Argumentative Essay on Police Brutality in the U.S.

Police Brutality is one of the worst problems in America, since 2015, 6,600 people have been shot and killed by police. This is such a huge issue that when you look at the statistics it’s really mind-boggling. In 2021, there were only 15 days where police hadn’t killed someone and only 2 days in 2022 as of January 20th (Campaign Zero). So how can this be fixed? Accountability is one of the solutions that could lead to a safer and more trusting community. Police act off the fact that they are barely held accountable, there are many officers that are roaming the streets after blatantly murdering someone who simply didn’t deserve it. An example is George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Trayvon was walking home after visiting a convenience store to buy a bag of skittles and a bottle of juice. On his way home he was spotted by George Zimmerman, Captain of the neighborhood patrol at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, who called the non-emergency police line in Sanford. Zimmerman ignored orders to not approach Trayvon and moments later gunshots were heard. Officers arrived and found Trayvon dead and Zimmerman with a bloody nose. Police questioned Zimmerman but released him, later he was charged with Second-Degree Murder but acquitted of all charges which sparked nationwide protests and was the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement (History).

Despite decades of advocacy, we have yet to see broad-reaching and sustainable changes within law enforcement in America (Styles). The origin of police arose from slave patrol in the 1700s. Their job was to establish a system of terror and squash slave uprisings with the capacity to pursue, apprehend, and return runaway slaves to their owners. Tactics included the use of excessive force to control and produce desired slave behavior (NAACP). Even to this day police are using excessive force to control and make people act how the police want them to. After the 13th amendment was passed, slave patrols were replaced with militia-style groups who denied rights to freed slaves while enforcing the Black Codes. After the 14th amendment was ratified essentially abolishing the black codes they were quickly replaced with the well-known Jim Crow laws. In the 1900s, cities started to establish police departments to enforce the laws including Jim Crow laws. Police were relied on to apply extensive force to any black person who violated any of the Jim Crow laws and this continued all the way through the 60s (NAACP). ‘Defund the police' isn’t about attacking cops. It isn’t about letting criminals run rampant. It’s about getting the United States out of a 'cops and robbers' mentality that simplifies crime to the 'good guys' and 'bad guys’ (Wellington). It’s about looking realistically at the social forces that contribute to making America unsafe and having the courage to correct them. Policing in America is very militarized and astronomically expensive (Wellington). Militarization of police began in the Reagan-era war on drugs when one program informally began giving surplus military equipment from the Pentagon to police departments across the U.S (Mosley & McMahon). After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security allowed police departments across the U.S. to purchase military-grade equipment like armored trucks, ballistics gear, and armored personnel carriers ( Mosley & McMahon). Instead of police being friendly neighborhood watchdogs, they have become a fear factor for millions of Americans. Americans are really being policed by the Army. An army that isn’t held to any sort of standard unless there’s an uproar, protests, or riots in the streets. This needs to change soon.

One might object here that police do need to be abolished. People have tried for many years to reform the police with no success. You could argue that the only way to reduce police violence is to reduce the amount of contact between police and the public. “As a society, we are so indoctrinated with the idea that policing is the only way to solve problems and caging people that many can’t imagine a world with no police”(Kaba). However, this solution isn’t ideal because the police are a valuable resource when you’re in trouble in some instances. There are many situations that a police officer could handle that a regular citizen couldn’t. Drunk drivers for example. In 2019, 10,142 people had died to drunk-driving crashes. That’s about 25+ people a day (NHTSA). In Virginia, 18,648 people were convicted of DUI in 2019 (VA DMV). Without police that’s 18,648 people that could cause serious hurt and damage to a person and their family.

Based on the evidence presented, you can see that there is clearly a policing problem in the US that needs to be fixed. Whether it’s fixed with more accountability, better training, or increased oversight; any progress is good progress. There are so many ways that these needless killings could be prevented, it just takes the willingness and advocacy of the people to want to fix their communities. Changing these policies would make it so there aren’t 6,600 people in the next 5 years who will have to be laid to rest and thousands of families who won’t have to grieve. This would make it so there’s no next Trayvon Martin or George Floyd. People know what must be done and now it’s time to take action and get it done.