Police brutality is the use of excessive or unwarranted force by law enforcement, resulting in physical or psychological harm to a person. It includes beatings, killing, intimidation tactics, racist abuse, and/or torture.
In the 2000s, the federal government attempted tracking the number of people killed in interactions with US police, but the program was defunded.March 18, 2015. The uncounted: why the US can't keep track of people killed by police. The Guardian. In 2006, a law was passed to require reporting of homicides at the hands of the police, but many police departments do not obey it. Some journalists and activists have provided estimates, limited to the data available to them. In 2019, 1,004 people were shot and killed by police according to The Washington Post, whereas the Mapping Police Violence project counted 1,098 killed. Statista claimed that in 2020, 1,021 people were killed by police, while the project Mapping Police Violence counted 1,126. From 1980 to 2018, more than 30,000 people have died by police violence in the United States, according to a 2021 article published in The Lancet. For 2023, Mapping Police Violence counted at least 1,247 individuals killed, making it the deadliest year on record. In the US, police have killed more people compared to any other industrialized democracy, with a disproportionate number of people shot being people of color. Since 2015, around 2,500 of those killed by police were fleeing.
Since the 20th century, there have been many public, private, and community efforts to combat police corruption and brutality. These efforts have identified various core issues that contribute to police brutality, including the insular culture of police departments (including the blue wall of silence), the aggressive defense of police officers and resistance to change in police unions, the broad legal protections granted to police officers (such as qualified immunity), the historic racism of police departments, the militarization of the police, the adoption of tactics that escalate tension (such as zero tolerance policing and stop-and-frisk), the inadequacies of police training and/or police academies, and the psychology of possessing police power. The US legal doctrine of qualified immunity has been widely criticized as become a nearly failsafe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights," as summarized in a 2020 Reuters report.
Regarding solutions, activists and advocates have taken different approaches. Those who advocate for police reform offer specific suggestions to combat police brutality, such as body cameras, civilian review boards, improved police training, demilitarization of police forces, and legislation aimed at reducing brutality (such as the Justice in Policing Act of 2020). Those who advocate to defund the police call for the full or partial diversion of funds allocated to police departments, which would be redirected toward community and social services. Those who advocate to dismantle the police call for police departments to be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up. Those who advocate to abolish police departments call for police departments to be disbanded entirely and to be replaced by other community and social services.
History
Slave patrols roots In the Southern United States, some of the earliest roots of policing can be found in slave patrols. Beginning in the 18th century, white volunteers developed slave patrols (also known as "paddyrollers"), which were squadrons that acted as vigilantes. In 1704, the first slave patrol was established in South Carolina. Eventually, all states with legal slavery had slave patrols, and they functioned as the first publicly funded police force in the South. These patrols focused on enforcing discipline and policing of African-American slaves. They captured and returned fugitive slaves, quashed slave rebellions, terrorized slaves in order to prevent rebellions (including beatings and searches of slave lodges), broke up slave meetings, and kept slaves off roadways. The patrols also administered discipline of indentured servants. The patrols had broad influence and powers; they could forcefully enter any person's house, if they suspected the person of sheltering fugitive slaves. During the American Civil War, slave patrols remained in place. After the Civil War, in the Reconstruction period, the former slave patrol groups joined with other white militias and groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, early police forces of the South began to take on the role of policing and regulating the movement of African-Americans who had gained their freedom. New laws were put in place to restrict their rights, which were known as Black Codes. According to some historians, the transition from slave patrols to police forces in the South was a seamless one.
Texas Rangers In 1823, the Texas Rangers was established by Stephen F. Austin. The Rangers used violence, harassment, and intimidation to protect the interests of white colonists. They worked in an area that was governed by Mexico, which later became the Republic of Texas, followed by the state of Texas. The Rangers were known to be particularly active across the Mexico-United States border. Their work included capturing indigenous people who were accused of attacking white settlers, investigating crimes such as cattle raiding, and raiding Mexican vaquero cattle ranches. They intimidated Mexican and Mexican-American people into leaving their land and homes, in support of white colonial expansion. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Texas Rangers supported and participated in extrajudicial killings and lynch mobs, such as La Matanza (1910–1920) and Porvenir massacre (1918).
Early police departments In 1838, the United States developed its first formal police department, located in Boston. This was followed by New York City (1845), San Francisco (1849), Chicago (1851), New Orleans (1853), Cincinnati (1853), Philadelphia (1855), Newark, New Jersey (1857), Baltimore (1857). By the 1880s, all major US cities had police departments. As written by Dr. Garry Potter, "Early American police departments shared two primary characteristics: they were notoriously corrupt and flagrantly brutal. This should come as no surprise in that police were under the control of local politicians." The local political ward leader, who was often a tavern owner or gang leader, would appoint the chief of police of a neighborhood. The chief would be expected to follow the orders and expectations of the ward leader, which often included intimidating voters, harassing political opponents, and ensuring that the ward's business interests remained intact. The police officers typically had little qualifications or training as law enforcement officers, and they often took bribes and kickbacks. If conflicts arose, it was common for police officers to use force and brutality.
In the 19th century, police brutality was often directed at European immigrant communities, particularly those from Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Eastern Europe. The different cultures of these communities were often framed as "dangerous", which called for the enforcement of law and order. For example, Irish immigrants were considered a "dangerous" class, and they experienced discrimination by nativists. Meanwhile, organized crime and political parties were often intertwined, and police typically cast a blind eye toward gambling and prostitution, if managed by politically influential figures.
Strike breaking
After the Civil War, industrialization and urbanization grew rapidly in the United States. This was accompanied by a rising organized labor movement, in which workers formed unions and joined in organized actions, such as strikes. Between 1880 and 1900, New York City had 5,090 strikes and Chicago had 1,736 strikes. The economic elites of the era typically characterized these strikes as "riots", and they encouraged the police to break the strikes. Consequently, the police broke up strikes through two primary methods: extreme violence and making "public order" arrests at a mass scale. Some state governments authorized privatized police forces to repress strikes, such as the Coal and Iron Police in Pennsylvania. Private detective agencies, such as Pinkerton, often supervised these efforts. Violent confrontations came out of this system, such as the Latimer Massacre (1897), in which 19 unarmed miners were killed, and the Coal Strike of 1902, which involved a pitched battle for five months. Ultimately, state governments decided that it would be easier to police labor with public forces, leading to the establishment of state police forces (such as the Pennsylvania State Police, formed in 1905).
Jim Crow South
By the late 19th century, local and state governments began to pass Jim Crow laws. These laws enforced strict racial segregation in schools, parks, neighborhoods, restaurants, and other public places. This era saw a rise in lynchings and mob murders of African-Americans, with the police not arresting the perpetrators. It was estimated that "at least one-half of the lynchings are carried out with police officers participating, and that in nine-tenths of the others the officers either condone or wink at the mob action," as reported by Arthur F. Rapper in 1933. Meanwhile, African-Americans suffered police brutality, such as the 1946 beating of Isaac Woodward in Batesburg, South Carolina. Due to the brutality of Jim Crow laws, many African-Americans fled to Northern and Western cities in the Great Migration, where they experienced police brutality, as well.
Professionalization of police In the United States, the passage of the Volstead Act (popularly known as the National Prohibition Act) in 1919 had a long-term negative impact on policing practices. During Prohibition (1919–33), the problem of police corruption was only worsened, as crime was growing dramatically in response to the demand for illegal alcohol. Many law enforcement agencies stepped up the use of unlawful practices. Police officers were commonly bribed so that bootlegging and speakeasies could continue, in addition to the flourishing organized crime underworlds of cities such as Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia. Some police officers became employed by organized crime syndicates, and they helped perform duties, such as harassment and intimidation of rivals.
By the time of the Hoover administration (1929–1933), the issue had risen to national concern and a National Committee on Law Observation and Enforcement (popularly known as the Wickersham Commission) was formed to look into the situation. The resulting "Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement" (1931) concluded that "[t]he third degree—that is, the use of physical brutality, or other forms of cruelty, to obtain involuntary confessions or admissions—is widespread." In the years following the report, landmark legal judgments such as Brown v. Mississippi helped cement a legal obligation to respect the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The result was the beginning of a new era in law enforcement in the United States, which aimed to professionalize and reform the industry. It was decided that police should function separately from political wards or leaders, and police precincts were altered to no longer overlap with political wards. Police departments became more bureaucratic with a clear chain of command. New practices were put into place to recruit, train, and reward police officers. By the 1950s, police officers began to win collective bargaining rights and form unions, after a long period of not being allowed to form unions (particularly after the Boston police strike in 1919).