Sadly, stories like this are hardly news anymore.
Deaf Man Allegedly Beaten, Tasered By Police After Trying To Use Sign Language
Buffalo Cops Caught on Video Beating Handcuffed Man for Traffic Infraction - informationliberation
Justice Department slams Albuquerque PD's excessive, deadly force - CNN.com
Videos: Police brutality protests by Occupy Denver, Anonymous end in six arrests | Westword
These are all stories of abuse of police power. Give me an hour and I bet I could fill a whole page without breaking a sweat. Police brutality has become so common place in America, it could almost have it's own forum here on City-Data.
The big question is why..........why in the last 20 years or so has our nation's police forces become so militarized? In the early 1970's when SWAT teams were forming around the country, they were used a few hundred times a year. Now we're looking at over 40,000 military style "announce and break down the door" type raids a year. A lot of this could be attributed to the drug war and the police idea that every tip is leading them to the next "Scarface". Part of this could be that in 1994, Congress passed a law that let the Pentagon donate military surplus weapons to local police.........and let's face it, if you've got bigger and badder weapons, you're going to use them.
An often overlooked cause behind police violence is steroid abuse. Competition for law enforcement jobs is at an all time high. Cops make good money, national average is somewhere in the 50k + range and with overtime, it can approach 6 figures so any edge you can get, helps. Steroids give them that edge and helps them keep it sharp but that comes at a cost. Steroid use breeds aggression and when you're caught up in an adrenaline fueled arrest, it doesn't take much to go over the edge. We're just starting to see police departments institute drug testing but many will not include steroids in the test procedure. They're the elephant in the room when it comes to a lot of police brutality. The authorities know it's there but nobody wants to force the issue because really - who benefits from making the cops look weak? We need mandatory testing for all officers involved in excessive force issues, testing that includes steroids.
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