Justin Meador
Dr. Wright
English 1302
26 March 2015 Law Enforcement and Justice System Today To think in today's society more people fear our law enforcement, police force, and any other governmental authority more than burglars, traffic offenders, and drug dealers is preposterous, but in many instances, this is the truth . Law enforcement and the justice system today have taken a strange and unorthodox turn for the worst. There is definitely something wrong with not only the way we view law enforcement, but the entire justice system, as a whole. What really boggles me about this is... why? Why do "we" as a society allow ourselves to be alarmed and flustered by government authority and laws which are supposed to be put in place to protect us? Aren't we, as citizens of the United States, capable of doing the "right thing”? It's sad to say that not even our law enforcement system will do the "right thing" sometimes. Our justice system, and its practices, should be reevaluated as a whole for the better of our nation; in particular, this argument will focus on police brutality and the justice system that seems to support it.
First of all, there is an unnecessary amount of police brutality in past decades, and it seems to be rising, and of course seen more often due to today’s technology, such as camera phones; almost everyone has one. One example is the Pastor Steven Anderson told in an online article called "America's Internal Checkpoints" by Wes Kimbell. Pastor Anderson one day went through the checkpoint at San Diego, CA and Phoenix, AZ. When he arrived at the checkpoint, he was told by border patrol and police officers to show proof of citizenship. When he simply said “no,” while pleading the Fourth and the Fifth Amendment, the border patrol sought to take action. The "Law Enforcers," so to speak, broke the pastor's windows, tazed him and beat him until he was in his own pool of blood. How awful it is that even a pastor can be victimized by brutal police force. I mean a pastor, really?!?!! How could someone beat up a man whose sole purpose is to practice, praise and preach the word of God to others? This just goes to show how corrupt our law enforcement can be. Now some might say that "oh he was just in a wrong place at the wrong time" or that "maybe he should've listened to the border patrolmen" and maybe they’re right, maybe the pastor should've simply showed them proof of citizenship instead of having to get forcefully beaten. Well that’s intolerable and people should have the right to use their amendments; after all that’s why we have the constitution. No man should ever have to go through a situation where he gets beaten almost to death by law officials, especially a pastor. This is only one of the many things that have occurred over the past years that make it seem that our law enforcement as a nation has become corrupt. Another article that called "The Editorial" by Maclean suggests how police brutality has been up roared. This web article talks about how police misconduct and police brutality have impacted race relations in the U.S. in 2014. It also mentions high-profile deaths of two black men killed by white officers in Missouri and New York. This and many other actions have sparked the enormous racial divide of law enforcement today. “After the two police detectives were killed by an African American man, the police force seemed to take a turn for the worst. The possible covert work-to-rule campaign by angry cops was suggested when sudden drop-off in arrest, summonses, and parking tickets increased according to the weekly city crime stats.” The article also states “how we should acknowledge and cope with the issues of race and political differences, and the same being for our police force in order to make progress in our future.” Police departments need to be held accountable due to the fact that they are the law enforcers and represent the law which should be there to keep us safe and secure in the