In America we are media conscious enough to realize that police brutality and the violation of civil rights is a regrettable but factual aspect of society, particularly in large urban areas. However, it appears that within the last decade New York City police take a back seat to no one when it comes to abuse and brutality. Primarily, most of this abuse and brutality has been directed at minorities. Aside from New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, most people agree that abuse and brutality among New York City police is out of control, a chaos that distinctly carries the smell of racism. As New York Congressman Jose E. Serrano in the Spring of 1999 “Our government now has to deal effectively with this complicated problem, which involves overly aggressive policing, popular distrust, and strong racial tensions. Crimes like the one against Mr. Diallo happen all too often in New York and especially against people of color” (Serrano 1).
Serrano is referring to the case of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was shot at 41 times by four police officers who gunned him down in front of his apartment because they thought he was reaching for a gun. Nineteen of the bullets hit their target. When the smoke cleared, officers found the gun turned out to be Mr. Diallo’s wallet firmly clutched in his dead hand. All four officers were recently acquitted of all charges in the shooting. During the 1990s, as Mayor Giuliani became determined to crack down on violent crime, illegal gun carriers, and take back the streets of New York, the violent crime rate has dropped considerably and a significant number of handguns have been collected “Overall crime is down by fifty percent and murder is down by 70 percent…The Street Crime Unit has confiscated 40 percent of all guns recovered in the city, driving down shootings and murders in minority neighborhoods” (Blakeman 2-3).
The highest amount of complaints have been leveled at the Stre...