The Rodney King story is one of the most memorable instances of people coming together to fight social injustice. Ironically, the result of the case seems to be one of the most unfair decisions made by the justice system. Consequently, it is important to explore the case, follow some facts and explore the implications of the case. In essence, the following paper discusses five of the critical thought questions and answers them in form of a discussion. Questions 1-5 are discussed. The questions touch on the role of the media, the role of authority in decisions and fairness in the justice system. The selected research topic is police brutality. For instance, a topic on ‘The Rodney King Case’ would have two main themes: conflict and diversity in thinking. In the mentioned case, police brutality is most evident. Further, the various speculations on police brutality motivate research on police behaviour. This topic covers the above mentioned themes most clearly. It separates the people who think of brutality as upholding the law from those who think of it as injustice—diverse thinking. From the different ways of thinking conflict arises with both sides emphasizing on their different truths as well as the role of the media.
Authority has an important role to play in maintaining a significant amount of balance. For this reason, the utterance by the head of the police union that the Rodney beating was not a racial matter but still shows a significant amount of racism is a good example (Martin, 2005). The utterance is observed to want to protect the public and reprimand the police as well. It ensures that the public understands that Rodney was not beaten because of any racial motivation but because he was on the wrong. However, it also reprimands the police action and shows the severity of the situation. Consequently, I disagree with the utterance since I believe police have proper protocols to handle each of the code-worded crimes or occurrences. For this reason, there should have been a clear protocol on how such a crime should be treated—regardless of race or gender. The actions taken against Rodney, if at all fair should have been enough to show fairness in catching the criminal and prosecuting them. Suggesting that the matter is not racial but still is racial is giving the public a double negative to ponder on.
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In the same case on authority’s role in ensuring fairness and balance is the question on what Daryl Gates—the then Chief of police, should have done to respond to the beating (Maurantonio, 2014). Police are the symbol of service and protection to the citizens. They exist to ensure that members of the public live cordially, and to maintain law and order in the society. The police chief should have therefore followed set protocol for police misconduct the moment Rodney’s video was aired. In this sense, the police chief failed in his position.
The steps he should have taken immediately would be to first, ensure that Rodney was getting proper medical attention even in incarceration since he had been caught over speeding. Next, he should have suspended the officers immediately the video was aired and reported in to the relevant authorities in order to open investigations. These steps show what an administrative police chief should do. Another important thing that the police chief would have done would have been to respond to the video as soon as possible. The quick response would probably have done something to reduce the tension surrounding the situation. In the same way, a stern reprimand of the action and deep regret on the part of the department should have been expressed as early as possible. The above step would have done much to mitigate the media fire that was started from there.
Media plays an important role in informing the general public about their surroundings. Any form of media mirrors society to itself. A particular type of media that keeps the public informed is the news. News reports give society a reality of the things happening around them. The question on whether the tape should have been aired can be answered with a simple—Yes it should have. The act would never have come to light were it not for the airing of that video. Essentially, the matter would have gone to rest after the beating and the probability of similar acts taking place would have increased. In essence, the media is a very important tool in portraying the arms of government on their duties (Bowen, 2015). Governments of sovereign nations like America are supposed to protect the property of its citizens and the citizens themselves. In this way, the various arms of government work together to serve. The media is therefore important in portraying the performance of the service duties. Media puts the different service providers on the lime light. It led to studies such as ones showing that ethnicity and level of education promote or reduce cases of violence. Consequently, the structure of a police department’s personnel is significantly related to the citizen complaint rate. For instance it was seen that the greater the proportion of female and African-Americans in the department, the relatively higher the educational level of police department personnel is, and the longer the average service years a police department is, the lower the citizen complaint rate becomes. Internal level data mostly show that the women officers exert the least pressure, and the more educated and the fairly well experienced on the job.
However, it is important to understand the role of media in shaping the perceptions of society. The acts of violence such as Rodney’s portrayed to the public that there was a problem with their policing system. The unfair treatment exhibited led to the rise of several questions about law enforcement and its protocols. Questions such as, is there predominant racism in the LAPD? Is the police really doing its job? What actions should be taken against the police responsible? Would not have been asked, were it not for the airing of the video. The airing led to future justice for the actions committed.
Apart from the media, the justice system had an important role to play in the verdict it made in the first Rodney case. The location of the trial also played an important role on how the minority perceived said verdict. Acquitting the police officers led to the first riot immediately after the verdict was announced. The riots ensued as a result of the perceived unfairness. It has led to asking how police brutality can be eliminated. A solution proposed by those against police brutality is administering psychological exams before recruitment to police academy. Apart from the tests, field officer training programs, and the length of suspension period is seen to significantly reduce citizen complaint rate against police use of physical force and abuse of power (Amnesty International, 2005). As we know, police socialization skills mostly begin at the academy; hence, it is proposed like mentioned above that hiring the best qualified officers as a control for the quantity of officers is recommended. Further, some activists advocate for the same treatment of officers. The arguments made by the abolitionists are however more rhetorical than empirical. The professionalism approach is widely supported as a solution since it readily offers the most competent law enforcers.
Cases like Rodney Kings’ are the result of various reforms proposed for the law enforcement departments. In conclusion, it is clear that of the solutions given, educating police officers seems to umbrella all other solutions. It has been observed that education—occupation appropriate, leads to the inception of refined law enforcers. In recent decades, there has been a concerted effort to raise the educational level of police recruits, these efforts should be pushed and supported in order to rightfully protect democratic people. Educated and un-intimidated officers will without a doubt perform their duties objectively without any fear or favor. Cooperation from citizens is important in order for the police to fully reform and uphold any of the ever recommended solutions.
References
Amnesty International. (2005). “Stonewalled: Police Abuse and Misconduct Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in the U.S.” Amnesty International.
Martin. B. (2005). The beating of Rodney King: the dynamics of backfire. Critical Criminology, Volume 13(3), pp. 307-326.
Maurantonio. N.(2014). Remembering Rodney King: Myth, Racial Reconciliation, and Civil Rights History . Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, NY: Sage Publications.
Bowen. S.(2015). A Framing Analysis of Media Coverage of the Rodney King Incident and Ferguson, Missouri, Conflicts, The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 6, No. 1.
