Would Approaching police brutality as a Public Health Issue Decrease Rates of mental health disorders for minorities in America?

From a Future Nurse’s Perspective

February 23, 2021

Samantha Armengol

West Coast University

Origin of Injustice: Police Brutality

Over the past decades, researchers have shown interest in understanding the history of police brutality in America. The evolution of police in the United States followed the England system. The England system entailed communal and formal styles (Emsley, 2012). These systems were better known as the watch system or private-for-profit policing, respectively. The watch system entailed professionals such as the constables, sheriffs, and stipendiary justice whose primary roles were to report incidents or crises. As urbanization grew, crime and other social injustices become more common, such as police brutality. This led to the establishment of night watches in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in 1636, 1658, and 1700 (Potter, 2013) . However, these means of crime control weren’t effective. After the American Revolution, a new system of centralized police units was launched. In 1838, Boston was the first to launch the American police force while other cities followed behind shortly. During this time a growing body of evidence began to show minorities were disproportionately the targets behind police brutality. Police brutality in the United States is the unwarranted and excessive often illegal use of force. Police officers have taken advantage of their power and have no longer withstand the concern of the public. An early American form of police brutality is the police system in the South that was entirely centered on slavery, forcing African Americans to flee for safety (Collins, 2020). White police officers as well as the white communities found the immigration strange, increasing the fear. Due to this, racial stereotypes intensified, influencing the opinions of police departments in the north and west of America. African Americans were believed to possess characteristics that were linked to criminal behavior. Surveillance increased within African American communities. Incidences of police brutality against African Americans increased. The form of brutality experienced were physical assault, threats, verbal abuse, and unlawful arrests. The rise of police brutality acts constituted race riots. African Americans started fighting for their rights and demand respect from law enforcement officers. For instance, Miami’s liberty city section in 1980 rioted over the killings of an unarmed colored man.

Institutionalized inadequate training

It is necessary for law enforcement officers to be up to date in training methods that are focused on safe detainment and using only reasonable force when necessary. However, there has been no effort to improve police education and provide adequate training to officers. The American police education systems are built on hundreds of complex different programs that operate on no standardization and little oversight. There are few directives to give officers substantive training in anti-bias, conflict resolution, and other necessary approaches an officer may encounter. There are various programs offered to officers in some states that aren’t offered in others, such as de-escalation training. This training teaches officers to slow down, create space and use communication techniques to defuse potentially dangerous situations. There are 34 states in America that do not require this training for all officers. States that do offer only offer an hour per year. The vast majority of the boards that approve license officers have failed to mandate many pieces of training. The inconsistency created a troubling reality for those at higher risk of being potentially killed by an officer. (Gilbert 2020)

Lack of Accountability and Prosecution

Policymakers are confronted with complex laws, policies, and contracts that have consistently protected law enforcement and allowed them to act as though they had immunity. At the moment the system has built more protection for guilty officers than it has for innocent civilians. Innocent people have been made vulnerable to wrongful conviction by the hands of the criminal justice system who has produced incentives and tools against the victims. Derek Chauvin is a former police officer who killed George Floyd in 2020. However, before this Chauvin was involved in 18 prior police misconduct cases. Officers who killed Tamir Rice in 2014 and Antwon Rose in 2018 were dismissed from previous police jobs before both kills. Police officers are dismissed quietly instead of being fired with the help of the Fraternal Order of Police. Intentionally giving bad officers another chance to work at another police department. These are just a few examples of officers who haven’t faced accountability during their first misconduct act and now the lives of minorities have been lost due to this failure. (Ray 2020) However, police misconduct does not stop organizations from support the police and maintaining their power.

Money Power and Control: Protecting Police Control

The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) is a coalition of police units and associations from across the United States. The NAPO was founded in 1978 and is the strongest unified voice supporting law enforcement officer across America. NAPO as well as the Justice Department continuously fail to restrain or penalize officers for acts of brutality. These organizations and law offices allow officers to engage in unjustified shootings, severe beating, fatal choking, and unnecessarily rough physical treatment. The Baltimore Police Department’s process of investigating and adjudicating complaints has been troubled by systemic failure. Organizations have discouraged individuals from filing a complaint. Due to this, officers believe they are able to undermine superiors and refrain from accountability by not reporting misconduct. (Mock 2017) An organization called the Human Rights Watch supports officers and recognizes, for instance as all human beings, officers are imperfect or flawed and the situations they encounter are often dangerous and require quick decision making. Laws have been made in order to protect citizens from the misconduct of officers.

Legislation: Section 241 of Title 18

Cases of police brutality in minorities, especially in the African American communities, have been on the rise. The increase of this injustice poses to whether there are laws to govern the public from the use of lethal force. Federal law provides a code that relates to police violence. The law titled Conspiracy Against Rights, section 241 of title 18, states that it is illegal for a police officer to deprive any person of their rights protected by the constitution. Section 241makes it unlawful for two or more persons to agree together to injure, threaten or intimidate a person in any state, territory, or district of free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to them. This code means many forms of police brutality such as intimidation, sexual assault, physical force, oppression, and injury are against the law. The federal government can hold unlawful actions of police officials accountable for their misconduct as per title 18 of the federal law. Additionally, title 6 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states, no person in the United States shall on the grounds of race, color, or national origin be subject to exclusion from the participation of denied benefits, and subject to discrimination under any program. This applies to everyone across America including government officials such as police officers. Officers are not to discriminate based on sex, ethnicity, race, or color (Lado, 2019). Unfortunately, forms of police brutality such as racial discrimination in minority groups are highly common and often looked like a social norm.

Cultural Norms: Race as a social norm

The approach to ethics and cultural norms varies among different cultures. What is seen as ethical or normal in one culture is regarded as unethical for another. Considering the values and norms held by different cultures influences the issue. The culture of policing has become a popular concern for public scrutiny. There is an unspoken norm in the country of who one is, how one acts and the influence one has on society has given a person an assigned label that dictates how they are treated and recognized. For many years this systematic norm has created mistreatment of African Americans by police forces across America. Videos of police brutality toward communities of minorities and race wash over the internet and come across every phone in America. Cops like Derek Chauvin, who murdered George Floyd, had multiple infractions before killing him however it was a norm in the police department since most infractions are often overlooked and ignored by higher authority. According to the researcher’s race has become a socially constructed category in which people choose to recognize color as an important evaluative factor of a person’s abilities, character, and personhood. This norm places a fundamental part in the current crisis of police brutality. As healthcare workers, it’s important to respect and treat all patients, regardless of class, race, and culture with the best care.

Ethical Obligation of the Health Care Professional: Future Nurse

Healthcare professionals are dedicated to providing trauma-informed, patient-centered care to victims of violence. According to the International Association of Forensic Nurses, discrimination, racism, and violence in all their forms are not accepted and condemn. Dealing with police brutality is no different, the medical community help to preserve life in order to give families more times with their loved one. Medical professionals are required to establish a good patient and physician relation. Patients’ safety and interest are the primary concern of the medical community. This is part of their ethical and legal responsibilities. Therefore, they have to provide care to all, including victims or suspects of the injustice. Victims of police brutality have the right to be informed about their treatment or procedures to obtain informed consent. This can be an obstacle when patients are injured, and their mental ability is impaired. Conflict of interest may also arise when patients’ representatives and medical practitioners make critical decisions regarding patient health. Nurses along with medical staff advocate for their patients and push to reform laws of injustice. Only a few days after the death of George Floyd the America Medical Association issued a statement denouncing police brutality. (Nze, Avakame, Ayankola and Nwanaji-Enwerem 2020)

References

Brooks, D. (2020, June 16). The culture of policing is broken. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/how-police-brutality-gets-made/613030/

Collins, W. J. (2020). The Great Migration of black Americans from the US South: A guide and interpretation. Exploration in Exploration in Economic History, 101382.

Conspiracy against rights. (2015, August 06). Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.justice.gov/crt/conspiracy-against-rig…

Gilbert, C. (2020, September 16). Most states neglect ordering police to learn de-escalation tactics to avoid shootings. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/05/05/police-de-escalation-training

Lado, M. E. (2019). No More Excuses: Building a New Vision of Civil Rights Enforcement in the Context of Environmental Justice. U. Pa. JL. & Soc. Change, 22, 281.

Mock, B. (2017, August 07). Ignoring police violence. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://prospect.org/labor/ignoring-police-violenc…

Police Brutality Laws in the United States. (2017, July 22). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/police-brutality-laws-in-the-united-states.html.

Potter, G. (2013). The history of policing in the United States, Part 1. Eastern Kentucky University Police studies Online.

Ray, R. (2020, November 11). How can We enhance police accountability in the United States? Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/how-can-we-enhance-police-accountability-in-the-united-states/

Thatcher, S. (2017, October 27). Recognizing race: An inquiry into the social norms surrounding police brutality. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://medium.com/@sethatcher/recognizing-race-an…