| rdfs:comment | - Incidents of police brutality include an unarmed homeless man being lethally shot from point blank range, a 12-year-old child being executed in a drive by shooting for holding a BB gun, an elderly couple being tormented while arrested for a crime they didn't commit, and the Ferguson, Missouri race riots. Some police beat more than just Jews, you feel me? Therefore, military grade equipment is entirely necessary.
- When I was an undergrad at Columbia University, one night my less-political friends and I were stumbling home fairly drunk down a rat-infested street in Harlem. I was with friends and we were all screaming as big New York rats ran by us. A car pulled up and the driver yelled at us to "shut the fuck up!" I yelled that they could go give themselves pleasure ... or, something like that. Suddenly the car stopped and four burly white folk poured out toward me. One of my friends yelled "run" and everyone took off but me. I stood there -- being somewhere between righteous anger and fear.
- Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer, prison officer or other law enforcement officer. It may be carried out at the initiative of an individual officer, or in response to orders given to the officer, or in response to governmental or administrative policies.
- Police Brutality is the unwarranted or disproportionate use of force by police officers against the public. Sometimes euphemistically termed "excessive force" it is better described as "obsessive force." Some police officers are brutal because they are badly trained or culturally impoverished, but often it is motivated by opportunistic sadism and status anxiety. They may redirect the self-loathing they feel as a result of low social status, as reflected in poor salaries, at members of social groups who are less powerful. If they were brave they would respect the people they serve while collectively bargaining to win better wages and working conditions. Slavishly serving the powerful and victimizing the weak is cowardly.
- When police aren't useless, then they're sadistic bullies. Even though nobody likes being bossed around by the police, it's their job, and they have to do it whether you like it or not. Some types of policemen, however, are thugs who take a cruel pleasure in beating and tormenting people they don't like, for no reason at all. And often this is a category that contains pretty much everyone. Note: Now and again, American movies in the 1930s and 40s will show a cop shooting at an unarmed, running suspect. Though shocking to us now, this was not considered brutal or excessive at the time.
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| abstract | - Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer, prison officer or other law enforcement officer. It may be carried out at the initiative of an individual officer, or in response to orders given to the officer, or in response to governmental or administrative policies. Widespread police brutality exists in many countries, even those that prosecute it. Police brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct, which include false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, and police corruption. Its systematic use is one of the hallmarks of political repression.
- Police Brutality is the unwarranted or disproportionate use of force by police officers against the public. Sometimes euphemistically termed "excessive force" it is better described as "obsessive force." Some police officers are brutal because they are badly trained or culturally impoverished, but often it is motivated by opportunistic sadism and status anxiety. They may redirect the self-loathing they feel as a result of low social status, as reflected in poor salaries, at members of social groups who are less powerful. If they were brave they would respect the people they serve while collectively bargaining to win better wages and working conditions. Slavishly serving the powerful and victimizing the weak is cowardly. Police officers may act with impunity in criminal justice systems where the rule of law is decomposing, as is apparent in parts of the United States.
- When police aren't useless, then they're sadistic bullies. Even though nobody likes being bossed around by the police, it's their job, and they have to do it whether you like it or not. Some types of policemen, however, are thugs who take a cruel pleasure in beating and tormenting people they don't like, for no reason at all. And often this is a category that contains pretty much everyone. Though Truth in Television to some extent, this is often exaggerated in fiction. Sometimes to make a statement about ethnic relations (Do the Right Thing); as part of a gloomy Film Noir-type Wretched Hive setting (Sin City); or as part of a futuristic Dystopian setting (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Originally, a portrayal only American films got away with. For example, the critics responsible for French New Wave Cinema famously complained about censorship that forbade French police being portrayed as anything but professional and competent. A quick breakdown of police brutality trends in fiction: the LAPD beats your ass and then decides what crime you committed; the NYPD shoots you a few dozen times then pronounces you innocent; 1930s cops are drunk Irishmen who beat you up for being Italian; 1960s cops are sober Irishmen who beat you up for having long hair; small town cops pull you over, tell you that your tail light is busted, and then bust your tail light with a nightstick when you ask which one (and give you a ticket for it); big city cops are uncompromising racists. Of course, all might not be as it seems. Note: Now and again, American movies in the 1930s and 40s will show a cop shooting at an unarmed, running suspect. Though shocking to us now, this was not considered brutal or excessive at the time. Not to be confused with the Police Brutality Gambit (although its users hope you will). Examples of Police Brutality include:
- Incidents of police brutality include an unarmed homeless man being lethally shot from point blank range, a 12-year-old child being executed in a drive by shooting for holding a BB gun, an elderly couple being tormented while arrested for a crime they didn't commit, and the Ferguson, Missouri race riots. Some police beat more than just Jews, you feel me? Therefore, military grade equipment is entirely necessary.
- When I was an undergrad at Columbia University, one night my less-political friends and I were stumbling home fairly drunk down a rat-infested street in Harlem. I was with friends and we were all screaming as big New York rats ran by us. A car pulled up and the driver yelled at us to "shut the fuck up!" I yelled that they could go give themselves pleasure ... or, something like that. Suddenly the car stopped and four burly white folk poured out toward me. One of my friends yelled "run" and everyone took off but me. I stood there -- being somewhere between righteous anger and fear. They circled me and I started giggling as I do when I'm nervous. One lunged in and threw a shiny badge in my face: "This funny to you?" A new fear surged up my tipsy spine. I was surrounded by the most dangerous, out of control people I could think of. They didn't beat people up, they killed people. We'd already been organizing around police brutality on campus; there was story after story pouring in about Rudolph Giuliani's street teams and their off-the-wall brutalizing behavior, inspired by quotas designed to get violent criminals off the streets but resulting in arresting thousands of nonviolent offenders. Young black men from our campus and surrounding community were being stopped and searched, verbally and physically abused, their Columbia IDs useless in stopping the brutality. Fifteen minutes later, after screaming me up against the wall, 'frisking' all over my body to find the wallet that was in my purse, looking at my ID, and failing to make me stop laughing, they left me alone. A week later, Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times, reaching for his wallet. Seven years later, Sean Bell was killed on his wedding day in storm of 50 bullets. No wallet has been offered as a possible weapon to justify the shooting. In fact, no explanation has been offered at all. Mayor Bloomberg says it's unacceptable. What's unacceptable is that the best solutions the NYPD is offering fall drastically short of creating the accountability that would make the people safe. Police brutality is the most unfair, all-encompassing, active use of fear. Join in demanding that Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly begin a truly independent investigation -- with no ties to New York City law enforcement -- and institute systemic changes to provide real accountability in the NYPD.
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