Why Brutality Occurs and How it’s Racialized
Police brutality is a major problem in the United States that disproportionately affects minority citizens. Reasons used to explain this have been individual and situational characteristics of the police and their departments, but a more in-depth look at the institutions within our society reveals this brutality as a way of preserving hegemonic ideals.
A moral panic is when, according to Stan Cohen in Folk Devils and Moral Panic, “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests.” These values and interests generally reflect established ideologies, and a threat to them is seen as a threat to the hegemony of those in power. The scale and intensity of the reaction to this panic, which is escalated by the media, is usually much greater than the actual threat, according to British theorist Stuart Hall. This is one of the factors that often results in police brutality, as an attempt to eliminate the threat as well as deter future threats, and is seen in the violence exemplified by police forces against the MOVE organization and the Black Panther Party.
Stuart Hall defines criminalization as “the attachment of the criminal label to the activities of groups which the authorities deem it necessary to control.” Foucault also realized that the function of the law and prisons are to manage political dissent, but this is covered up by labeling these dissenters as social deviants. In this way those in poverty are blamed even if they are not criminals, and laws are created to disproportionately affect minorities who are stuck in poverty. Hall explains that “The Law” is associated with control agencies that represent the ruling-class ideologies as correct and “universally valid.” These control agencies are mostly comprised of the white majority, and therefore minorities receive the label of criminals. In this way crime has become racialized, which leads to racial profiling by the police and often brutality because of the prejudices that assume members of minority groups must be criminals.
Do We Have to Depend on the Police?
Police Not Welcome
“Trust, respect, and communication are essential to healthy community. Protect your friends and neighbors from uniformed gang members and other suspicious characters.”
Let’s say you’re sitting in your house and you see a shady figure walk through your yard. What do you do? Call the police. Your neighbor is having a party and it is keeping you from sleeping. So you call the police. Someone rear ends your car so you call the police. See the pattern? Every time you invite law enforcement into your communities, you’re opening yourself up for the possibility that you may be inviting excessive force and brutality into your neighborhood. With a little tweaking to the status quo, perhaps we can build a society that emphasizes “group regulation,” respect for our neighbors and community, trust and communication to solve our problems.
Want to give it a try in your neighborhood? Order up a set of 50 stickers here and see how it goes!
NYPD officer rapes a drunk woman while partner keeps a look out
In October of 2009, two officers respond to a call from a cab driver about a drunk woman who needed assistance into her apartment. One officer kept watch outside while the other officer raped her. They stole her cell phone and tried to threaten her close family members so she would remain silent. To date, this case still has no resolution.
For more information, click here.
Amnesty International: Stonewalled- Still Demanding Respect! Project
When approached by law enforcement, they know nothing about you, however, their opinion of you is already informed by outward influences. Just from what you are physically (ie the color of your skin, your weight, your race, what you’re wearing, etc), they have already made assumptions about you that will inform the way they interact with you. Within the LGBT community, many have reported altercations with law enforcement that are currently being monitored by various organizations, including Amnesty International USA. The LGBT community has reported that they are often targeted for lewd conduct and that law enforcement fails to respond appropriately to reports of domestic violence. It has happen far too often that someone who may be transgendered is mistaken for a prostitute and arrested for a completely unsupported claim. Even worse, once they are detained, they are sexually harassed, beaten, and often raped by inmates and by the prison guards themselves. Hate crimes against the LGBT community are not as uncommon as we’d like to think they are and because of their particularly violent nature, these incidents have to be reported and taken very seriously. If you or someone you know has had a situation with law enforcement turn violent or abusive, report it immediately and contact any of the LGBT police brutality projects for additional assistance.
Officers Strike Student After College Basketball Game
University of Maryland student John J. McKenna, 21, was beat by police after a college basketball game. Video that surfaced after McKenna hired a private investigator showed officers in riot gear slamming him into a wall before beating him. McKenna suffered a concussion and contusions as a result of the altercation.
Updates on the McKenna case
Police shoot unarmed man’s car more than 50 times, killling him on his wedding day.
Sean Bell was shot multiple times by undercover NYPD officers, just hours before his wedding. Officers opened fire on his car, shooting more than 50 rounds, killing Sean and seriously injuring the 2 other occupants.
Click here for the full story.
Updates:
Cop Kicks Guy’s Head While On the Ground!
This is how officers respond after a car chase suspect surrenders.
Solidarity.org
Since we’re students working in Riverside, CA it would only be fitting to feature an article on an organization trying to stop police brutality in Riverside! 
Click here to see the interview they did with Chani Beeman, co-chair of the Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability
Police Beats Man on Motorcycle
Click here to read the article.
What can you do?
So the dreadful day where you are forced to interact with police officers finally comes. What are you legally allowed to do? This downloadable pocket guide from CopWatch.org will help you.
If you aren’t directly involved but want to assist a friend or anyone you see being unjustly arrested, stop and watch. If they ask you to leave, tell them you don’t plan on “interfering” (which is an arrestable offense) but have a right to observe their actions. Keep a reasonable distance and keep a vigilant eye on the situation. You have a right to be in a public place and to observe police activity. Don’t let them scare you off so they can be alone with the victim.
If you are involved in an altercation with law enforcement, first and foremost, collect as much information as possible. Look at his or her badge for their name, badge numbers, car numbers, anything that can be used to identify the officer. It is against THEIR protocol to ignore a request for their identification, however, asking may agitate the officer but it is your right. Second, check your watch or phone for the date and time and take a mental note of exactly where the situation occurs.
Stay close to the officers car. They have recorders built in and you want everything to the officer says to be recorded but this also means that you must remain calm and watch your tone. This goes without saying but do not resist physically.
Questions to ask the officer:
“AM I FREE TO GO?” If he says yes, don’t linger- just walk away.
“WHY ARE YOU DETAINING ME?” They need to have “reasonable suspicion” to implicate you and if they can’t come up with anything, you want it documented that the officer did not have probable cause.
If they ask to search your possessions, say repeatedly that you “DO NOT CONSENT TO THE SEARCH.” Don’t open anything, close your door and ask to see a proper warrant. If they don’t have one, you don’t have to consent to being searched.
After they leave, get to a place where you can be quiet and try and remember as many details as possible. Document all injuries, locations, names, and any other essential information. When you go to file a report at the police department internal affairs, they will ask you to write out your story, as well as all of this information.
Who's Policing the Police? 