Is Police Brutality a Serious Problem in the US? Essay

Introduction In the article, â€Å"Police Brutality is Over-Sensationalizedâ€Å", Auerback made plenty of logical arguments about the issue of police brutality. But, the statistics he showed was from the city of Chicago. For example the Rodney King case was the first major case tried in court. The Rodney King case was about an African American being pulled over for no apparent reason. Eventually the officer was acquitted of all charges. Why do police officers just feel that they are above the law? Are they above the law? Despite Auerback showing many valid points throughout the article, his argument was very one sided or biased. Summary The article ‘’the article police brutality is Over-Sensationalized’’, (Auerback, 2010) is about police brutality not being as big of a problem as the media makes it out to be. According to Auerback (2010) he claims’’ police brutality is not as commonplace as Americans claim’’. The author uses many statistics but they are only from the city of Chicago. But throughout the entire article he continuously was saying that police are put in challenging positions. 1st major point In the paragraph â€Å"The Thin Lineâ€Å", the author spoke about how excessive force by a police officer was a big problem. Auerback explained that police officers deal with dangerous situations through their regular day. Also, he described cases such as the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles being some of the reason police brutality was widespread. He said that the statistics he used couldn’t explicate a significant reason. In the paragraph â€Å"The Evidence Suggests Otherwiseâ€Å", Auerback clarified statistics showing that  police brutality was not as bad as the media makes it out to be. For example, there was a study done by the Urbana – Champaign independent Media Center on police brutality. The results showed that in Illinois 2854 police officers had complaints about police brutality, but surprisingly only 7 percent of the officers were regulated. Later on in the paragraph Auerback argued that police officers have the right to use excessive force to a certain extent. Basically in this paragraph the author is arguing that there isn’t enough evidence to prove police brutality isn’t a big deal. The paragraph â€Å"having the Opposite Effectâ€Å", Auerback explained how the media portrays the police sometimes makes the job harder, and hurts he communities. Throughout the paragraph he showed that police brutality was a very huge charge. Also the author showed that not all police officers are bad guys as the media portrays them. 2nd Major Point There were many logical arguments and valid questions to ask during the article â€Å"Police Brutality is Over Sensationalizedâ€Å". One logical argument about the article would be why were there only a few arguments? If the author would have made the article a two-way debate about police brutality. The article would be drastically changed. Auerback did explain police brutality could be a problem but, he explained police are always in the right basically. Another question I had that wasn’t answered was are all police officers bad? There are valid examples that some police officers take their authority too far. Such as the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles made police brutality come to the light. But, because of some police officers making bad decisions and using excessive force, they give police a bad name. Lastly, another argument would be that a police officers` is very dangerous, but are they above the law? Most police officers are some of the nicest people you will meet. They put their lives on the line to serve and protect us citizens. However when you look at the statistics shown in the article they show cops get away a lot of crimes. Such as in the article the statistics done in Chicago. Throughout five years Chicago saw 1774 complains per year with only 5% of the officer having the complaints. But, in the identical survey done only 1 percent had enough evidence to start a case. That is very disturbing to hear. Why do the police officers get away with  such crimes? The reason is there is just not much evidence to prove the point. The three logical points made by the article would be the police was above the law, and why do they have so much power. 3rd Major Point Auerbacks` angle of vision was very demanded by his background which gives him ethos or credibility but also shows he could be biased. His background gives him a lot of credibility. For example he had seventeen years of experience in public policy and political science. He graduated from Boston College Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, also working as a federal contractor. With all being said his perspective is biased by him working with the government. The governments’ perspective is that the government is always right. Which Auerbacks’ angle of vision is basically police are always in the right no matter what. If the author would have shown both sides of the issue of police brutality the article would be more credible. Also, the statistics shown in the article was only from the city of Chicago. If Auerback showed statistics of the entire country instead of using just a metropolitan city then the article wouldn’t be so biased. Auerbacks` angle of vision discredited the article. The author made it seem like officers always has a reason to use excessive force. Conclusion In conclusion, the article â€Å"Police Brutality is Over Sensationalizedâ€Å", spoke about how police officers use excessive force and how it was a huge problem. The author tried to downplay the issue by using examples of cases where the police officers was in the right. But, in reality there are plenty of examples of police officers using excessive force for no reason at all. His argument throughout the article was that the media over-exposes the issue. Auerback used only a certain amount of logical arguments. Despite Auerback showing many valid points throughout the article, his argument was very one-sided or biased. Works Cited Auerback, Michael. â€Å"Police Brutality is Over Sensationalizedâ€Å". John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, June Johnson. â€Å"The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writingâ€Å" 7th Edition