To what extent does racism exist in the police force? By Paras Kaushik

A Brief history of Police racism Civil rights period- tense relations between police officers and African American protestors. Violence often broke out during nonviolent protests and marches.

Rodney King Beatings Multiple police officers beat an African American male senseless with night sticks. Rodney king initially resisted arrest but was subdued under control with the use of excessive force.

2010 Racial Profiling Act Allows police officers to target certain minority groups and check their residency status at traffic lights. Many people have questioned the constitutionality of this law which has caused much uproar in the hispanic american community.

Isolated Incidents  A report on the LAPD pointed towards the unnecessary and excessive fore used by the department to maintain control. There have been many cases of police offers inLos Angelesusing racial slurs to refer to minority populations. These allegations have often been brushed aside by the department and they refer it to a common misconception. The commissioners were urged to resign after the overwhelming evidence in the report pointed at the racism in the department. 

Two New York Police and Fire Department officers were fired because of their attending of a racist parade. The case went to court and the judge ruled that New York had violated the first amendment by prohibiting their speech. The case has set a precedence displaying a triumph of freedom of speech over government suppression of racism. This case also reminds us that employers may not give differential treatment to racist works and cannot fire or hire them on that basis.

 Domelights.com, a site established by a white police officer in Philadelphia has not become a domain for racist comments posted by police officers. Civil Rights groups and the NAACP filed a law suit against the department and the city because of the website. The site has defended itself by claiming to be “the voice of the good guys.”  Many have criticized the police department for not removing the site or at least fire the individuals who use this as a sanctuary for racist thoughts and comments.

Statistics Between the years of 2009 and 2010, nearly 6000 reports have been issued of misconduct. 382 of these were fatalities 300 billion dollars have been spent on police misconduct

Police violence has increased 25 percent in the past decade including jails and the public, most of these incidents were directed at minorites.

one of every 266 officers accused of a violent crime; one of every 1,875 charged with homocide; one of every 947 accused of sexual assault; 980.64 per 100,000 officers charged;

33% of police officers charged were convicted, not necessarily justly for the offense committed; 64% of officers convicted were imprisoned, not necessarily as long as justified; 27% resulted in civil lawsuits, 34.3% favoring victims.

Conclusion There is no way to prove that all police men are racist however there is overwhelming evidence against the police force which gives a strong argument for police brutality against minorities.