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Abstract
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The system of policing in the United States is largely failing US citizens by providing low-quality services. Police response times are slow, and, even more importantly, government police officers are frequently shown to be abusing their power (Lewis 1999). Perhaps because of advancements in social media technologies, citizens are noticing many more cases of police officers' abuse of power. Indeed, a simple Google Trends search reveals that public interest in the term "police brutality" reached all-time highs in each year from 2014 to 2016. Furthermore, over 1,100 citizens were killed by police officers each year from 2014 to 2017.
A recent viral video shows an intoxicated man from Arizona crying and begging for his life on his hands and knees before a police officer, Philip Brailsford, shot and killed him. While the victim, Daniel Shaver, was on the ground, the police officer continuously shouted at him and yelled things like, "I'm not here to be tactical and diplomatic with you. You listen. You obey." How did all of this start? The police officers came because they thought Daniel Shaver had a rifle; however, no rifle was ever found in the room. Philip Brailsford was acquitted of second-degree murder charges.
Surprisingly, according to data collected by Mapping Police Violence, 99 percent of all of the cases in 2015 did not result in the conviction of a police officer. Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that African Americans are over three times as likely to be killed by police as whites (Ross 2015). Citizens with darker skin color also report slower police response times, even after controlling for factors such as socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics (Cohen, Zechmeister, and Seligson 2015), and African Americans report lower levels of trust and satisfaction with police departments (Brown and Coulter 1983; Van Ryzin, Muzzio, and Immerwahr 2004), perhaps because of racial discrimination in the use of police force (Fryer 2016).
Of course, the quality of police departments varies by location. For example, citizens are seven times more likely to be killed by police officers in Oklahoma than in Georgia. Police-quality levels are often positively correlated with per capita income within a given geographic location. Indeed, Cohen, Zechmeister, and Seligson (2015) find that individuals with more wealth report that police respond more quickly to their requests. This is likely because police departments are primarily funded through property taxes, and wealthy people can afford to purchase expensive houses with access to the best policing services...
Language: en |