Police Brutality and Abuse in Our System Part 4

Racial minorities, however, are not the only targets; in fact Amnesty International recently reported a serious pattern of police misconduct and brutality—including abuses that amount to torture and ill treatment—against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (Amnesty International, 2006). Findings by Amnesty International suggest that police tend to target individuals who do not conform to gender stereotypes that dictate “appropriate” masculine and feminine behavior. Specifically, transgender people in particular experience some of the most serious cases of police brutality by being subject to sexual, verbal and physical abuse, inappropriate and illegal searches to determine the individual’s “true” sex, and even a failure to protect these transgender individuals from abuse while in detention (2006). Brutality and abuse should never be tolerated by police officers, and especially when the victims seem to be those who are most vulnerable—the poor minorities of society.

Conclusion

 The issue of police brutality must be acknowledge otherwise the problem will continue to escalate. Agencies responsible for investigating the claims made be citizens need to take their work more serious and establish severe punishments for crimes of police abuse. At the same time, the silent code must be broken and police officers need to realize that punishing those responsible for crimes of abuse needs to be more important than keeping loyalty among their fellow officers. Additionally, the targeting of minorities and poor individuals must be brought to an end. According to Human Rights Watch “external pressures are essential to force police administrators to improve accountability, but police brutality will only subside once higher-ranking police officials judge their subordinates - and are judged themselves - on their efforts to provide sufficient and consistent oversight” (1998).