Police Abuse of Power - YULIZA MARAVILLA

Police Abuse of Power in the Latino Community

by: Yuliza Maravilla

Research:

Violence happens all around us, even from the group of people we seek when we are in danger and are supposed to make us feel safe. Police officers often abuse their authority and power when they think they are "policing" or doing the right thing. Things so as far as getting brutally physical and in many cases also death. Many are aware of blacks being victims of police violence, however, Latino’s are the victims a lot too. According to an article written by Carmen Solis, Edwardo L. Portillos, and

Rod K. Brunson,” national and state education and crimi- nal justice policies oppress and criminalize Latinos/as because of the perception that their communities are crime ridden" (42) and latinos and blacks are mostly likely to report police violence when in contact as compared to whites (41). Police seem use stereotypes and assumptions to dictate how they treat a person and they do not realize that they are damaging the lives of many innocent people. I understand the need to take certain precautions but not when those precautions lead to the death of many young people. In another article written by it states that studies have shown that the” relationship between race and attitudes toward the police indicate that blacks and Hispanics view the police less favorably than whites" (566). Of course Latinos and blacks are going to favor the police less than whites because of their personal experiences whether it may be personal or a friend, or an event they may have heard where one of their own has been hurt by the police. One does not have to be directly mistreated by the police, its sufficient to just witness it or hear about it to understand that the police is often a danger to society. Lastly, according to an article on PBS News hour written by Kenya Downs, the "rate of police killings for Latinos is second to those of African-Americans. As of today, an estimated 94 Latinos have been killed by police in 2016 alone, making up 16 percent of the 585 police-involved killings this year. 

Personal Statement:

It is without a doubt that the Latino community has always faced hardships of different kinds. Now we have a president that is pretty racist and really influences the way people see us. He says that he wants to build a wall and keep out the rapists. The police is driven by these socially constructed perceptions of who Latinos are. They abuse their power in such a way that many of the lives in the Latino community have been affected to an extent of physical violence and even death. It is unjust and not okay that things like this continue to happen. It is sad and disgusting. How can they live with the idea that they were just trying to be "precautions". I understand if someone where to fight back or have some sort of weapon. Then and only then i would understand whatever action they had to take but not when the person just "looks" or "appears" to be dangerous.

 I take this issue very personally because one of my cousins was experienced this abuse of power by the police. He was helping someone with their damaged tire while the person was inside the store buying something they needed. The cops were quick to assume that he was vandalizing the car so they threw him to the floor and arrested him. He was only trying to help. An innocent 23 year old who only had one heartfelt intention and the police officers thought it was okay to treat him so poorly. I know there is not so much that can be done to stop this violence especially with the president that we have. I think that all we can do is to support each other because as I mentioned above, a person does not have to be a direct victim of this violence brought out by police. By simply witnessing it or knowing someone or hearing about it, it negatively affects the way we all perceive ourselves. 

Works Cited

Ben Brown, Wm Reed Benedict, (2002) "Perceptions of the police: Past findings, methodological issues, conceptual issues and policy implications", Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 25 Issue: 3, pp.543-580, https://doi.org/10.1108/13639510210437032
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/13639510210437032 

Downs, Kenya. “Why Aren’t More People Talking about Latinos Killed by Police?” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 14 July 2016, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/black-men-werent-unarmed-people-killed-police-last-week.

Solis, Carmen, et al. “Latino Youths' Experiences with and Perceptions of Involuntary Police Encounters.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 623, no. 1, 2009, pp. 39–51.