Finding a solution that will fix all the problems we can identify as readily wrong with our policing system is problematic. As mentioned in my previous post, I believe that the problems with our police do not lie directly in how the force is run, but in individual officers whose bad behavior catches the media’s attention and gives our overall police force a bad name. There are no laws that we can pass to completely stop problems such as racial profiling, as racism could be considered the root of this specific problem. However, I believe that stricter, more extensive and more reformed police training would be able to militarization of police, lessen police brutality, and abuse of power.
In the 1990s, the United States faced a worsening drug crisis. In response to this, Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer the Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is – (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense.” It was called the 1208 Program. The basic idea behind this act was to make the police force army to fight in the war against drugs. In order for them to act like the army, the U.S had to equip them with military style firearms. They spent around $4.3 billion in firearms and other army like equipment. Now, twenty-five years later, the war on drugs is not as serious as it was before; however, our police force is still being trained and equip as if it is. (1) This militarization is instead being used in situations where extreme force is not necessary. The solution to this problem would be to reduce the amount of this militaristic training and to stress during training that this extreme force is only to be use in appropriate situations.
Police brutality and abuse of power can go hand and hand. Police officers are instilled with the mentality that because they are the law, they are able to get away with injustices. However, this should not be the case. Police officers are allowed to legally use physical force, to the point of murder, against violent and dangerous individuals; however, when this physical force is used in situations where it is not necessary it is considered brutality. (3) As a means of upholding their duties, police have certain privileges, which are meant to be used only in appropriate situations and not to their own personal gain. When these privileges are used inappropriately, this is called abuse of power. (4) The solution to this problem would be to stress during training that brutality and abuse of power are serious and should not be done. Punishment for participating in these practices should be serious and there should be less tolerance and forgiveness for the police officers that are caught. As I stated in my previous post, our police force is not bad overall, it is simply those corrupt police officers that are root of our problems.
The overall reform I would make to police training would be to reduce the degree of militaristic training, or delegate only specific officers to receive this training, focus more on stressing how unethical police brutality and abuse of power is to prospective police officers, and having little to no tolerance or forgiveness towards those police officers that are caught participating in police brutality and abuse of power. While it is almost impossible to target specific police officers, measures can be taken during training to prevent prospective police officers from becoming corrupt.
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