Causes of Police Brutality

Police brutality can be very real and very disheartening behavior coming from those who have sworn to serve and protect. However, police brutality can be over-dramatized as well. The causes of police brutality may vary from the individual officer to the leadership of an entire squad. In most cases, police brutality is not a genuine issue but there are instances where the causes of police brutality have been the fault of the officers.

One of the possible causes of police brutality is the jurisdiction where the officers serve. In some areas, acts of violence are committed against law enforcement on a regular basis. In these cases, when officers are attempting to make an arrest or retain a suspect, the officers may act out of fear or anger and necessary force may go too far. In an occurrence such as this, the heads of departments are responsible for investigating their own officers and mandating psychological evaluations if necessary. Failure to provide leadership and intervention on behalf of the department heads are further potential causes of police brutality to continue.

Another cause of police brutality can simply be an abuse of power. These are more extreme cases and again should be subject to review by department heads. In any position of authority, there are checks and balances, but when the checks fail to balance out the problems, corruption begins.

While it is true that fear, anger, and abuse of power are circumstances behind cases of police brutality, the majority of departments do not have this type of recurrent problem. The majority of officers serve with dignity and reserve and understand the proper execution of necessary force. In most areas, it would be unrealistic to assume that police brutality was a problem. Political corruption is more likely a problem than police brutality in jurisdictions where trouble is present.