Practice Opening
The unforgivable acts of police brutality, should sometimes be forgiven. Outrage sparked from cop killings is misdirected, and in turn makes matters worse. It’s easy to point fingers and call police racist, but is it their fault? Under various circumstances, any human being is capable of committing acts of violence. Mainstream media’s constant portrayal of “good” and “bad” people, conditions people into developing a bias towards certain groups of people. Whether or not said bias is realized, it can very well influence a person’s actions in everyday life. Since police officers are still normal humans, it’s reasonable to assume that their inherent bias can one day come to fruition. Movements like “Black Lives Matter” only shed light on a piece of a larger problem, that law enforcement needs to be rebuilt.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/7264/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler#
Statistically speaking, cops don’t kill blacks as much as they kill other races. In 2015, 50% of police shootings were white, while 26% were black. The fact that more than half of the population is white while 13% is black might initially show racist treatment, but according to the 2009 statistics of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this isn’t true. Those statistics showed that blacks were charged with 62% of robberies, 57% of murders, and 45% of assaults in 75% of the counties in the country. More crimes in minority communities results in more police altercations and possibilities of lethal force. 4% of black homicides were from police officers, less than that of the 12% of white and Hispanics. Though an unarmed black man is statistically more likely to be killed by a cop, it may not necessarily be whole story. Minority officers are 3.3 times more likely to open fire at a crime scene than a white officer. Blacks have statistically killed more cops than cops have killed blacks.
This article seems slightly bias fueled. May not be used as a source.
http://blueprint.ucla.edu/feature/police-racism-search-for-answers/
Different police departments handle police shootings differently. Until recently, asking departments to find reliable data to quantify ALL police shootings analyze them was a near impossible task. Emotionally charged accusations had no real basis to actually conclude whether or not police shootings were in fact racist. In a 2008 study published by the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, it was found that people in the US implicitly associate black people with apes. Another study, “Across the Thin Blue Line: Police Officers and Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot,” showed that officers in larger cities/areas with more minorities were more likely to show black bias.
The system is set up to make minorities look a certain way. Big cities are primarily populated with minorities, especially blacks. Mainstream media, specifically news stations, are based within cities and cover the news of urban neighborhoods. That doesn’t mean crimes don’t happen in suburban or primarily white neighborhoods. Unconsciously, Americans are conditioned to associate crime with minorities. This can potentially affect any person, including cops, regardless of that cops race. Since police essentially operate as a “pattern matching machine”, this can easily result in a false sense of danger when they associate “criminal” to the minority at hand. It may not be the result of intentional racist, but it is indeed still racism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/just-shoot-the-mindset-re_b_5432716.html%3E
The police force has become more like a military force. Life hasn’t gotten so bad that such force is needed, yet innocent situations are treated like acts of war. Search warrants become possible fatalities at the hands of SWAT. SWAT teams are being deployed more than ever, as much as 5 times a day. This mindset has made its way to everyday police officers. Some see themselves as soldiers after targets, using force if they see fit. Why should an officer’s life be considered more valuable than another person? Hesitation only invites the possibility of harm to the officer. More times than not, these killings are justified, and the police aren’t held responsible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-shootings-studies-racial-bias_us_5796f2d8e4b02d5d5ed2b4aa
Studies that conclude that there is no racial bias in police shootings aren’t to be fully trusted. There is no actual database that correlates with such findings, so it is foolish to make that assumption. That doesn’t mean that the studies themselves are useless. They’re part of a bigger and developing story that is only now being studied. Some people may not be able to see the difference between the two, which leads to further false assumptions. It’s important that assumptions are not taken as facts, as this only delays finding real answers. Studies may show that blacks are convicted of crimes more than other races, but that doesn’t necessarily tackle the question of whether or not blacks are targeted more for those crimes. While not all cops are purposely racist, it’s true that all Americans have some level of unconscious racism.
Working Hypothesis 1
Police may be racist, but not all are operating based on said racism. This doesn’t mean that we should give some a pass and prosecute others. The issue of racism is still the problem and something must be done.
Working Hypothesis 2
Police are specifically taught to have an elevated level of racism through training. Training coupled with militarized policing, results in blacks being killed
Rowan Counterintuitive 