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Emily Jonczyk

Reasoning About an Ethical Issue

The police provide communities all over the United States with protection. They come to

people’s rescue in situations that only the specially trained can handle. However, there are issues

within the police system. Police brutality is a problem in U.S. society as we see stories in the

news of individuals being put to their death by a police officer demonstrates this issue. While

every situation is different, a police officer’s first reaction should be to protect the lives of the

citizens. Targeting individuals by race or gender may be seen as a myth to some but it is a

problem associated with police brutality. When events of police lashing out aggressively occur,

chaos takes over cities and states. With continuous headlines of death by police, there is a

disconnect between the police and communities creating a lack of security and an increase in

protest and backlash toward the police. To be able to solve the issue of police brutality, officers

need to understand the history and culture of the communities they work, receive better and more

specific training, and have an increase in salary.

Police brutality was not a problem that began in the 21st century. Dating back to the 18th

century there was extreme violence within the police forces, especially within the issue of black

prejudice. Homer Hawkins and Richard Thomas discuss white policing of black populations. The

policing was used as an excuse to control and over power the black communities of the times

(Hawkins). Since the first type of police force was formed in a time of racial tension, there are

still reflections and evidence of continued prejudice against minorities. “In short, much of the

white policing in black urban communities was little more than another form of white social

control which had evolved over the centuries in response to whites’ racial phobias of black

people.” (Hawkins). This long and painful history caused many people of these communities to

fear the police rather than trusting them with their safety and lives. Police brutality began during
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a time of racial tension and any aggression an officer showed an individual, which often was

extreme, became the norm. When aggression was a necessity to being a police officer in the

1700s, the trait was passed down and continues today. Police brutality has become a problem in

our society as it degrades individuals not guilty of a crime and can affect the surrounding

community and its safety if something were to happen. While the officer and the offender are

feeling the force of direct actions, there are bigger problems to consider if both lives aren’t

protected equally.

Even though police brutality may not affect everyone personally, it can impact

communities in which we live. Some individuals feel that police officers should be protected at

all costs but others believe that the police should be held accountable for their actions. In

Charlotte, North Carolina there was an outbreak of chaotic protests after an officer shot a man,

Keith Scott. These protests brought Charlotte to a state of emergency, which in turn affected the

safety of officers, community members, and the protestors. In many cases of police brutality, the

police officer is given a warning for their aggressive behavior even if shooting someone. In On

Liberty, John Stuart Mill, a political philosopher, discusses the contrasting ideas of liberty and

authority. “By liberty, was meant protection against the tyranny of political rulers. The rulers

were conceived as in a necessarily antagonistic positon to the people whom they ruled.” (Mill).

In the United States, liberty is the freedom afforded to the people to have their voice heard.

Police brutality takes away this voice. Everyone who is innocently harmed or killed by an officer

loses their right to be questioned. In some communities, officers are viewed as antagonistic

characters because of their rash and aggressive actions. To take away the negative perspective

individuals have, officers need to try to understand people’s values and liberties in our country.

Through both sides of the arguments of police brutality, whether the lethal force by the officer
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should be ignored or the officer should be held accountable for his or her actions, they each have

points to argue. It is important to recognize who represents the two sides of the argument. Since

there has been discrimination in the past, many minorities, such as African Americans, have a

sense of neglect and misrecognition. Charles Taylor in “The Politics of Recognition” focuses on

how some individual feel when they suffer a negative image and how they begin to believe the

same about themselves. He describes recognition as a need rather than want because it is the way

we identify ourselves. Without recognition, there is no feeling of the power to speak out. In the

case of police brutality, many communities with minorities feel that their voice has been taken

and they don’t have the confidence to stand up for themselves. Police are responsible for

protecting their citizens, not breaking them down. So, when an officer handles any situation there

needs to be consideration for how a person may be impacted by police. Through understanding

and deescalating a situation, they officer can gain the trust of many individuals and give them a

voice and recognition.

Every problem has a solution. However, the solution is never easy to accomplish because

of the controversial nature of the problem. Police brutality can be solved through giving officers

more specific training and raise their salaries. For many years, the training police officers

received was solely based on their protection, and while their lives are very important, we also

want to ensure the safety of the citizens as well. By providing training for officers that highlights

high-pressure situations it allows them to make better judgements of when and when not to use

lethal force. While every situation is different and you can’t train for everything that will happen

out in communities, high pressure situations happen and officers need to be prepared to keep

everyone safe. Another important aspect of the training police officers should receive would be

to understand the history of the community and become more involved within it. Traditional
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policing was viewed as an immediate arrest when not complying with the general law (Greene).

However, as society sees more issues with police, training has shifted to a tactic known as

community policing. The common elements in community policing include redefinition of police

roles to prevent crime, improved mutual relations between the police and community,

decentralization of police services and commands in different areas, and place more control in

the communities (Greene). By increasing training for high pressure situations as well as

community policing, it will foster positive attitudes within the community as well as decrease the

amount of deaths from police brutality. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average

salary for a police officer is $60,270 per year and the American median salary is $43,000 as of

2016 (PoliceOne). While location plays a factor in wages due to increased costs of living, many

of these officers are working every day on early and late shifts to protect our communities. By

increasing the salaries of officers, there will be an increased interest in becoming an officer and

as a result more motivated individuals in the field who want to protect the citizens. When the

officer’s life is on the line each time he goes to work there should be a higher pay for the training

and stress they endure. With more qualified and motivated officers, I believe we would see a

decrease in lethal force from officers. Through both solutions, it would diminish the fight

between two sides and create positive relationships within communities all over the United

States.

Retraining officers and raising salaries are two important solutions to end police brutality

yet there are concerns of how those could be plausible. To retrain officers would take a lot of

time and money as there are hundreds of stations in each state. In some of the rural areas of the

United States, there is very little room in their budget for funding any “extracurricular”. In big

cities, like New York City, there are over 30,000 police officers in their academy and retraining
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all of them seems unrealistic and not beneficial. Another critique of retraining officers would be

individuals who believe that the training in place currently is effective and the use of force is

necessary. Charles Taylor discusses the politics of recognition and details that recognition is of

extreme importance in our society today and a lack of recognition can result in “a person or

group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion if, if the people or society around them

mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves.” (Taylor).

This theory is present in our U.S. communities when it comes to police as the officers begin to

lose their sense of pride when individuals don’t appreciate their dedication and protection. The

more this image of police occurs, the more frustration occurs and lack of motivation for wanting

to change the way they train. As a result of police gaining a negative connotation, retraining is

even more confident to ensuring that members of a community only have positive interactions

and situations are handled in a calm yet effective manner. In response to cities and states not

having enough money in their budgets to fund a retraining program, there needs to be a sacrifice

for public safety. Through retraining all the officers, it would reduce potential lawsuits and

dangers to both police and citizens. Without retraining, officers are at risk for escalating

situations, using extreme force, and providing communities with more ammunition to believe

police officers effect their lives negatively. Officers deserve a positive recognition and through

retraining they can begin to gain trust within their communities.

During the training to become a police officer, they are taught the importance of making

it home every night. They are shown violence and death to videos to put the point across. In the

minds of many officers, “better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.” (Stoughton). When

officers have this mindset, there is no hesitation to reach for their gun, even within a calm

setting. The root of the issue is that police executives don’t want to review the use of force many
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officers use. Through retraining there is a benefit to the officer’s safety as well as the community

safety because the first thought is not to reach for their gun when thing may escalate. An

example of the benefits happened in Kalamazoo, Michigan. An aggressive man was carrying a

rifle and it ended with a 40-minute standoff and a handshake. Through the retraining, they were

able to deescalate the situation and not end in a 911 call (Stoughton). The critique that retraining

officers doesn’t benefit anything and things are fine the way they are doesn’t stand. There is a

need to change the way we handle situations so that more citizens are protected and officers

aren’t exposed to as much danger.

Another solution to the issue of police brutality would be to raise the salaries of officers

yet this has many critiques. Many believe that pay doesn’t correlate with performance. There was

a study done to analyze how losing an arbitration, a fight for wage increase, can affect the

performance of police officers. The study showed that police performance declined when

officers lost an arbitration. “The per capita number of crimes cleared (solved) by arrest is 12

percent higher in the months following an arbitration that ruled in favor of the police officer,”

(Das). Through this study, they were able to analyze that when police fight for higher or fair

wages and gain a raise they handle situations with an arrest rather than use of excessive force or

even death. The critique for the solution of raising the salaries remains where do we get this

money? The money that is in the budget for a state allocates money in different areas, some more

important than others, but the amounts vary. If an officer was to receive a higher salary there

would be less money for education or funds to repair the roads. Priority is what states use in

order to choose how to allocate their funds. By allocating the funds to public safety, there will be

a positive impact in our community. To become a police officer, you must go through rigorous

training and examinations to be able to serve a community. Raising the salary of police officers
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would motivate the officers and provide them the opportunity to always feel comfortable in a

financial stance. In the University of Declaration of Human Rights, Article 24 states, “Everyone

has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic

holidays with pay.” No matter what day of the week or hour of the day, police work to protect

our communities. They make sacrifices, and while the do receive pay when on holidays,

someone does have to work on holidays. Through increasing their salaries, there will be more of

an incentive to work and perform at their highest level.

Every critique made to combat the solutions of retraining police officers and raising their

salaries has a valid argument. There are many logistical issues when it comes to paying money

for something that there isn’t always an immediate response. Nothing can happen overnight but

there need to be measures taken to decrease the amount of police brutality and eventually lead it

to an end. In Hannah Arendt’s, The Pursuit of Happiness, he discusses the “public happiness”

and the meaning of revolution. He depicts the necessity for revolution as a move toward political

freedom. Many cases of police brutality begin with individuals who don’t feel equally treated

and don’t feel like they have the power of political freedom. When members of a community are

empowered with political freedom they can gain a sense of voice and confidence. Police officers

can silence an individual’s voice but the goal to end police brutality needs to begin with allowing

everyone to have a voice, including the police officers.

Issues of money may be apparent in the solutions proposed to end police brutality. There

are many communities who don’t trust police officers because of the history of excessive force

and violence they have shown in some cases, and they don’t see the need to support them. To

combat this issue, there needs to be more communication and transparency between the

communities and officers. This is where the tactic of community policing comes in to play. The
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more police officers are involved in the communities they live and work in, the easier it is to gain

support. However, this all begins with the actions that they show. Like in the case of Kalamazoo,

Michigan when the officers began with a man with a rifle acting crazy and ended it with patience

and a handshake. Examples like that will show the communities that officers protect the lives of

citizens and don’t make the situation any larger of an issue than it needs to be. Through gaining

the support of the communities they work, the solutions will be easier to implement.

Police brutality creates chaos and distrust within the United States. There have been

protests and retaliating shootings toward the police because some citizens don’t feel protected.

As a society full of resources, we need to use them to make officers aware of the dangers they

face when not following the law and reward them for risking their lives to protect us. In some

situations, there is probable cause to shoot someone but in other situations the individual may be

innocent and wasn’t even given a chance. By retraining police officers to handle high pressure

situations and enforce the idea of community policing, there will be less innocent civilians killed

and officers. Community policing can create a bond with the people who don’t trust officers and

allow them to see officers as real people who sacrifice their lives daily. Raising the salaries of

officers increases the number of motivated police officers who want to make a difference in the

communities and protect everyone. When getting paid low wages, they only want to look out for

themselves because they aren’t getting paid enough to risk their life for people who could take

their own. Their wages aren’t only a way for them survive, but something to be proud of. When

an officer is being paid fair for the work and the risks they take every day they gain a sense of

pride for their profession and as a result protect that image. By implementing these solutions

there will be safer communities. There won’t be as many issues of civilians protesting and the
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chaos that can bring to a community. Rewarding police officers for all the good they do will be

the key to ending police brutality.


Emily Jonczyk

Works Cited

Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. New York: Viking Press, 1966. Print.

Greene, Jack R. "Community policing in America: Changing the nature, structure, and function

of the police." Criminal justice 3.3 (2000): 299-370.

Hawkins, Homer, and Richard Thomas. "White Policing of Black Populations." Out of Order?

N.p.: n.p., n.d. 66-67. Web.

"How much does a cop make?" PoliceOne. N.p., 15 Sept. 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2017.

Mas, Alexandre. "Pay, Reference Points, and Police Performance." The Quarterly Journal of

Economics 121.3 (August 2006): 783-818. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

Mill, John. “Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion.” On

Liberty and Other Essays. United Kingdom: 1859. 41-53. Print.

Stoughton, Seth. "How Police Training Contributes to Avoidable Deaths." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Media Company, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

Taylor, Charles. The Politics of Recognition. N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print.

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