Police Brutality Has a police officer ever abused your family member? Police brutality affects communities due to a loss of trust in police officers. Victims and witnesses of crimes are much less likely to report crimes. Which brings problems to our communities. In this research paper, readers will understand when a police officer who uses force when it is not called for, or who uses excessive force to do his job, has crossed the line into police brutality. Police brutality remains one of the most serious and controversial human rights violations in the United States. Police brutality is a common term used to describe a police officer's use of greater force than is necessary to make an arrest or control a person. “The word “brutality” has several meanings; the meaning used here (savage cruelty) was first used in 1633. The term “police brutality” was used in the American press as early as 1872, when the Chicago Tribune reported that police officers are punished by their colleagues and bosses that have coverage for them. There are police officers who have been fired for gross misconduct. “Color of law” means that the person doing the act is using power given to him or her by a government agency. A law enforcement officer is acting “under the color of law” even if he or she is exceeding his or her lawful authority. (www.justice.gov) Police brutality without physical abuse is police misconduct consisting of false arrests, harassment and intimidation, racial profiling, or abuse of surveillance. False arrest occurs when a person is held in custody without reasonable cause or without an order issued by a court. Harassment by a police officer is the same as stopping someone for an unreasonable cause, questioning them, or searching them illegally. Racial profiling involves suspecting someone of committing a crime that they did not commit. These actions may result in a police violation which may cause a citizen to order a