Police Brutality

9 Pages 2145 Words

Everyone's Problem:
Police Brutality and Race, by Tom Gregg

This will discuss whether the police system in the New York City area is corrupt and/or racist.
POLICE CORRUPTION
I grew up in the Midwest, respecting the police as the "good guys"-- heroic fighters of badness, upholders of justice-- who ought to be obeyed. Now, living in the New York City area, I read and hear about a different type of cop.
Here, cops, singly or in conspiracy, are repeatedly caught helping drug dealers in exchange for money or drugs. In Philadelphia recently 5 police officers were found to have kept a stash of drugs from which they withdrew drugs to plant evidence on people. A detective in one New Jersey police department claims that after a certain store was robbed, several police officers looted the store, justifying their actions with the thought that the storeowner's insurance would pay for the stolen goods; and cops who didn't participate in the looting were ostracized. In another New Jersey community it is claimed that the police are currently taking bribes from drug dealers. In Newark, NJ, an officer who came forward with allegations of an operating police extortion ring is being penalized for his honesty.
Police in some big cities have been likened to street gangs, and a friend of mine goes so far as to say that they are criminals and should not be trusted; my friend will not call the police when she has a problem, for fear that the police will use the opportunity to "case" her house, and then inform criminals of her valuables.
POLICE BRUTALITY
Recently in New York City, there have been about 500 police brutality reports per month, though killings of cops in the line of duty have been halved over the last 30 years.
Item: in East Orange, New Jersey, a man drives a car into a driveway. The owner of the house requests that he leave, but there is oncoming traffic, so the driver waits. A police officer comes out of the house and fatally shoo...