Three major policing problems that I addressed in my last post were excessive police brutality in prisons, the inefficiency of the court systems, and the disconnection between the public and the police force.
Prison and jail guards very often mistreat inmates beyond what is necessary and the repercussions for their unprovoked violence are either nonexistent or less punitive than they should be. Policemen should be regarded as normal people before the law and should not receive special treatment because of their badge or status. I propose that we install more cameras in prisons and jails in order to monitor not only the prisoners’ behavior, but also the officers’. The prison officials themselves should not handle this footage, but rather an unbiased, outside government agency should. Jail officials have a tendency to bury evidence, as in the case of Darren Rainey, a mentally ill prisoner who was forced into a shower of scalding water by prison guards. The report stated that his death was a result of a heart attack. We also need to install a fair system of punishment for police officers to avoid granting them immunity for their actions. This will consequently reduce the abuse of power that so many incarcerated people must endure.
The inefficiency of the court systems in providing inmates with speedy and fair trials is another huge issue that is primarily relevant for overcrowded, poor districts. Many people are sentenced to prison unfairly and usually have to serve long sentences. There are many judges, such as Judge Herman C. Dawson, who will very often oft for long periods of incarceration as the only choice to correct these “criminals”. Such frequent, unnecessary lock ups perpetuates the inadequacy of the whole system. We can ease this backlog by hiring more court staff, but I think a more sustainable and just approach would be to put a system in place that would monitor judges’ court decisions, especially those who are known for imposing unreasonably harsh sentences. Another judge or court worker will be assigned to oversee the cases of the exaggeratedly punitive judge and work with them to administer fairer punishments. Even judges need to be judged.
Anyone who watches the news recognizes that tensions between the public and the police force have reached a new high. Police brutality incidents, such as those of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, have instigated protests that have resulted in both civilian and police officer deaths. Disagreements between Mayor de Blasio and the police department have also increased qualms among the general public. The first step to resolving, or at least easing, this issue is for the mayor and the police to develop a better relationship and maintain a united front for the sake of the public. If even the mayor is distrustful of the police, citizens will certainly have concerns about officers. A further way of alleviating the problem is to place full-body cameras on police officers in an effort to decrease police brutality incidents and reassure accountability. This will pacify the sentiment that policemen are “out to get you”, and instead demonstrate that they serve to protect us.
References:
http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/darren-rainey/
I think that your ideas for solutions are positively brilliant. The idea of putting cameras in jails and prisons and using an outside agency to oversee the footage is an excellent way to help resolve the issue of police brutality. There may be some controversy around this idea because if the outside agency is handling this footage, it will need to be able to pick up signs of excessive force as opposed to justified force. We will need a picture of what is “normal” or appropriate in prison or jail. In fact, prison and jail cameras already exist and some judges have ordered that there be more cameras in prisons or jails. This occurs because of incidences in which police officers bring inmates to blind spots of the cameras to malevolently beat them.