• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, March 20, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

Matthew J. Mayer by Matthew J. Mayer
02/03/23
in Opinion
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023. Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The nation is once again going through a gut-wrenching reaction to unspeakable police violence in the Tyre Nichols case.

Questions are sometimes raised as to whether society is at a point where it wants to change for the better with regard to various forms of extreme violence. Often, we see the typical pattern of people saying that these events can’t be allowed to continue, with political leaders doing their own version of proclaiming the horror and unacceptability of it all. And aside from appointing some commissions that generate long reports that few read, not too much has changed.

Likewise with police brutality. 

The deeper questions regarding the Tyre Nichols and similar cases remain unspoken. How do such microcultures within police departments develop and maintain themselves where extreme brutal violence is normalized?

While not making excuses or trying to justify such brutality, we need to look at the major and minor driving forces involved, short- and longer-term. But let’s be 100 percent clear on this. The five police officers charged with murder (and others nearby who enabled these behaviors) are NOT victims. They are perpetrators of unspeakable violence and must be held accountable.

Normalization of Police Brutality

In the absence of hard evidence, we can only make informed speculation based on related knowledge about human emotion and behavior and group dynamics. I would suggest the normalization of brutality by police can develop for a combination of reasons such as:

Officially sanctioned “get-tough” policies;

A growing disenchantment, resentment, and disinvestment in the system of criminal justice in the country, where it is felt that too many escape accountability over technicalities and the police need to take the law into their own hands;

A gradual type of professional burnout, having dealt with countless individuals who are seen by many as repeat criminals and the “undesireables” in society, where a “glass half empty” view of humanity develops, expecting the worst from people;

Intersection with explicit and subtle forms of prejudice and bias around color and perceived social class, where there can be multiple issues involving broader systemic racism and individual level racism that may directly or indirectly impact victims of police brutality;

Growing frustration with one’s job, with anger and resentment over feeling impotent to change things and feeling marginalized and unappreciated for risking one’s life to protect the public;

Experiencing a range of microaggressions from colleagues and supervisory officials, being the recipient of perceived mistreatment or personal injustices, perceived lack of equity within the police department with favoritism and discrimination, and a gradual disintegration of bonding and connectedness to the profession and thirst for “revenge.”

A protester holds a portrait of George Floyd.
Hundreds of people gather to protest against the killing of George Floyd, May 2020. Photo: AFP

Or does it reduce in large part to the psychological unfitness of some police officers for the job? Do people who are more open to dominating others with force tend to enter this profession? Alternatively, do we need to reimagine policing more generally, stressing some new approach to a community policing model? 

Are we asking too much of police? Do we need to reconceptualize their function in our communities? For example, should we be having police handle domestic partner disturbances, drug/alcohol issues, or severe mental health crises?

The degree to which factors such as these are in play and their impact remain unclear. But if we are truly interested in change for the better, ending police brutality, we need to better understand how this happens and what types of changes and support systems will prevent its development. That’s hard, long-term work.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Matthew J. Mayer

Matthew J. Mayer

Graduate School of Education. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

Related Posts

Chinese President Xi Jinping
Opinion

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

by Baptiste Monnet
March 15, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016
Refugees

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

by Staff Writer
March 8, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake
Opinion

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

by Stephen J. Lyons
March 1, 2023
A Yemeni flag waving
Art

US Returns 77 Stolen Antiquities Back to Yemen

by Staff Writer
February 22, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives
Opinion

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

by Edward C. Halperin
February 13, 2023
A laptop screen showing ChatGPT
National

ChatGPT Takes on the Tough US Medical Licensing Exam

by Staff Writer
February 10, 2023
Next Post
Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

An AFP journalist views an example of a "deepfake" video manipulated using artificial intelligence.

Deepfake 'News Anchors' in Pro-China Footage: Research

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

March 6, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023

Opinion

Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post