#StopPoliceBrutality

        

            Police Brutality has been such a huge topic in today’s news. With cellphones and recording devices being more accessible than in earlier years, there are more and more recordings of officers violating their authority. Are police officers going to far or are they doing their jobs? Are we being dramatic or are officers need to be controlled? Should officers be charged with murder or should they just get suspended?

Police Brutality has been in exists since the early 19^th Century (The Industrial Revolution).  Police Brutality is viewed as a serious offense and is investigated by district attorneys. Police Brutality is defined as the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Police Brutality doesn’t just mean physical “excessive force.” An officer can use “excessive force” by using weapons (pepper spray, nerve gas, batons and more importantly guns) to scare or harm people. There have been many cases where police officers use their weapon to intimidate people and it turned deadly. Making a false arrest, be verbally and physically abusive, and corrupt any form of evidence are also examples of police brutality. Many police brutality cases are ignored or tossed to the side considering most of the times police are covering for their federal brothers or sisters. However with many incidents being recorded and making headlines, it’s very hard to ignore such strong accusations.   

            Since the beginning of the year, there have been 353 cases in the United States involving cases with police brutality. January had 95 cases (the most) and September having 3 (the least). The number of cases, so far, is least compared to last years (623 Cases) and in 2012 (602 cases). Below are 5 cases that happened within the last year.

1.     March 16, 2014: (New Mexico) A homeless man, James Boyd, was holding 2 knives and was in a stand off with officers. James was shot in the back with being 10 feet away and was continued to be shot at once on the ground. The two officers who was involved are going to trial for 2^nd murder.

2.     September 14, 2014: (Missouri) An officer deliberately dropped a 17-year-old, Bryce Masters, to the ground. Bryce went into cardiac arrest and went into a induced coma. The officer pleaded guilty to violating the constitutional rights of a minor.

3.     December 6, 2014:  (Colorado) An officer punched a robber who was holding a cell phone. The officer was fired and pleaded guilty to attempted assault in June 2015 and was sentenced to one year probation.

4.     January 28, 2015: (Michigan) Floyd Dent was pulled from his car and beaten by Officer William Melendez and other officers. The officer were accusing Floyd of having possession of cocaine but was later proved innocent. The footage was captured by a bystander and the tape was investigated. Officer William was fired and charge with misconduct while in office, assult with intent to do great bodily harm and assault by strangulation. He is scheduled to go to trial in October 2015. The other officers involved were fired.

5.     April 4 2015: Police Officer Michael Slager shot a man fleeing from a traffic stop, Walter Scott. Michael shot Walter 5 times. Michael was charged with murder.

10 adjectives I would use describing this topic:

1. Angry
2. Cruel
3. Sad
4. Selfish
5. Pride
6. Hurt
7. Fight
8. Violence
9. Destruction
10. Injustice 

For this poster I want to make a bold statement. A poster that will do the following 3 things:

• Stand out if I was holding it in a crowd.
• Piss off Police Officers if they see it.
• Have an impact on how police treat us citizens.

             I have two ideas for this assignment. My first idea is I want would want a poster with an all black background. The reason why is because I want my text to be nice and clear to read. I want my text to say FUCK THE POLICE. This saying is taken from the song 8 Ball by N.W.A. This 90’s rap group was known for their notorious lyrics and for their strong lyrics against the police. In the verse, which is famously known, “Take it in a bottle 40, quart or can. Drink it like a madman, yes I do. Fuck the police and a 502.” 502 is code for police officers for drunk driving. Since “FUCK THE POLICE” is extremely vulgar. I would use handcuffs and make the cuffs look like the “U” and “C” in fuck. I would have all the letters in caps and the largest text size. I want the text to take up most of the picture. I would use the chalkboard duster as the text character.

            My second idea for this poster, I would use a plain white poster. I would have my text very dark so it looks nice and crisp. I would write all 353 names of the victims involved in the year’s cases with police brutality. The name would be very small and in a font that will be easy to read. I was thinking maybe Franklin Gothic Heavy. I want the names to make a picture of a face of a victim that is nationwide recognized (such as Trayvon Martin, Freedie Grey, Oscar Grey). I got this idea from TLC’s Fan Mail album. The group wrote all of their fans name and the name made a picture of TLC. 

sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cases_of_police_brutality

http://copcrisis.com/?1100

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics

http://www.ibtimes.com/police-brutality-statistics-law-enforcement-departments-receive-failing-grades-2071697