Bias in the Police Force
The police don’t have the best track record when it comes to serving its citizens without any bias. There have been countless records of the police acting different and showing more kindness to white people compared to black people. This discrimination has gone on for way too long and there aren’t enough people standing up to fix it. The notorious case of George Floyd is known across the entire world yet little has been done to stop it from happening again. In Minneapolis George Floyd was arrested for buying cigarettes with a fake bill. When the rest of the police arrived at the scene George Floyd was pinned down by three cops showing no sign of life. “Mr. Chauvin, who is white, kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes and 15 seconds, according to a Times analysis of timestamped video. Our video investigation shows that Mr. Chauvin did not remove his knee even after Mr. Floyd lost consciousness and for a full minute and 20 seconds after paramedics arrived at the scene.” (How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody) Thankfully the Police Department fired the officers who committed this terrible crime. Derek Chauvin was later given third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Later on he was given a more serious second-degree murder charge and the other three officers were given the charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. This horrible crime plainly shows the bias that the police force has. There are several videos of the murder of George Floyd and you can hear him pleading for his life. He showed no danger to the officers and would have complied with whatever they needed him to do but instead these racist cops murdered him. “You could have put him in the car by now. He’s not resisting arrest or nothing. You’re enjoying it.” (. ) In the videos you can clearly see that George Floyd was not resisting arrest and posed no threat to the cops or the bystanders. The cops however, did not care, you can see the cops enjoying hurting the defenceless man and using the excuse of “this is why you don’t do drugs kids” which seems a tad bit aggressive seeing how the message they give off is, if you are black and are suspected to be on drugs you get killed. George Floyd also said that he was recovering from covid-19 and while recovering from this virus it can be difficult to breath. Protests have been popping up around the world to try and join together to stop police brutality and racial bias. “About 1,000 civilians are killed each year by law-enforcement officers in the United States. By one estimate, Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police during their lifetime.” (What the data say about police brutality and racial bias — and which reforms might work) This statistic proves the point that I am trying to put across, while a lot of cops are bad I do not truly believe that all the cops are bad it is just a very corrupt system. If we force all cops to wear body cams for our and there protection we can finally see the root cause of all of this bias in the police force. When a cop pulls someone over or arrests someone we can finally see what actually happens in those situations and we will not have to rely on the words of someone who is trying to save their own skin. “Part of the problem lies in the data itself, which researchers described as “terrible” and “atrocious.” Civilian deaths at the hands of police are easier to track and analyze, but documenting use-of-force by police officers presents research obstacles. Law enforcement agencies can voluntarily report those statistics, but it’s not mandatory” (What the latest research tells us about racial bias in policing) The fact that the police do not need to willingly give out this data makes it that more difficult to change it all. It is impossible to hold these people accountable if there is no data to prove their crimes. This is another reason why body cams are so important so that we can see first hand interactions with the victims. In cases like George Floyd body cams could be the difference between the criminals getting the punishment they deserve and nothing happening at all due to lack of evidence. All of this proves my point that there is corruption and racism in the police force. If we do not stand up for ourselves and try and change it for the better then it will never change.
