Reform needed to end police brutality
The ire raised by the beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson by
officers from the Inglewood Police Department on July 6 is another
turn in a cycle of intermittent awareness of police brutality. The
Jackson case is reminiscent of the Los Angeles Police
Department’s beating of Rodney King in 1991, which sparked a
wave of riots and civil unrest. National, state and local
authorities assured L.A. residents reform would take place. But now
Angelenos are reminded once again of the reality of police
brutality and the need for more reform. Some feel this was an
isolated incident involving one bad officer. But to propose the
rare incidents caught on tape are the extent of police brutality is
dangerous. It is the undocumented and unpunished episodes which
pose the greatest threat to the public because there is no ensuing
prosecution of the offenders, who can repeat their crimes if
undeterred. Those who cannot handle the complex responsibilities of
law enforcement should be removed from the system, as Inglewood
Mayor Roosevelt Dorn suggested. The offending police officers
should not only lose their jobs, they should also be prosecuted
criminally and civilly just as anyone else would. Still, this
won’t be enough to stop others from committing similar crimes
in the future, since these measures were also used against the
officers who beat King ten years ago. Local police departments need
more rigorous training in exercising restraint and community
sensitivity, especially if the crime turns out to be racially
motivated. Unless police officers understand the community they are
assigned to, similar clashes will happen in the future and police
will continue to lose the public’s trust. The police should
not need policing of their own.