Case Study - Policing Practice: Dynamics and Development

Comparing the Rodney King incident and LA riots in 1992 to the 2000 World Economic Forum (WEF ) protests in Melbourne allows one to see the LA incident through the lens of the global issues that were protested in Melbourne . Although the particular issues that sparked the fiery riots in LA were certainly born in the US , these issues represent what is happening on a global scale : the minorities or third world ' countries being marginalized by the superior class /big business /whites . This marginalization is brought to a head by particular incidences of

inconsistencies as seen in both these cases . By looking at the To further develop this thesis this will look at the historical technological , political , governmental and legal issues of the Rodney King incident and then the WEF Melbourne protests one can see that both represent the marginalization of the interests of a smaller group by the larger

The Rodney King incident , before the resulting L .A . riots , seemed like an open and shut case of racist police brutality : a video of a non-resistant black man (Rodney King ) being kicked , stomped , and beaten by metal batons by four white police officers seemed to seal a guilty verdict against the LAPD . In fact , 90 of LA residents polled who saw that video believed that the police used unreasonable force against King (Linder 2001 . This was not the case for a number of reasons Historically the black community was charged with energy for injustice undone and festering since the 1964 Watt 's protests . Politically the case was marred by racial and criminal prejudice in the court Technology as represented by the media played a huge role in blowing up the case , giving it forefront coverage without providing a more critical look at the specifics of the case beyond the video . Legal and government issues are tightly connected in this case : because the law in the US is often left to interpretation , the Federal government has the right to step in and re-interpret the law if it feels the state has made a mistake , which it had to do in the Rodney King case for the sake of national security

To set the historical background for the Rodney King incident , it is important to examine some issues that may have built a feeling of injustice and despair in the inner cities among African Americans . In 1964 California reacted with Proposition 14 that moved to block the fair housing components of the Civil Rights Act , which infuriated many African Americans because it essentially prevented the Civil Rights Act from being brought about fully , leaving blacks and whites separated . On August 11 , 1965 a routine traffic stop in South Central LA sparked riots that lasted six days , killing 34 people , injuring over 1 ,000 , and with 4 ,000 arrested . The governor at the time elected John McCone to head a commission to study the riots and McCone decided that the riots were not just thugs but sympathetic to deeper issues of unemployment , poor...