Police Brutality And Conely V United States

The focus of this paper will be on the police misconduct aspects of the case Conely v United States, and the appertaining incident involving Michael Cox. I looked for articles that would help me to understand the nature of police misconduct, what causes it to occur, and what allows it to go unchecked.
To understand how violence and misconduct can arise from the way police operate, I found an article describing the various differences between American officers, and their European counterparts. The article “How the police work in Western Europe and the U.S” by George Berkley, published in 1969, claimed that the American police officer carries as standard equipment a .38 special revolver and an 18-inch wooden truncheon, the standard firearm used by European police forces is the equivalent of the .32 automatic. (Berkley, 1969) In Great Britain and Norway policemen are not issued guns. The article goes on to say that the European policeman is not only much more lightly armed than his American counterpart but is more restricted in his right to use firearms; saying that in most European countries the police may only fire in order to protect life. The American policeman not only has the right but, in some cases, the obligation to shoot fleeing felons. The article also talked about how European police departments employ more crime prevention and public service programs such as puppet shows, traffic kindergartens, bicycle courses, adult crime prevention clinics, aid to distressed motorists, hobby clubs, and re-socialization centers, rather than relying upon violence, the indication being that violence or the threat of violence is how American police derive authority. (Berkley, 1969) Humane treatment and an emphasis on civil liberties contrasts greatly with the incidents of brutality in American police work. The article also claims that the nagging problem of corruption in American police departments is insignificant in Europe, some reasons given for these differences were...