LeNie Aldolphson
In his famous closing argument, Johnny Cochran boldly asked the rhetorical question to the O.J. Simpson jury, "who polices the police?" The question was profound then, and in light of the recent police beatings caught on videotape, the question continues to be thought provoking.
In Albuquerque, N.M., a 16-year-old female was beaten in her jail cell. In Inglewood, Calif., another youth was slammed against a police car and hit after being handcuffed. The citizen who videotaped the incident was arrested later for 3-year-old warrants and was heard screaming for help in the police car. This individual was taken to the hospital for rather serious injuries that he sustained in the police car. The response from the police department was that he was resisting and needed to be subdued. It is important to mention that for years, many in the poor and minority community have regularly complained of police misconduct, and many of these complaints were basically ignored and minimized by those in the majority community.
Occasionally, a highly publicized beating such as that of Rodney King or the shooting of an unarmed person might make the news. In these instances, the majority community would always reply that police brutality was isolated and rare. Unfortunately, it seems that if the police assaults middle to upper class people, the issue is addressed seriously, such as when a white female in New Mexico was thrown to the ground while handcuffed. Since this occurred, many have reportedly said an independent task force should be formed to examine the problem of police brutality. It is obvious that it is not a rare or isolated problem, and many police departments around the country have been inundated with official complaints of police misconduct.
Moreover, several lawsuits have been filed alleging police brutality. A frightening aspect of many of these cases is that if it were not for videotape, the cases would probably never have been discovered. One must wonder then what is occurring when the eye of the video is absent. It is germane to state that there are many police officers who perform their job with professionalism and decency and have not or would not ever violate another human being's civil rights. Additionally, police officers are placed in extremely dangerous situations on a regular basis, especially officers who work in large metropolitan cities. Many perform services that are beyond their duties, and this is admirable and worthy of praise.
Notwithstanding, police brutality is inexcusable. Decent officers should be revolted by the behavior of hateful and rogue officers and work diligently to weed them out of their profession. There are several issues that must be examined by the public. First and foremost, the public must not tolerate or accept citizens being abused by the police. We have to realize the handcuffed man or woman we see on the news being beaten could be our son or daughter or yes, even us. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Citizens must question the techniques and training that is given to officers in handling belligerent suspects.
There are many other concerns, such as officers who refuse to report officers who use excessive force. The culture of the police department needs to be scrutinized. In some cases, supervisors have fostered the sentiment that it's OK to administer a beating to a suspect who has been unruly to teach him or her a lesson. Finally, when these cases are discovered, there must be immediate and decisive action taken. In the end, the answer to Johnny Cochran's question must be that it is our job as citizens to police the police. If we don't take action, we are flirting with a totalitarian police state.
LeNie Adolphson can be reached at lenieadolphson@hotmail.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
