Police Violence

When someone attacks you, who do you call? The police. When someone steals from your house, who do you call? The police. When a child goes missing, who do you call? The police. The police are considered trustworthy. They protect us and do what is considered just by the people. They uphold our laws. Yet, who makes up the police? Humans, just like the rest of us. So, when the police mess up, it isn’t justice. However, we could prevent events such as police violence and brutality to save lives, not only of the police and their victims, but also others involved in the crime or riots caused by this violence.

Rodney King was apprehended and beaten excessively by L.A.P.D. They not only used TASER guns on him, but they beat him repeatedly with batons to subdue him. This beating was caught on tape by an innocent bystander. This video led to riots all over Los Angeles. Parts of Los Angeles were set on fire and many policemen came under gun fire from random spots around the town. Other individuals were shot at or beaten by the police during these riots. (Gray)

In an experiment called The Stanford Prison Experiment, a group of males were divided into two groups, the guards and the prisoners. As the experiment went on, the guards fell into their roles and became more violent and aggressive, while the prisoners became depressed. A clear example of the frustration-aggression is found in this experiment. In the beginning the prisoners rebelled. Out of frustration, the guards stripped, harassed, and intimidated the prisoners. This led to psychological tactics and brute force being used against the prisoners. The longer they were placed in their roles, the more they became their roles. (Zimbardo)

These two different ideas come together under one theory. Furstration-aggression theory, proposed by Doob, and modified by Leonard Berkowitz, states that as someone becomes more frustrated, the more aggressive they become, and with the modification, that there are certain cues in the environment around people that can set them off. A clear example from the Stanford Prison experiment is the violence the guards experienced being that role of power. (Berkowitz)

If the aggression problems of the police in this case could be analyzed, the brutality to come could be prevented, and riots would never start. This could save multiple lives, on both police and public lives. There are many instances of police violence and brutality, not just this one, that could be prevented and many lives could be saved. I propose that since the role the police are in seems to make them aggressive, all police should be psychoanalyzed and their cases evaluated if there is any sign of aggression. This could help us save lives of many who are beaten and killed by police brutality.

Works Cited

Gray, Madison. "The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King." Time. Time. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084,00.html>.

Rodney King. Perf. Rodney King, the L.A.P.D. Youtube, 2007.

Staten, Clark. "Three Days Of Hell In Los Angeles." Emergencynet News Service, Apr.-May 1992. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. <http://www.emergency.com/la-riots.htm>.

"The Stanford Prison Experiment." Stanford Prison Experiment. Ed. Phillip G. Zimbardo. 1999. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://www.prisonexp.org/>.

Berkowitz, Leonard. "Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: Examination and Reformulation." 106.1 (1989): 59-73. American Psychological Association, Inc. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. <http://www.radford.edu/~jaspelme/_private/gradsoc_articles/aggression/frustration%20aggression.pdf>.

Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: Science and Practice. 4th ed. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon A Pearson Education Company, 2001. Print.