Analysts worry that the imagery of "terrorist" and "immigrant" will be a potent source of increased uses of excessive force (Bai and Tang 2002).
Finally, the fact that juries rarely convict police officers for use of excessive force indirectly contributes to this culture. The police officers accused in the Diallo killing and the Rodney King beating, for example, were acquitted. Author and former prosecutor Scott Turrow wrote about the difficulty of even indicting officers who had patterns of abuse. In one case, the jury returned a hung verdict against a known "hitter," despite the baton marks on the back of the victim. Even more disturbing, members of the jury joined the defendant at the celebration party, held after the trial (Turrow 2000).
These systematic biases make it difficult for the media to devote adequate coverage to instances of police brutality. The entrenchment of the use of force in police culture means that such cases are far more commonplace than previously thought. The September 11 attacks further encourage race- and ethnicity-based profiling, and many media outlets are understandably leery of being labeled as "unpatriotic." The Patriot Act makes it even more difficult to get reliable reports when police officers use excessive force on their subjects.
Media ownership
Mainstream media is in a strong position to influence public opinion on many issues, such as police brutality. However, as discussed in this paper, many mainstream and local media outlets do not adequately cover these issues. Furthermore, in many cases, coverage is slanted to make police less culpable for their behavior.
The case of Tyisha Miller, a young black woman killed by police in Riverside, California, is a stunning example. Police were called in to aid an unconscious Miller, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. The officers opened fire when Miller supposedly reached for a weapon. Investigations later stated that the officers were guilty of "errors in judgment" (Novick 1999).
The local coverage of the case in the Riverside Press Enterprise, however, portrayed Miller as the clear villain of the incident....
The opening paragraph portrayed her as a "teen" and a "street tough" dressed in "gangbanger clothes." There was no mention of her name or her gender. Such coverage served to dehumanize her and to play down the use of excessive force by police in this instance (Novick 1999).
Similarly, many media outlets question the motives of community leaders who call attention to police brutality. Leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are often portrayed as opportunists, who use the tragedies for their own political ends. Many reports are slanted towards their way of speaking and their manner, rather than the substance of their speeches regarding police brutality.
In summary, police brutality remains a national problem. Media coverage of such events only occur in the most extreme and well-publicized cases, while ignoring those that occur outside large media markets. Often coverage is slanted to favor police and at times, to dehumanize the victims. Until these factors are addressed, it is likely that the use of excessive force by police officers will continue to be a problem.
Works Cited
Amnesty International. 2005. Excessive and lethal force? amnesty international's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers. Retrieved Jun. 29, 2005, from Amnesty International USA Web site: http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/document.do?id=1A01E91E134A327080256F190042408D.
Bai, Jane and Eric Tang. 2002. "The War at Home: National Targeting of Noncitizens Takes on New Dimensions," ColorLines, vol. 5, Spring, page 28.
Muwakkil, Salim. 2002. "Equating police brutality with domestic terrorism; the blatant harassment of unarmed citizens by law enforcement officers needs top priority." The Chicago Tribune. July 29: 13.
Novick, Michael. 1999. "Police Killings and the Media," Turning the Tide, vol. 12, Summer, pp. 2-3.
Turrow, Scott. 2000. Why the Diallo Verdict Isn't Surprising," Washington Post, March 13, 2000, p. 22.
Weitzer, Ronald. 1999. " Citizens' perceptions of police misconduct: Race and neighborhood context." Justice Quarterly. 16(4): 819-847.
