Gender Stereotypes Involved In The Police Department

Michael Brown was an eighteen year old who lost his life after an encounter with the police. On August 9, 2014 a call was made to report a robbery that had took place at Ferguson Market & Liquor. Around midday, an African American male had been reported of stealing boxes of cigarillos and pushing the store clerk on his way out of the store. The police dispatcher described the suspect as wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals hat, khaki shorts, yellow socks, a white T-shirt, while being accompanied by another African American male (Buchannan, Fessenden, Lai, Park, Parlapiano, Tse, Wallace, Watkins, & Yourish, 2014). A few minutes after the robbery report, Officer Wilson approached an individual that matched the suspect’s descriptions, which the police officers were looking for. …show more content…
It would be almost impossible to determine if the officer involved in the shooting actually feared for his life or if it was an issue of race. However, the negative perception towards police made most individuals of Ferguson believe that it was a race issue without taking into account several factors. The African American manifestations and protest towards the police department could have been avoided if the community and the law enforcement had a good relationship. A racially diverse police department in necessary for the African American community to build a better relationship with the law enforcement. Diversity would make individuals of the community feel they are not being stop just for being from a certain ethnic group, and feel comfortable when interacting with the police. Moreover, increasing the diversity in the police department would help to reduce this type of incidents. A good relationship with law enforcement would help people understand the reasons for a deathly shootings and not blame the officer involved as being