organizing to combat police brutality in their communities. In Phoenix, a group called “Phoenix Copwatch” claims it “is a grassroots volunteer organization that works to end police brutality in the Phoenix, Arizona area.” Their website statement displays their mission which states “We believe that one of the best ways to prevent police abuse is by directly observing the cops in action.” Youtube contributes to this problem of recognizing police brutality by airing video of a Phoenix cop shooting an unarmed person and his dog.
CBS News has also learned there were 52 criminal civil right cases brought against law enforcement officers by the Department of Justice last year. That’s the highest number of cases in a single year since they started keeping track back in 2000. Police brutality and the “use of excessive force is an occupational crime” because, according to standards set under the FBI’s “color of law” regulations, it is a “violation of the legal codes in the course of activity in a legitimate occupation” and subject to prosecution for civil rights violations.
Source:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/02/local/la-me-fullerton-libertarian-20110902
http://www.phoenixcopwatch.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXkBbAdySNc
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/10/eveningnews/main20090883.shtml
http://www.drury.edu/ess/irconf/DMangan.html