'The police are not the issue!': The police should not be blamed for the problems of a racialized society
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The police are not defined by the actions of a minority
There is no doubt that racism exists in some police officers. But this unfortunate minority of cases should not be used to make generalizing points about a group that includes over 800,000 police. It is offensive to take the actions of a brutish few to tar the reputations of the many.
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The Argument
The police serve many purposes to ensure that our society can run with stability by protecting the public and upholding the law. They represent accountability, meaning that citizens are more likely to be law-abiding when they know there is someone to enforce consequences.
When the accountability of the police themselves is called into question, it throws our entire system of law into question. However, using "police" as the inflammatory word instead of addressing individual officers only serves to spark panic and outrage, rather than correcting the actions of a corrupt few.
The police in America are made up of a wide demographic of individuals from different races and genders.[1] While far from matching America's demographic breakdown, the presence of diversity in the police force helps to ensure that as many perspectives as possible are considered when responding to incidents.
To generalize this group and paint all officers as racist or ignorant is to ignore their civil contributions and disrespect those who have died in the line of duty. It is true that officers who commit heinous acts are in the wrong and should be held accountable, but their wrongdoings should not reflect upon the hundreds of thousands of officers who put their lives on the line every day.
Counter arguments
Repeated instances of racial bias and excessive force seem to indicate that there are systematic flaws within the American policing system. While a majority of individual cops may not consider themselves or even act racially biased, the presence of these flaws in the system should tell us that the problem is bigger than merely a few "bad apples". The problem will not begin to resolve itself until we make fundamental changes to our justice system.