Police Brutality
Police brutality is a serious crime and involves a significant breach of trust and a broken promise to serve and protect. Police brutality complaints are on a steady rise over the last decade which could be partly due to people becoming more aware of their rights as citizens and the recourse available to them if they feel those basic rights have been violated. Police brutality can range from severe and even lethal beatings to small, but serious offences such as a punch or a kick. The use of on dash video cameras by many law enforcement agencies around the world helps to protect the rights of the officer and the citizen. If police brutality is caught on video tape, it is now shown around the world thanks to 24 hour news reports and internet. The police officer accused of committing police brutality is now not only subject to investigation and possible criminal charges, but is also tried in the court of public opinion.
An example of this would be the beating of LA citizen Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers in 1992. The Rodney King beating became the first explicit video tape of such blatant police brutality to be shown around the world and sparked a whirlwind of controversy. Due to the highly public nature of this video tape and the subsequent trial of the accused officers on the charges of police brutality, most of the American public had preconceived notions about the verdict and had made up their minds based on the visual evidence presented. When the four police officers were acquitted on charges of police brutality despite the shocking vide taped evidence, the city of Los Angeles exploded into riot with many subsequent riots cropping up in major cities countrywide. The issues of race, inequality and equal protection under the law sparked political and social debates worldwide and brought the civil rights issue back into the forefront.
The Rodney King case also prompted law enforcement agencies to take measures preventing and punishing police brutality committed by any of their acting officers. Despite these measures, the reported incidents of police brutality against citizens are at an all time high and continue to increase.