The issue of the usage of excessive or deadly force by police departments in the US Essay

In recent years a number of police departments throughout the United States have come under strict scrutiny for using excessive or deadly force. When comparing the events in today's society with the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles in 1992, we see a lot of similarities. With the Rodney King trials and the final acquittal verdict against the police officers that used excessive force against Rodney King, we experienced extreme backlash from the community in the form of mass riots in the Los Angeles area. This was a major historical moment and a turning point for not only the LAPD, but with Police Departments all over the United States. This one incident paved the way for many of the rules set in place for law enforcement today. Police officers are given extensive training and are taught techniques for properly subduing a suspect and only using excessive or deadly force as a final and last resort. Sadly, this was not the case for Rodney King who submitted and followed all orders given by the Los Angeles Police Officers who pulled him over, but was beaten with excessive force anyway. The amount of racism and racial profiling shown by police officers in the early 1990's is astonishing and should never have happened. I believe that we ask our police officers to do an impossible job. While they have five seconds to make a life or death decision, we have 5 or more years to pick it apart. I for one believe that police officers have the right to use excessive or deadly force if their lives are in jeopardy and there are no other options to deescalate the situation. That being said, I do not agree with police officers jumping to the use of excessive or deadly force without already exhausting all other options for subduing a suspect or potential criminal. There are many examples today of police officers using excessive or deadly force too quickly. This is the major similarity that I see when comparing the Rodney King beating in 1992 vs. the incidents of excessive or deadly force used by police officers today. You would think that with the technological advancements and everyone now carrying a video camera in their pockets in the form of a cell phone, police officers would wise up and be more cautious in using excessive or deadly force and utilize the many techniques they were taught during their training.
Quite a bit has changed since 1992 when it comes to the way society perceives police officers. As discussed previously, almost all Americans now carry a cell phone with state of the art video cameras. As well as the new trend being to be ready to record any incident and upload on to social media within seconds therefore making it possible for society to judge and critique every move a police officer makes. This makes it nearly impossible for a police officer to do their job adequately. In 1992, it was impossible for someone to capture a police beating