Running head: POLICE CORRUPTION 1
Police Corruption
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
POLICE CORRUPTION 2
Police Corruption
For this essay, I choose an article that reveals three incidents of police officers being
unethical in the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police. These police were merely given written
warnings to serve as punishment for their actions. In Chicago, Royal Smart, an eight-year-old
black boy was handcuffed by police officers looking for illegal firearms in their house. Many
children of color have been through police brutality. Most of them are thought to be older than
their age by police officers. The government has not been looking into this issue because they
focus on police brutality on adults.
When their respective department is questioned about the incidents, some of them
support their actions stating that the children were armed or posed a threat o their own lives.
Also, some departments confirm that their officers do not use force on children. At the same
time, the rest of the departments suggest looking into the problem of saying that their officers
have changed.
Police training does not include knowledge on how to deal with children. If this were
included, they would learn how brutality and force affect children physically, emotionally, and
mentally. After such incidences, many children withdraw from their peers and family and decide
to keep to themselves. Such effects are bound to affect them even as adults.
An incident in the Southside happened to a mother and her two children, Savanna and
Jhaimarion. Police officers stormed into their home and commanded them to get on the floor.
One of the officers had their boots on Savanna's neck, who is 14 years old. Whenever Savanna
sees police officers, she starts to tremble in fear because of the previous incident. This shows
how police brutality affects children.
POLICE CORRUPTION 3
These two families have sued the Chicago police for entering their homes in pretense of
looking for something illegal or someone. However, the Chicago Police Department did not
respond to these allegations and instead suggested that the revised policies needed to be changed
and include vulnerable community members like children. But, the attorneys of the two families
say that the brutality is a pattern of a certain brand of force that mostly targets the poor and
vulnerable families of color.
In Illinois, a mentally disabled child, Skyler, was followed by policers officers in their
patrol car because he was riding his bicycle in an area where cycling is prohibited. They
followed him up to his home, put him on the floor, handcuffed him, and pressed him against the
wall. A surveillance video captured the incident, and his parents sued the police department.
However, only two police were given written warnings, and the department chose not to
comment on the matter.
I disagree with the outcome because the way the law handles police officers is the reason
why they act in an unethical manner. If all they get is a written warning, they will keep being
brutal and unfair to people of color, the minority. The government has to come up with strict
laws against unethical police officers. Such rules would act as a warning for other police officers
with unethical ways of dealing with people. The government should include mandatory training
for officers on dealing with children and the mentally disabled in the society.
POLICE CORRUPTION 4
References
New York Post. “Just the tip of the iceberg’: How cops use force on mostly minority
kids.” 20 October, 2021. How police use excessive force on mostly minority kids (nypost.com)
