How police misconduct is acknowledged

The Motivation

The safety of African Americans and Black Americans has been an ignored issue for a disappointingly long time. The question of where do these issues come from and how do we fix it is what motivates people to become activists. My motivation to speak out is a crime known as police misconduct, which has become a recurring “trend” in America. I want to get to the bottom of exactly what police misconduct is and how officers acknowledge these issues. How are police officers to be labeled helpers and heroes when they kill innocent men and women in cold blood, for it to be filmed, for it not to be handled. I questioned where this started and it all begins with history.

History

A surprising fact is that policing was a result of slavery. Slave patrols were the original name for the police and their job was to have authority to “monitor the movement of slaves and track down runaways.” (S.Bass)The police system wasn’t originally made to protect everyone, it’s main goal was to instill authority over newly emancipated slaves. White supremacy is what sparked the idea to have police control emancipated slaves. A tactic called the Black Codes was a way to limit the freedom of African Americans and this all started in the South where white supremacy was at its finest. The South however wasn’t the only place that favored this idea. While writing about democracy in America, Alexis de Toqueville, a renowned author who wrote accounts of his journey to America, was said to be “surprised to find the Prejudice of race appears stronger in the states that have abolished slavery…” This idea can be seen today because it is happening all across America. Post-civil rights era, it was said that Americans had believed that police were colorblind, which was a way to shut down the fact that police officers were using “deadly/excessive force” when it came to African Americans.

Colorblind Racism

This idea of ‘Colorblind America” was favored by so many that it was declared that federal oversight wasn’t a priority in communities with minorities because it was thought that the South had changed. Not only was this ill-advised, but the slightest change to the South was how people thought of minorities ,which was a way to try to cancel the idea of racial inequality. The South is still a place where issues concerning Black Americans aren’t up for change. But to further the colorblind idea, the average white person at the time (and even now) have this belief that they aren’t guilty of entitlements they have over minorities, “they believe the United States is a meteor accuracy; did think White Privilege is a myth; they think racist is past tense; they think that individuals, institutions and policies to remain race-neutral…” (Ellis, Bryan R., and Nicole Branch-Ellis) Another idea that supported colorblind racism was the excuse that the basic reason why police officers use excessive force is due to poor training and lack of cultural sensitivity. Colorblind rasicm is the excuse for many deadly shootings involving the police as well as police misconduct/brutality not being the main concern for law enforcement. They see communities with black and latin Americans to be crime prone and therefore police are simply doing their job, not it being a factor of cultural racism.

What is the Code of Silence?

The question of how police officers acknowledge the backlash they face and the crimes they commit is debatable and should definitely be seen as an issue. We already know how law enforcement sees these issues but what about the officers themselves? Is it because they see themselves as the dominant group being a factor of supremacy? In fact, in an article about “Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct '', one reason of racial attitudes is because white Americans have this fear of losing privileges to minority groups. Also by accepting the issues inflicted upon Black Americans would be a threat to whites because it would cause crime control reforms and many officers would eventually lose their jobs. This could be a reason why so many people are okay with shutting down the fact that police misconduct is an issue. In the case that an officer is accused of police misconduct it is less likely that the officer would use Optimal Performance (which is acknowledging the issue) then to use an overused tactic called the Code of Silence. The Code of Silence is used when an officer refuses to confess to their crime and chooses to say nothing at all to save themselves from discipline. If an officer were to admit being guilty then the officer can be seen as the criminal and therefore be arrested or face other/additional consequences. Because police rely on Code of Silence it is hard for the FBI to hold officers accountable for misconduct, which is why they rely on the media as evidence. It makes it harder when and if the officers admits to the issues they can be fired and this prevents them from being witnesses in murder trials.

Downside of Democracy

Are all officers bad? No, but it’s the corrupt system in which raised and traditionalized the heartbreaking and traumatic events that are broadcasted onto our screen almost everyday. Although we can realize that our country is a democracy, we should also realize the areas where democracy has failed us. Some officers acknowledge their job as simply helping their “customers”. Whilst others acknowledge that their job doesn’t mean the end result will leave people in satisfaction. Well, what’s in it for them, they may ask. Constantly facing backlash is what they see, even the officers whom didn’t have the job of doing the killings. They want to be seen as helpers and heroes, but if the system continues to fail to acknowledge and assess the crimes which are far too many, how is America to move forward. How are we going to positively change history?