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June 1

Faivre June
Mr. Alford
AP English 11
20 December 2014
Problems of Racism: US Police Departments
The historic relationship between African American communities of the United States
and police departments across the country is infamous and lengthy. From the Birmingham Police
Department using high-pressure hoses and dogs during the Civil Rights Movement to the
excessive stop-and-frisk searches conducted today by the New York Police Department, black
people have never been positively predisposed to policemen, so its no surprise that black
attitudes towards them are more often than not belligerent. Racism, which is poor treatment or
violence against people because of their race (Racism), has always been prevalent in America
and it affects black people the most on every level. Institutionalized racism against black people
is ingrained in all parts of the US criminal justice system, especially law enforcement.
A large indication of the anti-black racism of law enforcement is black communities
perceptions of police. According to a survey conducted in 2007 by the Pew Research Center, it
was discovered that only about 55% of black people in the US are confident that police officers
do their jobs properly (Limited Black Confidence). Why would almost half of all black
people in American feel this way about law enforcement? What could have caused such an
unfavorable view of police in so many people? Could it be that negative interactions with police
are the main cause for black people having this kind of mindset? Yes, beyond a doubt police
brutality against black people and racial profiling across the country is to blame for this
disposition, and institutionalized racism within police departments is what motivates all of it.

June 2

The way most police are trained leads them to view black communities and black people as
violent sources of crime (Warren). Spawning from these many experiences, widespread distrust
between police officers and blacks exists today.
Moreover, that distrust is only encouraged more in light of the various racial disparities
that are present in arrest rates, the longevity of prison sentences, and prison populations in the
US. For example, in Dearborn, Michigan where only 4% of the population is black, more than
half of all arrests made by the police were of black people in both 2011 and 2012 (Heath), which
is a huge imbalance in arrest rates and is very obviously motivated by racial profiling. Also its
been found that prison sentences for black people are about 20% longer than prison sentences of
white people who commit the same crimes (Palazzolo). This statistic enforces the sentiment that
workers of the Justice System subconsciously and naturally see black people as inherently
malicious and thus deserving of longer prison sentences. In a seven year period from Facts like
these really make you think: if things like this really do happen all the time and they do then
are police officers even punished for their actions?
As a matter of fact, police officers rarely ever face any charges for anything. Police
officers who are accused of crimes rarely serve time or are indicted. Only about 33% of officers
who commit crimes are convicted and only 12% of those convicted officers are incarcerated
(Fiscer-Baum).

June 3

Works Cited
Fischer-Baum, Reuben. Allegations Of Police Misconduct Rarely Result In Charges.
FiveThirtyEight The New York Times Company. Web. 20 December 2014
Heath, Brad. Racial Gap in US Arrest Rates: Staggering Disparity. USA Today19 November
2014. USA Today,. Web. 20 December 2014.
H
Limited Black Confidence in Police. Pew Research Center, Washington D.C. 30 July 2009.
Web. 20 December 2014.
Palazzolo, Joe. Wide Racial Divide in Sentencing. The Wallstreet Journal 14 February 2013.
Wallstreet Journal. Web. 20 December 2014
Racism. Def 2. Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 December 2014
Warren, Vincent. Structural and Institutional Racism Exists Within Police Forces. New York
Times 26 November 2014. Web. 20 December 2014.

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