Data Analysis

Data Analysis

           

            There is a multitude of research, theory and just simple opinions on how often and why police brutality occurs but the most important viewpoint is that from the police officers themselves. Aaron Woodruff is a Major and acting Chief of Police in the Illinois State University Police Department and was gracious enough to provide some answers to some very important questions. To begin, Major Woodruff explained how he began his career with the ISU Police Department and has ever since been working in Normal. He believes he is a police officer now because he enjoys helping others and isn’t fit for a job that is the same everyday therefore he says “police work just felt like a natural fit for me.” With a focus being on the relationship between minorities and city police officers; when asked if the academy has any cultural diversity training, he replied that the academy does include a cultural awareness class along with mental health and elder abuse issues programs. Also, officers attend additional diversity training and most have completed online courses through the Southern Poverty Law Center and University of California at San Bernadino. With all of this in mind, Major Woodruff concluded, “While I think this type of training has some effect, I think personal experience is by far the better teacher.” Being in Normal, it would be interesting to see whether the Major has felt mistrust or negative attitudes towards himself from minority members so I asked him and he replied, “Absolutely, over the years I have heard remarks by minority members about myself and other officers that were absolutely untrue.” He goes on to say, “sometimes you need to let people vent their frustrations, even if they are not valid.” This is important because it is aggravating for anybody to be wrongfully accused of something especially for police officers who are trying to help the accusers. Major Woodruff believes, from his experience in the field, that the reasons for excessive use of force by police officers includes “long work hours by the officer, poor officer selection, poor training, escalation in force by the arrestee, pre-conceived biases, family life stressors, or a number of other factors.” His answer to the problem is obviously not definitive but he believes that open and long-term communication between community members and police is the best way to increase understanding about what both sides are trying to achieve.

            In an effort to juxtapose this with a large urban city setting, I also interviewed Officer Joseph Meloscia, an undercover narcotics officer working with the Chicago Police Department. When Joe went through the academy he attended a short version of a course of cultural diversity and every 2 years has to go through a refresher course. This is interesting because it seems that Normal police officers go through more diversity training than Chicago officers although Chicago is obviously the more diverse of the two cities. Like Major Woodruff, Officer Meloscia always experiences mistrust from the minority members he works with. He reiterates by saying “Many people see police in their homes at a young age. The image of police officers arresting one or both of their parents leaves a bad taste.” Officer Meloscia believed a major reason of police brutality to be long, exhausting hours on the streets. This year, Chicago changed officer work weeks from four days to six days with an hour and half extra each day. Joe adds that studies have shown that on the sixth work day is when most complaints about excessive use of police force occur. He also believes that problems at home are a contributor; “getting into an argument with a spouse just before leaving for work and then the first person you come into contact with becomes an easy target.” Officer Meloscia believes that the way to reduce police brutality is to keep kids and drugs off the streets and put into better schools and work.

            A theme that is most surprising and stands out most is the criticism of both Officers’ co-workers and the language used in their answers. Both interviewees did not hesitate to say that there are still problems with corruption and racism within the police force. The strongest message came from Officer Meloscia in which he said, “There’s no doubt that many officers are heavy-handed or racist.” What is surprising about this statement is the definitive nature of it and the fact that “many” officers are racist in his opinion. Another interesting point to make about both of the officer’s viewpoints was the attribution of blame for police brutality towards long work hours. Both officers mentioned it but Officer Meloscia went further to explain it. A difference between the two was the fact that Officer Meloscia saw a solution to police brutality being a problem that the government needs to work on to keep kids and gangs off the streets. Officer Woodruff believed the solution to be not enough open communication between the police and the community they serve.

            The next source of data comes from the analysis of media reports on police brutality of urban areas and the ratio of citizen complaints to these actual reported cases. In a journal called the “Revolutionary Worker,” a startling statistic was revealed which stated “from 1993 to 1995, the Chicago Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards looked into 8,620 citizen’s complaints. During that same period, only 13 cops were fired for brutality (Revolutionary Worker).”  Although there may be some frivolous complaints, it is no reason for only one officer to be relieved of his duty for every 660 complaints of abuse. Referring to the 2009 annual report from the Chicago Police Department, there were a total of 726 complaints against police officers for unreasonable force and of those, only 20 were met with disciplinary procedures. Those procedures can range from a reprimand, suspension or separation from the Chicago Police Department (2009 Annual Report: A Year in Review, 66). In relation to this, media reports of unreasonable force by police are extremely limited in comparison with the number of complaints received. In 2009, the Chicago Tribune published only 13 articles on different instances of police brutality in the city of Chicago with three articles describing the beating of handicapped individuals. It is clear that in the crime, law and justice section of the Chicago Tribune that only the most extreme of cases will be published. Also, the Chicago Sun-Times published only three articles regarding police brutality or torture in 2009.

 It is impossible to definitively conclude why the exposure is so limited compared to the amount of complaints of brutality but there are a couple of possible reasons. First of all, a newspaper can only report a limited amount of stories and focusing on minor cases of abuse is obviously not the priority for a business. Secondly, like any other subject a newspaper reports about, only the most special and outlandish cases seem to interest the readers so reporting about officers brutalizing a handicapped person is more important than verbal insults on the streets.

multi-genre multi-model components

With my topic on police brutality, my first forum would be a newspaper article because it is always a sensational news story with the right conditions and situations. More specifically, a report on a specific event will help me delve into the problem at hand which is what my research essay essentially addresses. My other choice for a forum would be a website because it will allow me to show online videos of important cases of police brutality and maybe even analysis and interviews of professionals from news media outlets. The website will bring additional information and issues into my social action research project while the newspaper article will explain my findings with a specific example of police brutality.

Free writing social class and wealth disparities

The first of the three racial differences in wealth accumulation is the racialization of state policy where the authors refer to how "state policies have impaired the ability of blacks to accumulate wealth". They chronologically refer to the enslavement of blacks to laws that prohibit certain rights and today where welfare state policies tend to discourage accumulation of wealth. The second focus is on "economic detour" which describes the low level of black entrepeneurship in America. The third focus is the sedimentation of racial inequality describes the effects of the past discrimination and racism that blacks have experienced throughout their history in America. The low wages, exclusion from the free market economy, and poor schooling have "cemented blacks to the bottom of society's heirarchy."

The author interviewed a seventy-five year old retired homeowner named Kevin on the topic of inherited wealth.

A theme that emerged from the interviews was that families assets expand opportunities for their children in concert with this is that families with low amounts of access to wealth will impede on their childrens dreams and futures. The authors also argue that the U.S. is made up of two nations; black and white. They focus on the "seperate" middle classes whereby blacks depend on income rather than assets where whites have no such worries.

The authors call for two different policy agendas from the government. The first agenda is a forward setting of policies that directly benefit African-Americans in need. The other agenda is to make policies that help the people of the lower echelons of socio-economic status, black or white.

Coming to college was very stressful for me, the only thing that really helped was rooming with my good friend of many years. We both found our click through parties and friends of friends and became a very close group of musicians, artists and skateboarders. Challenges I faced had nothing to do with socio-economic or racial disparity it was more of a responsibility issue, i.e. grades and going out at night. I think the speaker that I related with the most was Kathleen Kelly who did not think too much about college beforehand and when she came she was very lost and more specifically said, "it was as if I had entered a foreign country and did not know the customs, the language, or the people." I think this really relates to me more because of the negative attitude I had about college in high school and the lost feeling I had once I first got to college. Other than that, her story is more unfortunate that mine but it is definitely similar to the feelings I have experienced.

Data analysis of social class questionnaire

The main theme of the questionnaire responses by Jane Doe reflected a decent upbringing in a safe neighborhood with values that encourage a good living, getting a college degree and saving up money. Values that were not as important are keeping up with the neighborhood and community service which may suggest a suburban upbringing. Her father worked at a bakery which can also suggest a modest salary and her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Jane states that, "I appreciate living in a nice area and always feeling safe" and does not respect it when others say that people in her situation get whatever they want. Another theme that seems to develop throughout is the fact that her socio-economic status taught her to maintain those values that are so often associated with that specific social class.

Critiquing Police Brutality Data

The participants of the study are a result of a nationwide surveys about police brutality and public opinion on it. The section begins by explaining their reasoning for their methods and measures and comparing it to other researchers methods. It is organized by first explaining, giving comprehensive results about the surveys and then going over the possible reasons for the data. The general consensus of survey takers is that police are justified in using physical violence if they have been threatened or battered. The other emerging theme seems to be that the people who said the police are generally right in instances of police using force were moderate in their economic position, political views and moderate confidence in institutions. They use several nationwide surveys to analyze the data. What stands out is that most people have a general trust for police, that is, white people. Inner city citizens tend to have a distrust with the police tactics and motives but that's not an unusual consideration. I don't think it needs to be improved, the findings are solid (nationwide) and the analyzing is very thorough. I would give the researchers an A-.

Comparative Data Analysis

 Bryan's Data Analysis

The focus of his research is linguistics in the African-American community. The participant was a black male in his mid-20's from South West Atlanta who can speak both Standard English and African American Venacular English. The data was collected through an interview that was most likely recorded. Bryan used direct and indirect quotes to explain his and his participants views on his research focus.

Samantha's Data Analysis

The focus of her research is telling the story of Columbine. She questioned a younger sister of a survivor and an actual survivor who walks her through the event as she remembers. The data is collected basically through story telling from witnesses and family members of survivors. Samantha didn't really use many quotes to show her angle but the stories were quotes in themselves.

Free Writing Progress on Data

Looking on the data to be analyzed right now would not show much work or effort but this weekend will be the time the survey questions go up on blackboard, my questionnaire is sent to Chief of Police Ronald Swan and I will begin searching for media reports on police brutality. The questionnaire and survey will be easier to accomplish than the media analysis, so naturally, media analysis will take more time and effort. I expect to be done collecting all this data within 10 days.