Week
of
8/22/97:		 Short of eliminating police bearing arms, how would you address the high incidence of excessive police force recently witnessed in Baltimore, Brooklyn and other cities?



Name: Nnamdi Nzinga
Email:
Response: The one thing I can think about that would decrease the brutality Africans receive is tough sentences for policemen who commit these criminal acts, even to the point of sentencing them to DEATH!!! That's the only thing I believe will stop the abuse we continue to receive.


Name: Janeen M. Harrison
Email: jharrison@kghc.org
Response: This heinous crime was not merely "excessive" police force. These police officers committed a typical lynching crime that they were hired to prevent! The fact that the police officers were white and the victim was black reinforces the hate so prevalent among white people towards black people. The hiring practices of police officers should be changed to reflect the image of the community. I want to see my own kind patrolling my community. Nothing is worse, than giving power to someone who's only knowledge of a people is negative stereotypes and hateful feelings. Furthermore, as a crime committed, those officers should be treated has criminals and be promptly punished as criminals. Such delay, just further reinforces prejudice towards crimes pepretrated against people of color.


Name: Frances Murphy
Email: FrankieLou@aol.com
Response: Excessive police force is crime and it should be treated as such. For me and you it is called assault and battery and sometimes murder in the first degree. Unless policemen are made to understand that when they commit criminal acts they will be treated as criminals, they will continue to commit these brutal crimes.


Name: Ravenex
Email: @webtv.net
Response: Live by the gun--die by the gun!


Name: Tremel
Email: yel_la@hotmail.com
Response: its unfortunate, but the black panthers had it right all along. we need to get together and stick together. especially people of color. the panthers had a program that worked, until their own kind sold out, and ratted out. if a cop beat a man in oakland's streets, the next day a cop was on the receving end. see the common man/woman has respect for the police (whether its because of his authority and position or his gun), but they don't get that respect in return. the criminals (the really bad ones) get their respect from the cops, because cops know big criminals have "friends " who will not hesitate to retaliate. so what we need to do is even the score, stand up for one another, their is strength in numbers. and keeping our mouths shut when necessary.


Name: KCopeland
Email: gcopeland@wue.cybersurf.de
Response: It might be worthwhile to have initial and periodic psychological testing administered on the people that are supposedly sworn to serve and protect. How many police officers are walking "time bombs", without any relief in sight? I think this needs to be addressed, as well as, what type of training is offered in the beginning and throughout their careers.


Name: Serious in Chicago
Email:
Response: I would address these incidents with wrath and vigor. In no way should these officers behave in this manner. However, the notion of taking away their arms is ridiculous. In fact, they should be given more fire power to enable them to effectively deal with these modern day criminals. In conclusion, I'll take my chances with an abusive cop as opposed to the many crazed criminals we have on our streets. The chances of running into a bad cop is no where near as high as the possibility of being mugged - or worse.


Name: Ralph A. Randall
Email:
Response: Police work is a very high risk occupation. However, uniform police are not the "Men in Black". The United States is currently spending a lot of money on places for violent law breakers J--L !!!!


Name: Solomon Landers
Email: Numberup@worldnet.att.net
Response: Fourteen years of my work life have been spent in law enforcement, seven of those as a police officer. It is my experience that the police take their cues from politicians and upper management: the mayor, the police chief, the captains. In both New York and Baltimore, there is currently a "get tough on crime" policy that winks at aggressive action. Some officers have evidently interpreted this as a license to violate civil rights. What is needed is for management and elected officials to make it clear that such conduct is not the intent of the administration -- if is not the intent -- and will not be tolerated. Police who violate the civil rights of citizens are criminals who have no place on the force. They cannot uphold the law by breaking it. Jail is the proper place for such "officers." A policeman is not supposed to be a vigilante. But in a rush to reduce crime, the administration in those cities have given tacit approval to a policy that has backfired. Lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit!