Media Influence On Police Brutality

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Police Brutality is Over Exaggerated
Last year, over 963 people were killed by police officers. Out of all those people killed, 690 of them were in possession of a firearm or a knife(Washington). For many years now, the media has over exaggerated police brutality and never gave the full story to arouse the public and cause panic. In addition, police brutality towards African-Americans has been the headline for many media outlets. This has influenced many people to believe that police officers use too much excessive force, and get off the hook too easy for killing African-Americans. Whereas, other people believe police officers use the necessary amount of force and the media over exaggerates police killings.
With this in mind, the media hasn’t …show more content…
The media used Officer Wilson and Michael Brown as a pawn to boost their ratings. As a result, of the media’s influence over the public allowed them to make Darren Wilson out to be a criminal and the entire police force look dirty, whereas they made Michael Brown sound like an innocent teenager. However, news outlets aren’t the only media source influencing the hatred towards police officers. Pop culture is also to blame for the distrust towards police officers. Singer Bruce Springsteen released the song “American Skin (41 shots),” in which he states, “It ain’t no secret/No secret my friend/You can get killed just for living in your American skin”(Shortell). Bruce Springsteen wrote this song about Amadou Diallo. Diallo was a twenty-two year immigrant from Guinea. He lived in the Bronx, one of the most crime-ridden cities in New York City. Diallo was shot by four police officers forty-one times, a little after midnight on February 4, 1999. The four police officers thought Diallo resembled a wanted serial criminal. The four police officers told Diallo to turn around and show them his hands, but Diallo kept walking. No one knows if Diallo understood the officers or not. Eventually, Diallo stopped and reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet, and the police mistakened his wallet for a gun. News outlets suggested that the number …show more content…
They sometimes make mistakes. Law enforcement is a very difficult and stressful career. Every day a police officer puts on their badge they pray that day won’t be their last. Unfortunately, in 2008, over 148 police officers were killed in the line of duty. Over the past decade, more than 1500 officers were killed protecting their community(Washington). Police officers are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the community they love. They deserve more respect and support from people. If there wasn’t law enforcement, crime would be extremely high, there wouldn’t be anyone there to protect the community from violence, rape, and drugs. Instead of hating and disrespecting police, people should start appreciating them for everything they do on a daily basis that people take for
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