Cultural Diversity And Law Enforcement Essay

Cultural diversity can be defined as the cultural differences that exist between people such as, language, traditions, and the religious beliefs along with the way society carries itself. It is inevitable in the United States to notice the wide variety of cultures that with the years have come to share this land with Americans.

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

Diversity in law enforcement has grown to become a hot topic within the law enforcement community. The demographic of society has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and with that law enforcement has been changing, but have they been changing enough? Different law enforcement agencies have their own ways of implementing diversity in their practices and procedures, some of them are better than others, but with issues that happen today it is important that they do something.

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

Merriam- Webster defines cultures a particular society that has its own beliefs and way of live and diversity as the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization. I would define of cultural diversity would be the existence or variety of people in from different environments with different states of mind.

Police brutality is becoming a trend in America. Tensions among the public and especially the African American community are rising due to the latest cases of police brutality. Many people believe that we have come far in this society but to be honest Racism is still a factor. The use of brutal and lethal force by some police officers leading to unnecessary deaths have African American parents on edge to send their children outside for anything. Law enforcement and people whom we trust with our lives are the very same to take it. Some people may want to argue that these cases such as the shooting of Michael brown and choking of Eric Garner are isolated incidents. Others would argue that the work of a police officer is too difficult and that sometimes an officer needs to use such force in order to enforce the law and protect him/herself while on duty. Law enforcement proclaims to feel threatened however what about the civilians who feel threatened of becoming the next target or victim of prey. The society is well aware that not all police commit these crimes and that we do still have law abiding officers. However, with the effort from everyone we can eradicate the bad apples and create a safer road for the officers and civilians.

Throughout the last one hundred and fifty years, there has been a history of tension and conflict between the police and minority communities in the United States. In principle, the police exist to enforce the law and protect all citizens regardless of race or ethnic background, yet police departments across the country have been repeatedly accused of targeting and harassing racial minorities, and of failing to root out racist attitudes and practices within their ranks. In recent years, high profile cases such as the beating of Rodney King in Los Angles and the assault on Abner Louima in New York have only served to heighten concerns over the mistreatment of minorities by the police, resulting in widespread calls for major legal and institutional reforms. The recent shootings of Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Eric Garner, and Terrance Crutcher underscore the danger Black men and boys face when they cross paths with law enforcement officers. In the absence of a coordinated national strategy, state and local police departments have largely been left to develop their own solutions to the problems of policing minority communities and improving cultural sensitivity amongst their officers. Many departments have sought to reform recruitment and selection policies in the hope of attracting greater numbers of minority applicants, while others have instituted diversity training and education programs aimed at improving police understanding of minority cultures and communities. To date, however, these efforts have yielded mixed results. Some departments have achieved notable successes, but on the whole, relations between the police and minority communities across the country remain strained. of cultural diversity and the police.

Police Relations with Minority Ethnic Communities The Macpherson report was published in 1999 amidst problems of racial inequality and a lack of faith in the police amongst minority ethnic communities. There is an ongoing debate on whether Macpherson’s report was a help or a hindrance with regards to minority ethnic relations and the police; it is this dispute that the essay shall examine. To begin with the paper will look at the problems, which existed prior to Sir William Macpherson’s publication and which led to the publication of his report. It will then proceed to examine the failures of the Scarman report, in order to look at both the prior problems and failures regarding the 1981 Scarman

Although the questionnaire and interview processes are useful in gaining a better understanding of the cultural competence of law enforcement agencies, they are not helpful in improving the cultural competency of those agencies. This is where instituting mandatory cultural competency training comes into play. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proposed steps and recommendations to increase cultural competency and one of those steps was to “develop and deploy effective EEO and diversity/inclusion training for different state and local law enforcement audiences, including department leadership, human resources, and hiring officials, union leadership, and individual officers.” (Yang, 2015). While this recommendation pertains to hiring practices, it would also be very beneficial for law enforcement agencies to have trainings. Cultural competency training is important and would greatly improve relations between law enforcement and the community.

He explains how in the second half of the twentieth century, civil rights leaders made great strides to achieve equal rights for people of all racial groups. While this goal may have

Tensions between police officers and African Americans have been existence since the early 1950s. Before the 19th century, there were no police forces that we would appreciate as such anywhere in the world. In the South, the closest thing to a police force was the slave patrols. As Northern cities grew and filled with mostly foreign wage workers who were nearly excluded from the ruling class, the wealthy superiors who governed the various municipal hired hundreds and thousands of armed men to impose order on the new working-class neighborhoods. Conflicts increasingly occurred as police would violently attack those who failed to comply to the new rules of these “police”. Today, these incidents still happen in dejecting societies. These tensions help create negative stereotyping within police and blacks. In the article “Racism & Police Brutality” by Cassandra Chaney, she describes the current situation of police activity by saying “The reality is that this country has armed our law enforcement with 21st century technology, yet continues to hold them to a 19th century code of conduct. We make excuses for the damage they cause, while we look the other way and hope nobody embarrasses us into actually doing something about their behavior.” She describes how police aren’t being

“What are you following me for?” “You shot me. You shot me!” “Please don’t let me die” “Officer, why do you have your guns out?” “I can’t breathe.” “I don’t have a gun. Stop Shooting.”(The Last Words). These were some of the last words from victims of police brutality against African Americans. Police brutality has been occurring ever since the police force began, but recently, the police have been targeting African Americans. In 2016, more than 250 African Americans were killed by the police. Most of the victims were unarmed and have not committed a serious offense. These frightening statistics do not have to continue. If the average American recognized the severity of the issue and raised their voice, this inequity

African Americans are the number one group to be gunshot by law enforcement officers. Police brutality has been an issue for many years, and it is still a major concern for the minority community. Police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beating, shootings and overall many deaths. Although, police brutality comes any many forms but some of the common ones are racial profiling, and use of deadly force. In order to see why so many people are outraged by the recent police brutality events we should change how police are trained, how they communicate with the community members, and overall how we can change the outcomes of police brutality.

We read about it almost every week in social medias. New victims of the police shootings are displayed and sympathized with. What many do not realize is that most of this injustice remains unheard, usually not through police brutality but through convictions. Much more African Americans are convicted than white people, and get worse punishments for the same crime.

Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings.