Since September 11, 2002, we have been treated to the spectacle of police officers as law enforcement supermen. They have been portrayed as successful crime busters, innocent victims of terrorist attacks, national heroes, and paradigms of human compassion. This rose-tinted vision of police officers has blinded us to the seamier underside of the blue uniform that side of the police force that portrays all blacks as violent predators, that uses excessive force to apprehend suspects, that shoots individuals first and ask questions later.
A series of troubling statistics on police shootings since January 1st 2003, reminds us that, in spite of the gentle public image, our police force is no paradigm of compassion and moral integrity. It is a paramilitary bureaucracy that is becoming "out of control". Since January 1st 2003, six black and Hispanic youth have been killed by the NYPD. In the first four days of January 2003, five people were shot to death in five separate incidents. On May 16, 2003, police officers stormed the house of 57-year-old Alberta Spruill, exploded a concussion grenade in her apartment, causing a fatal heart attack. Six days later, an undercover police officer opened fire on an unarmed African immigrant, Ousmane Zorgo, in a storage warehouse. In the first six months of 2003, sixteen individuals have been shot to death in "questionable circumstances".
The problem of police brutality is not new. It became a serious social issue in the 1960s, with the emergence of the civil rights movement. In 1968, the Kerner Commission found that "Negroes believe that police brutality and harassment occur repeatedly in Negro neighborhoods." Almost every poll conducted in black neighborhoods between 1968 and 1997, found that police brutality was regarded as the most serious issue. A public opinion poll conducted in February, 1997 found that 81% of African Americans and 73% of Latinos believe that police misconduct is a serious problem.
In 1984, a House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Criminal Justice found that "racism appeared to be a major factor in police misconduct in New York," and observed that "allegations of police misconduct were not taken seriously by public officials." In 1990, the New York Civil Liberties Union warned that systematic police violence against Blacks and Hispanics warranted the establishment of an independent Civilian Complaint Review Board. 
In 1994, the Mollen Commission found a clear connection between police corruption and police brutality, concluding that "cops did not simply become corrupt, they some

fellow officers, who very often, are the only corroborating witnesses at the scene of the brutal acts. Thirdly, there is a Civilian Compliant Review Board, which substantiates less than 5% of the complaints filed against police officers. Finally, there is a culture of tolerance throughout this nation, which is prepared to blink at virtually every egregious act of police violence and justifies it as necessary to protect the civilized community against the barbarian hordes "beyond the pale." 

In picture: Councilman Charles Baron joining Wonita Young and other parents whose children lost their lives at the hands of the police. at a rally held outside One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan, New York.

        Those of us who have been involved in fighting police brutality, have made several proposals to eliminate this pervasive problem. We have proposed that the federal government should take over the administration of the police department, should implement new administrative procedures, and monitor acts of police brutality. We have proposed that Civilian Complaint Review Board should restructured to become a fully independent investigative and prosecutorial body. We have advocated and encouraged the increased recruitment of ethnic minorities, until the police force reflects the ethnic diversity of the city. We have proposed the installation of video cameras in every precinct, and in every patrol car, so that acts of police brutality could be fully monitored and exposed.    Yet in spite of these proposals, the problem of police brutality continues to grow, not only throughout the city, but throughout the nation. It is like an evil demon that simply refuses to die, and every time we have consigned its corpse to the proverbial lake of fire and brimstone, it has risen, like the Phoenix from the ashes of hell, with renewed vigor and vibrancy. What is responsible for the continued vibrancy and pervasiveness of this problem? Is it because police brutality is more than an administrative problem that can be solved by amending a few regulations or procedures? Is it because police brutality is more than getting rid of few rotten apples or psychological psychopaths? Is it because eliminating police brutality is more complex, than electing a liberal mayor or a appointing a progressive commissioner?
It is becoming evident that police brutality is more complex than these simplistic solutions may indicate. It is a part of the culture of violence in our society, which places a greater premium on law and order, at any cost, rather than on human life. It is part of the power syndrome in our society, which gives to people in authority the right to impose their will on the weak and powerless. It is part of the ideology of racism, which asserts that white men are the still the dominant group in this society, that black men still on probation, and that white men have the right to view any black man as a potential threat to the social system.