Luis Briceno

Soc 342

Professor Osuna

September 11, 2016

Racial Injustices among the Police Force

The justice system; a controversial structure of methods to enforce, protect and interpret

the laws; has become an argument that many people either protect or revolt against. The system

is ultimately very complex and have placed law enforcement agencies such as Police, to

administer law and order through the community. These agencies hold prestige with the respect,

commitment, and struggle they face to make sure peace runs throughout the streets.

Unfortunately, there have been cracks in the system. Many United States Police forces have, in

recent times, exercised their use of force to a certain extent that proves the issue of

discriminatory ideas, by which they work and conduct themselves among their communities.

Racial Injustices and discriminatory ideas from people with higher jurisdiction have

always been noticeable in my life. Being born with a Hispanic background, Ive grown up seeing

discrimination among my family and people I know. We are in the middle class and money has

always been a factor in how weve been treated and the advantages we gotten. Peter Linebaugh

(1993) supports this in Karl Marx, the thief of wood and working-class composition by saying

Capitals oldest tool in the creation and control of the working class. Money talks and I saw

this when I took a trip to Mexico in my early teenage years at a time when the Monetary

exchange made us somewhat richer over there. A municipal police officer stopped us simply

because we had a California License plate .After verbal harassment, the police demanded money

and left when my dad had accept the officer-fabricated bribe. This correlated to my thought of
how US police attack the lower and middle working classes, in opposition to Mexican Police.

Although there is less corruption here, the nepotism is with lower and middle classes, with little

or no emphasize in the higher classes. Even though many of the people in these neighborhoods

have more to lose, they are patrolled as if they have nothing to lose and more likely to cause a

crime. I feel like pressure with the police in these areas, created a tense relationship with the

community and the law enforcement, leading with influences of more crimes.

Increased police patrolling in lower class areas tend to give those areas a reputation that

portray them as crime-driven cities. These cities are predominantly minorities with lower socio-

economic statuses and more likely, a smaller education. The Criminal Justice Primers graphs

show that Blacks and Hispanics accounted for 68% of the adults sentenced to state prison and

58% or country jail/probation (Taylor 2013). This is because an emphasis of activity in these

lower class areas where most of these people convicted are at. I ask if there is was a way to

reduce the numbers? I found the best way is promote a better future for the youth in bad

neighborhoods with better education and less police pressure in these areas. With less pressure,

community peace will be restored. Until we start enforcing this, these communities will continue

to be enmeshed with prejudiced arrest.

Having been around these social influences, I have been able to understand the struggle

of minorities. Despite of this I have a dream of helping improve my community by working in

the police force. I will now use Paulo Freires theory To study is not to consume ideas, but

rather to create and re-create them (Freire); to help shape my mind with the changing situations.

I will use my knowledge and put myself in other peoples shoes before I make decisions. I want

to incorporate this because I know the force uses specific strategies to catch perpetrators of

crime. In Whiteness of Policing it is said that Prejudmental supervisions, checks, inspections

and varied controls to identify a thief and whether he was going to steal (Singh 2014). Their

strategies have included a racial mindset that have caused nationwide upsets with innocent

killings of African Americans such as Eric Gardner, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and Oscar

Grant, whom have been murdered by police in recent years. These unnecessary murders were

caught on camera proving that the police were provoked by racial bigotry while the detained

black men innocently pleaded for their lives. At this moment, the cops had the irrelevant choice

of the detainees life and death on their hands. They ultimately have the power but this power has

been abused. A single action with that power can change everything. My dad has been ordered

out of his truck at gunpoint simply because he worked at night and is Latino. One mistake by that

officer could have changed my whole family as it did to other victims.

The lectures, powerpoints and reading all correspond with the point that an excessive

amount of power granted to a source, will result in corruption and abuse of that power. Ive

never had a biased view with many of these types of controversies, I consider both sides of the

spectrum to understand the legitimacy. But a truth is that there is whiteness in Police. Even the

good cops know this and can even find themselves unexpectedly using it. Its an influence of

statistics and society as a whole. There is good cops but there also bad copsYou cant assume

all cops are bad just the same way you cant assume all minorities are criminals. Unfortunately,

the bad cops that we see using discriminatory ideas are usually in the lower end areas with more

pressure from the community. Racial injustices do exist, it isnt a made-up lie created by the

media. Knowing this, I continue to have ambitions of becoming a righteous law enforcement

officer with an open mind of the struggles the community is facing. Having knowledge and

experience with these social dilemmas will ultimately help me influence change, and promote an

equal way to help serve my community.

Greenberg, David F. 1981. Crime and Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology. Palo Alto, CA:
Mayfield Pub. Co.

Freire, Paulo. 1985. The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation. South Hadley, MA: Bergin
& Garvey.

Taylor Mac. 2013. Californias Criminal Justice System: A primer. Sacramento, CA: Legislative Analyst
Office

Singh, Nikhil. 2014. The Whiteness of police. Baltimore, MD. John Hopkins University Press