Irelynn Scruggs
Professor Bruce
English 301
11 October 2018
Working Title:
Research Question:
Racism, the discrimination against a race based on their own belief, has been a problem in law
enforcement. What can law enforcement do to ensure that they do not exhibit racial bias while
Thesis:
Despite common belief that all law enforcement officers exhibit racial bias towards people of
minorities, policies and state laws that are implemented should not interfere with the duties of
police officers.
Introduction:
There is not a week goes by that there is not something on the news about an officer
involved shooting and many times it involves a black victim or offender. In 2013 alone the
United States had 458 deaths from officer involved shootings whereas Great Britain had none
and Germany only had eight (The Economist, 2014). Many people claim that officers are killing
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African Americans as well as others that are part of minority races because law enforcement
officers are racist. Many news media platforms understand the triggers for viewers when they
highlight incidents where officers, typically white, shoot a black suspect which makes it seem
like most if not all officers are racist. Racism may not as big of a problem in law enforcement
agencies as it seems based on news media, but it is a growing problem that needs to be
addressed. Law enforcement agencies all around the country are working tirelessly to come up
with and implement new polices for dealing with people of all races. Despite common belief
that all law enforcement officers exhibit racial bias towards people of minorities, policies and
state laws that are implemented should not interfere with the duties of police officers.
Annotations:
“AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015.” State of California - Department of
The California DOJ has been collecting complaints against police officers since 1981 and the
I will use the information on this website in my body paragraphs to show that there have been
steps taken to ensure that officers do not racially profile citizens while performing their job
duties. This law, AB 953, which has been put in place by California is a good example of a law
that will not interfere with the duties of officers or cause much more work for them.
Baker, Al. “Confronting Implicit Bias in the New York Police Department.” The New York
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/nyregion/bias-training-police.html.
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This year the New York Police Department implemented a new training to combat racial bias
I will use the information that is in this article in my body paragraphs when explaining different
ways to implement laws and policies to ensure that officers are not racially biased towards
anyone. This will also help to show that there are things that other departments can do to
De la Cruz, JC. “Not All Police Officers Are Bad, But That Doesn't Mean They're Immune to
www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/not-all-police-officers-are-bad-but-that-doesnt-
mean_us_57fbd0dfe4b0d786aa52b9c1.
The environment in which law enforcement officers work has a big impact on their attitude
I will use this information in the beginning of my paper to explain how and why officers form a
racial bias towards certain races. This will also help explain ways to prevent officers from
www.economist.com/united-states/2014/12/11/dont-shoot.
This article shows the statistics from officer involved shootings based on the of the victim’s race
I will use the statistics in my introduction paragraph to introduce that there is a problem, even if
it is not as big of a problem as the media makes it seem, that needs to be addressed. The statistics
will be very helpful in making my point that this issue is a growing problem in the US and that
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there are ways to combat this problem based on some of the things US departments have
implemented and the things that other countries do so that their officers are not racially biased.