Police Brutality

 Having high efficacy in a neighborhood aids in multiple ways.  High efficacy helps in lowering violence around the community because it contributes to having a tight knit neighborhood. The act of having a united community aids law enforcement in solving crimes.  As a result of having such a tight knit community, citizens aid law enforcement in many aspects of their job.  Citizens report crimes and aid in crime solving by contributing their sightings.  This is a common aspect of community policing.  Having trust in aw enforcement aids in lowering crime rates.  Another aspect that plays a part in neighborhood communication is race.  As one race proceeds to live in a neighborhood, individuals gain trust within themselves.  They have a connection to their neighbors and as a result communicate the neighborhood gossip.  One aspect that increases crime rates in a neighborhood is the poverty rate.  The higher the poverty rates in a neighborhood, the higher the crime rates.  These high crime rates are also associated with high levels of police brutality.  We have discussed police brutality in class and the significance of  its prevalence.  I feel that police brutality is more prevalent in today’s time because of the lack of training police officers receive.  Police brutality has always existed except that in today’s time, the media has been focusing a lot on this issue because it is something that grabs the attention of the public.  One of the reasons it is such a controversial subject is because of the fact that the race card is pulled in most of today’s situations.  Law enforcement has to be very cautious about their choice of diction when addressing individuals because of the fact that the race issue is such a sensitive subject in today’s time.  I feel that the media is exploiting police brutality because it is something that has always been present in today’s society.  There has been more attention around the subject because of those affected.  It exists with all races, except that the media chooses to focus around white on black crimes.  Due to the fact that these incidents arte the ones exploited, it has developed into a racist thing even when that is not the case.  Due to this, individuals find the need to pull the race card for many incidents.  The media is contributing to much of this hype.

                                  Many incidents that are considered to be police brutality can easily be avoided by higher training.  For example, in New York recently police brutality resulted in the death of Eric Garner.  There was a huge controversy around how the man died.  There were lawsuits filed and the officer was found to be innocent yet, the death of Eric Garner could have been avoided.  Mr. Eric Garner was voicing his opinion when an officer used an illegal hold to get him to be quiet.  Eric Garner was already detained when the officer had him in this hold.  He died as a result of this chokehold.  If the officer had followed procedure, this man would be alive today.  This misconduct could have easily been avoided by higher sensitivity training of officers as well as higher punishments for misconduct.   Today, punishment for misconduct in law enforcement agencies is minor.  As a result, officers tend to do as they please because they know there will not be many repercussions.  If officers had to face higher consequences for their actions I am sure they would think twice before acting on much of their thoughts. 

                                 

                                  Law enforcement officers acting on police brutality contributes to the lack of trust in neighborhoods. Police brutality damages the efficacy of a neighborhood and damages community policing tactics.  As citizens of a neighborhood fear the acts of law enforcement, they are hesitant to report their sightings.  This hurts not only the community but law enforcement as well.  From a law enforcement perspective you want to have the community on your side in order to aid in crime fighting techniques.  The lack of trust in law enforcement results in individuals being afraid to report crimes because of the fear that they have of law enforcement agencies.

                                  All of these incidents can be avoided by having law enforcement officers enroll in higher levels of training.  They need to know how to handle whatever situations may arise and know when to stop.  High efficacy levels in neighborhoods also aid in deterring these crimes.  Once the efficacy of a neighborhood is damaged it is hard to recover. Having high efficacy can deter crime in neighborhood by giving other solutions to the residents in the neighborhood.