Police Brutality Ordinances

The African American citizens located in a South Los Angeles neighborhood began to riot on April 29, 1992. This uproar began because of a violent action against an African American taxi driver, Rodney King, in 1991. Since then, many cases of police brutality have sparked disputes nationwide. Because of these quarrels, there should be stricter regulations on how to deal with police brutality cases.

Trials meant to deal with police brutality cases have not always been handled equitably for everyone involved. When police are taken to a trial, prosecutors have full conduct of how it is handled. Prosecutors often entrust the situation to the police departments, which also leaves the punishments to be decided by the departments (Morrison). The departments don't punish these police officers because of reputation. They are scared of losing trust in the people and the community. Prosecutors often choose to do nothing when a police officer is accused, wanting to prove that the police did nothing wrong in the abuse of a citizen. Some states in the U.S. are creating laws that require public trials when officers are involved in brutality cases.

According to Caren Morrison, California's approach, making prosecutors proceed by public preliminary hearing rather than by grand jury, should help protect against the most blatant forms of sabotage by prosecutors. She is explaining how California has required cases to go to a public hearing, so there is a smaller chance of sabotage from the prosecutor. Sabotage can show false information and influence how the suspect is treated. Most police are not penalized because there is no evidence involved. If these sabotages were terminated, police cases could be truthful and the officers involved would be punished. How do we spread news of police brutality?

Not a lot of people think about how violent police brutality cases are, and awareness about it can be transmitted. However, many citizens of the U.S. don't take it as seriously as they should. Police can also be bias about situations and who is involved in them. Many U.S. citizens believe being a generous and kind person is helping to combat racism; it's not. (Williams). There are many positive people, but performing nothing will not stop bad things from happening. Bailey Williams explains that You don't have to wait for another viral video or hashtag to take action death and physical violence should not be the catalyst for acting. In other words, action can be made immediately against police brutality, you just have to do something. There are many ways to bring attention to police brutality. In Georgia in 2010, a black mom by the name of Caroline Small was shot eight times after a low-speed chase. The police said they were afraid of her hitting them with her car. Small was not armed and she had not committed any crimes (Morrison). The police discussed the event, but the shooting was found justified. Many other events have sparked riots and uprisings, and it is helping to spread recognition of police brutality.

While others say that police should be punished for their actions against innocent people, there are many who disagree with that. They claim that police have the choice to go to court, and should not have to communicate about the cases. However, police are citizens just like the rest of the people in the U.S. and should be required to go to court. According to Caren Morrison, prosecutors have a choice when police cases are assigned to them. Usually, they do nothing, and the police are not punished for their actions. This message is given to police officers, and they continue to abuse their power over citizens. If there were stricter regulations when punishing officers, maybe the number of cases would decline.

Regulations and laws concerning police brutality cases are being ignored by prosecutors.
Police are often lazy and choose the easy way out of situations, and most situations are handled violently. However, when on trial, many prosecutors either sabotage the evidence or don't want to even do the trial. Because of this, uprisings have started and spreading the word about how unfair the trials are.

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