Since
the infamous case of Rodney King, police brutality has been a
controversial thing to cover in the media. Who should be given the
benefit of the doubt in that situation? The hopefully law abiding
officer, or the victim/criminal, who no matter how innocent on the
receiving end if they are brutalized will always be questionable in
the eyes of the public. Did they in fact deserve what they got?
In
the editorial section of the Austin American Statesman an article was
written about acceptable use of force regarding police officers.
Recently a debate has been reignited by an upcoming trial, involving
a fatal shooting of a young man last May, and wether or not the
police officer was justified in opening fire. It is a very fine line
that a police officer has to walk on, they must be able to maintain
order while not letting their emotions get the best of them and of
course, not all of them are capable of doing that.
The
author of this article has a very liberal target audience of Austin
which I think is a good outlet for this important subject. The logic
behind the article is really refreshing because It uses common sense,
and the “more power equals more responsibility” attitude. The
author is very adamant when they state that police officers should
indeed be held at a higher standard. They are fair in their
assessment of the flawed system and how a police officer largely has
to decide for themselves what an appropriate response to any given
situation should be.
Of
course, this should be obvious. Who wouldn't want a police officer to
be able to exercise more composure than your average person
especially in a very uncomfortable situation? And then I realized
that some people don't feel that way, they don't really question the
means an officer uses to get what they want, as long as it doesn't
have anything to do with them and they believe they are safe.
I
agree wholeheartedly with the author of this article. We should
always question those that are in power, especially officers, whom we
expect to protect citizens and use rationality and fairness when
doing their job. We should never have to worry about officers abusing
their power. For example, in 1977 a man in Harris County Texas was
beaten mercilessly by two police officers, his body was found in the
Buffalo Bayou two days later. We should not have to worry about this,
and the sad thing is a lot of these incidents get looked over and
brushed under the rug.
It's
important that this article was written even if it's not a headline,
the word has to get out somehow. It's hard to say if this is a common
occurrence or just something that happens every so often. The point
is, it should never happen. The author makes it clear that in an
ideal world, people shouldn't have to wonder if some of the people
who should be protecting citizens are using their power to have an
advantage.
