Police corruption

Police corruption is a big deal. People may think that police officers aren’t corrupt because they are supposed to “protect and serve” people but many just “neglect and harm” people.

For example the text “Police failing their community” states, “Metropolitan police officers suspected of serious criminal offences including sexual assault and domestic abuse have been allowed to escape justice, a damning review has found, with the force’s leader admitting that hundreds of racist, women-hating and corrupt officers have been left in the ranks.” This itself shows officers very much being corrupt and failing to do their jobs.

There are many cases of police failing to do their jobs. Some cops just end up becoming criminals themselves. The case of Eric Garner proves the point. The text “Instances in which police misconduct was clearly evident” states, “During Garner’s arrest for selling illegal cigarettes, officers tackled Garner to the ground. An officer used an illegal chokehold on Garner. Garner could be heard on a video begging for help and saying he could not breathe. Garner died because of the actions of the officers. The officer who used the illegal chokehold and would not let Garner up was fired.” This situation is similar to the George Floyd case because both Eric Garner and George Floyd were put in a chokehold and killed because of it.

Melinda Castro said, “My thoughts on police corruption is that it  frustrates me because why are you going to hire people that are very rude to citizens where they’re supposed to be helping us. Honestly, if we think about it I would say the calm way to fix police corruption would be to protest police corruption but even if we protest it, We are still going to have it because it’s going to infuriate police and it’s going to cause them to keep being corrupt. Online I have witnessed police corruption like police brutality on social media and in the news.”

Ruth Ronquillo said, “My thoughts on police corruption is I think it’s frustrating because how are we supposed to respect the police when they don’t respect us and they’re supposed to protect us since their duty is to protect and serve us not the other way around. Um to fix police corruption I say to protest but at the same time it’s not a great idea cause it’s going to affect us more than them since they have more weapons and they could use it against us and we don’t have rights like that. I’ve seen on TV and the news that the police sometimes be beating up people and jumping them and shooting them.”

Rachel Lopez said, “My thoughts on police corruption is, I think it’s wrong because sometimes policemen do harmful or unnecessary things. To fix police corruption we need to get better police officers and focus on when they do bad stuff so they could be punished for it. I saw online like on TikTok about George Floyd and how a police officer had his knee on George Floyd’s neck and he killed him because he didn’t let George Floyd breathe.” 

This shows that people know about police being corrupt. But then why are things not being done? Some police officers think that because they have some sort of power, that they can abuse it and use it to do bad.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that we need to do something about police corruption like punishing officers when they do something corrupt and testing police officers on if they’re corrupt or not. I say this because corrupt officers are the reason why some people don’t go to the police and report crimes. They’re scared they will end up getting punished or that they won’t be heard.