Mr. Komie - 8th Grade Social Studies

I DO believe that it depends on the person. Ex. Moris. He was a white man and an innocent one to. The officer made up a story that he was sellling drugs to a teenager and that was anything but the truth. In many cases, innocent victoms were abused by the police and many of them happened to white -people. Michael Ledford and Carol Ledford happened to be victoms of racial profiling. They were harrassed and nothing did anything about it until the truth came out. I feel that both races were miss treated but the case that happened Michael and Carol was alot more seriouse and i believe the jury and judge and people involved took it way more seriously and way more into perspective. To prevent this from happening in the future, i believe that the policman should be monitered more and they should be taken more seriosly when being hired for a job.

Bye!

I think (obviosly) that the officers are treating the people (of other races) unfairly. Many officers have been caught making false assumtions on people just because of their race. Just because people stereo type others, it doesnt mean they actually did the crime. Also, officers are just arresting people to get their "quota". They search blacks, just because they feel that they look suspicious and they could get away with locking them up, even if they didnt do the crime. Some people get their evidence from outside sources for crimes, these may not be reliable, such as racists, and the cop punishes the man. Cops are now in a tough position. Some will think they are putting someone innocent in jail, because of race. (Because they have a reputation for doing so). Cops will now have to work harder to make sure that the person truly did the crime. Cops have been known to treat blacks unfairly. Police have to learn not to look at the outside and to make sure the punishment is just for the crime.

I believe that cops are using their powers unfairly to look good. They are using racial discrimination to look like they haved reached goals and accomplished great things, when they are accusing innocent people. It is said that most of these people are black, generally poor, and that they are beaten up and taken to jail. This is unfair, because the power balance in this case, makes it almost impossible for the black person to win. Because of the reputation that the police have and because of racism, the black man is automatically "guilty" of a crime, even if he is innocent. Also, some of the police just think that it is their duty to "protect the civilians" but how can you protect the civilians when you are arresting them for no reason? Really, if you were a normal civilian and you or your family or your friend was arrested for no apparent reason, would you really trust the cops? I don't think you would. This just creates mistrust and it proves that the police force isn't really doing their job. The police should be monitored more often, and just because the police are so "close" and they don't want to get a bad rep, doesn't mean they should get away with it. If the police commit a crime, they should be punished for it, regardless of their reputation. The people being arrested should be given a true chance, and they should not be discriminated against. But, we all know that we can not change peoples' points of views, especially when it comes to something like racism that has been going on for centuries. Old habits are hard to break.

Maddie:  Your comment makes sense about monitering police officers more if they are suspected of racial profiling, but i also think that you have missed the point about whites being racially prejiduced against.

Devon:  good support for your views, your comment about officers arresting to make their quota is definetely possible.

Irina:  i don't believe your comment about black people automatically being guilty of a crime is fit for now a days, maybe back then, but not now good support for your beliefs

I think officers definatly treat different people differently. However, i think it depends on the officer. Not every policeman is unfair and makes up crimes. The ones that do, need to be punished. They make up crimes and blame people who would seem to fit the crime. To prevent this in the future, they should monitor policemen more closely. If they do this, racial profiling will be less likely to happen. I also think that if someone is suspected of racial profiling, they should be investigated to see if they really are racial profiling.

Jackie: you make a good point, i think you backed up you point with some good evidence.  monitering policemen more closely seems like a good idea in the future

The civil rights battle between the police and the public is not just between blacks and whites anymore.  With all the illegal immigrants, many Latinos are discriminated against too by the legal system.  I have seen racial discrimination first hand.  Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about this.  There is no way from as stopping someone from making unfair prejudgments about different races, whether it is black, Hispanic, or even white.  What we can do is keep these people away from the police department.  I'm sure that their are some tests that can be given out that could assess if they are racist or not.  This probably won't always work, so if any signs of racial discrimination are present, they should be addressed immediately.  One problem I notice is that these complaints of racial discrimination filed by the people are put onto hold forever, which does no good for anyone except for the person accused.  Also, their should be head LEADERS (notice the plural) that can check up on each other.  If there is one leader their is a greater chance that racial discrimination will be tolerated if that one person is racist.  If there is two people or more as leaders of the police department, preferably of different races, they can check up on each other, making sure that all the leaders don't tolerate racism.  If the leader tolerates it, then their is no one stopping the policemen from being unjust.  I believe that at least one of these ideas might help with creating a non-discriminatory justice system.

It seems that in the news, there is always a case of police brutality on the news involving an African American or Hispanic. It is no myth or conspiracy that cops abuse their rights, in certain cases. There are good cops and bad cops. In the 1950s, police officers were predominately racist, IN THE SOUTH. Most cases of brutality occured in the south. But nowadays, that has drifted over to the entire nation, as immigration and prejudice spread through our soceity. There will always be tensin on and turmoil between all races on this Earth, it's just natural instinct and a territory war.

I think the police officers who abuse their responsiblility by racial profiling should be terminated. For example, the policeman who beat Rodney King should have been fired then prosecuted for abusing his civil rights. Although not every police is like that, i think that the ones that treat others unfairly should be punished.

Jocelyn: good response, your comment about leaders of different races checking up on them makes a lot of sense, you backed your opinion with good facts

Jim:  your comment about racism always being present in the world makes sense, good response but you couldve backed it up with some proof

Molly:  you make your point, you might want to add more about how it effects people more today

I think that the way a police man treats a person should not depend on race. Like molly said, I think that police who treat people differently by race should either be prosocuted or fired. I also think that cops even today might treat people differently depending on THEIR race. If they are black, and the criminal is black, they might take different measures on the situation.

Well i think its horrible that people still do racial profiling.  That is stupid taht people especially people that are supposed to be prtecting us are making up stories just to hurt people.  But you cant fire people becasue not every officer is a racial profiler.  They could start tho by lookn at every1s profiels more clearly to c if they have ne thing that supports racism.  They could look send like a patrol officer to watch officers and then look more carefully at those hu look suspicious.