12/1995 (Taft HS)

		    U.S.A.'s and New York City's POLICE BRUTALITY
		  -------------------------------------------------     
				By: L.S.

		    DEDICATED TO GREATEST GRANDMOTHER EVER, MS SANTA WANDA NIDA!!!

	 The stereotype of the brutal, racist killer cop is no longer

	 accurate in New York City, especially when one takes into

	 consideration the number of police officers shot and wounded

	 or killed each year. The death of Ernest Sayon and others at

	 the hands of police is discussed and a big question
	 
	 comes to mind. Is there actually such a thing known simply as a

	 police brutality in New York City and in the U.S.A. ? 
	 
	 (And what about the world ? - Sure there is... But this is not the 
	 
	 topic here, people in power think they are above the law...)


	 Except for the fact that he was not shot, Ernest Sayon's death

	 in police custody in April 1994, was increasingly familiar

	 urban ritual: A young black or Hispanic guy is killed by

	 police or dies in custody. Since April of that year, no story

	 in New York has been given more attention than Ernest's death.

	 The death of Michael Atkins, 19, shot and killed, the death

	 of Alexander Williams, 27, shot by two men trying to steal

	 his heart, ( merited four lines as well ). There was the child shot

	 in the face through her apartment doorway while watching TV,

	 the 14 year old girl shot in the spine and paralyzed while

	 stepping off a subway train, the Bodega owners killed behind
	 
	 the counters and cabbies behind their wheels, the kids shot on

	 street corners. No charts or graphs, no swarms or reporters.

	 In New York City, public outrage is extremely high.

	
	 Despite the enormous volume of coverage, or perhaps because of it,

	 It's not known what really happened. Did Sayon die accidentally

	 while resisting legitimate police inquiry, or was he attacked

	 for no reason by a black officer, beaten, stripped,

	 and inexplicably left dying for minutes, in full view of dozens

	 of witnesses, two years after the Rodney KIng beating touched

	 off the worst urban riot in American history ?

	 Whatever happened, the death of anyone in police custody is

	 big news. But was Sayon's death the most newsworthy violent killing
	
	 in the city that year? Was it more important than the murder of

	 hundreds of New Yorkers by other New Yorkers, virtually none of
	
	 them at the hands of the police? Or are news and media organizations

	 overreacting as usual, that city police can be vicious, racist,

	 and corrupt has been massively documented. The legacy of brutality

	 against minorities is so widespread that police may never be fully

	 trusted by most people of color. Also, it's more clear that a

	 black man's death at the hands of the police has become the most

	 dangerous flashpoint in modern race relations.


	 It's very important to state that the massive coverage tends to

	 give the misleading impression that brutal cops represent a

	 significant and lethal threat in minority neighborhoods.

	 That is no longer so, and surely not when compared with the

	 toll taken by guns and drugs. Police now only rarely use physical

	 force in confronting civilians. Using records of police-civilian

	 shootings, researchers studied scores of police departements and

	 determined the number of years officers in individual cities

	 would have to work in order to statistically be expected to

	 kill someone, criminal or otherwise, in the line of duty. The

	 tally is: 193 years in Portland, Oregon; 594 years in Chicago;

	 694 years in New York; 1 299 years in Milwaukee. So is there

	 actually such a thing known as police brutality ?

	 
	 Between 1970 and 1984, the number of people found to have

	 been killed " justifiably " by police dropped from 300 to

	 197 nationwide. In New York, the number of people shot and

	 killed or wounded by police has been declining. In 1973,
	
	 the number of shots fired by police at civilians dropped

	 from 550 in 1973 to approximately 330 in 1991. Deaths have

	 also decreased. In 1982, 33 people were killed by NYPD, in

	 1992, that number was decreased to 24.

	 These figures are surprisingly low against the backdrop of

	 rising gun violence in the city. Of the 1995=2000 homicides

	 reported in NY City in 1992, 77 % were commited with guns. In

	 1990, there were an astonishing 2 million illegal handguns in

	 the city. The handguns are now the leading cause od death for

	 people under 25 years of age. In 1963, there were 550 reported

	 homicides in all of New York City, only 25 % commited with guns.

	 Guns are now most popular everywhere around.

	
	 Despite the extraordinary levels of crime and violence in

	 New York City, the Police Department has become restrained.

	 Police used physical force of any sort in less than 1/10 of

	 one % of all police-civilian encounters, according to the

	 Deadly Force study. And of the 1, 763 times the observers saw

	 officers use physical force, they fired their guns a total of

	 five times. In addition, according to Deadly Force, the number

	 of people shot and killed or wounded by police has been

	 declining in most American communities, including New York City.

	 People need to behave more properly or they might eventually get

	 hurt by a cop or from anyone else with (immense) ethical 
	 
	 or with any life problems !!! People need how to avoid these

	 provocative situations. The best thing is not to show signs
	 
	 of suspicions and get caught.

		Yes there is POLICE BRUTALITY, period, they think they are 

	cocky gods but nobody can be and should be above the law. Especially cops,

	CIA executioners, FBI and/or any person in the law enforcement

	or associated with it in any way who are continuing to screw up, cover up; as usual.