Law Enforcement Brutality and Abuse
Overview:
Brutality and Abuse of citizens by Law Enforcement personnel at all levels of government appears to be increasing. No abuse is acceptable, and the potential rising level of abuse should be an alarming signal to law abiding citizens. Focusing on this problem is long overdue. Our minorities in the inner cities have cried foul again and again to little avail. Now the brutality that was “winked” at in the ghettos appears to be spreading to the suburbs, reminding us that liberty and civil rights must be defended for all if we expect them to be available to anyone.
This page, which was written over 10 years ago and needs to be updated, is of historical interest. It described the recognition of the problem and efforts that were being made to correct it. Unfortunately, more recent events show that the efforts were not successful, because abuse of power seems to be even more pervasive, coming from all levels of power, all the way up to and including the hightest policing powers in the United States.
Proposed Solutions:
Select Commission Recommended Changes in Federal Law Enforcement
Report of a five person commission in 1999 making strong recommendations for improvement of the nation's law enforcement system and greater accountability for federal law enforcement agencies. It does not appear that any of this has been implemented but is needed even more now. It includes:
- creation of a system to ensure all citizen complaints regarding federal law enforcement agencies are recorded, investigated, and resolved
- all federal law enforcement agencies undergo outside accreditations (although the standard of practice for local enforcement, this is resisted by federal agencies and big cities where the majority of corruption and lack of accountability exists)
- all agents receive standardized training in the "use of deadly force"
Transparency and Accountability
Law enforcement needs to know that their activities are not private, that the people can and will follow what they do and that they will be held accountable to the full extent of the laws they were hired to enforce. The first step is to track abuse and make sure people know about it, and what is done or not done to hold those responsible accountable.
You can help do this by adding examples of brutality and abuse to the following LibertyLion pages and the subpages they link to:
Random Police Brutality: tracking and monitoring abuse and brutality by individuals or small groups of officers
Organized Law Enforcement Abuse: monitoring law enforcement brutality and abuse that is organized, planned and carried out under the direction of federal, state, and local by law enforcement agencies
Private Police
There is a free market alternative to the government monopoly on law enforcement: private police that are accountable to the people they serve. The current system makes the police the people’s masters instead of their servants. Contracting with private firms for police services would change the situation completely, making the public the police’s customers. If they abused their customers they could be sure that they would be fired and the company would lose the contract.
An excellent discussion of the feasitilbity of private police forces can be found in For a New Liberty ch 11: The Public Sector, III: Police, Law, and the Courts by Murry Rothbard. It explains how police and courts could work and how they could be a great improvement over the current state monopoly on force.
Market Law vs Martial Law at the von Mises.org site also provides a free market view of the Boston lock down after the marathon bombing and how a market based law enforcement system might help.
Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association
Support the work of CSPOA that is actively working to correct this problem, including donating to their effort.
Recommended:
Government Abuse of Power: gateway to government abuse of power and law enforcement brutality
Law Enforcement Abuse: monitoring and seeking solutions to law enforcement brutality