If the police services recruit minorities solely for diversification and appearance, the quality of the police services will diminish. Including minorities at all ranks in police services is simply a method known as 'window dressing' that is meant to give the public an outward appearance of tackling the issue of racism without actually achieving much progress. As it was found by a police officer to Cashmore (2002), “it’s just better for appearances” (Cashmore, 2002, 329). Police officers themselves believe that the hiring of minority officers are only being done to better their image rather than help minorities from police prejudice and biases. Police services hiring minorities as a tool to help strengthen relationships between police officers …show more content…
Under-policing is considered police neglect of minority groups and their needs, and over-policing, the disproportionate focus on a radicalized population or neighborhood (Griffiths, 2013, 282). Police services thought by increasing the number of minority officers, under and over-policing would stop, this is not entirely accurate. Over-policing according to Findlay (2004) is actually embedded into “cop culture” which includes moral and political traditional attitudes relating to prejudice against minorities, the mentality of “us against them” and resistance to change or reforms (Findlay, 2004,101). Even though police services seem to be adding diversity into their ranks, minority police officers will have similar attitudes and behaviours as non-minority officers because of police culture. Rather than hiring police minorities because of public pressure, police services should put more money and effort into the training of police officers and reduce the prejudices and biases within the cop culture. If the police force wants to completely rid themselves of biases and prejudices, better training is …show more content…
In his view, the subculture itself, characterizes the public as hostile, potentially violent, and not to be trusted; which requires mutual support, secrecy and unity from the police (Scaramella et al , 2010, 99). The same subculture of police will deteriorate the sense of community from officers in favor for views and beliefs within the police services. Soon after minority police officers are hired into the police services, they begin to shape around police culture. Minority police officers can adopt an attitude that complies with existing police culture in order to succeed in the job and detach themselves from the community in favor of "professionalism." (Ben-Porat, 2008, 16). Police efforts to recruit minorities to stop under-policing and over-policing are in fact diminished by police culture. Although the police services may seem like they are creating a better image for themselves, the police culture itself is hindering minorities from relating to and changing their minority groups. Police culture is the main reason behind police acting and viewing minorities the way they do. Furthermore, the changing of police culture doesn’t come from the hiring of minorities but rather the changing of police services themselves. Training the police to be
Police brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.
In a review from a book that Holmes and Smith published, the importance of stereotypes is underlined. Drawing to some degree on theories that see police violence as the result of “threats” that police officers experience during encounters in minority neighborhoods, the authors suggest that the idea of threat is in large part based on prevalent stereotypes. These stereotypes are not just employed by police, but are also used by members of minority groups. Whereas police often experience heightened anxiety and fear responding to calls in minority neighborhoods, minority residents experience similar emotions when confronted by police. Minority members often perceive police to be highly biased and to resort quickly to violence.
Recently, it has been brought up that there is still institutional racism within the Police force, this, as well as many other reasons such as negative stereotyping, informal bias and assumptions from ethnic minority groups themselves are reasons why people from minority groups are less inclined to join. The Police have introduced a number of ways to try and create a more diverse workforce. Some of these methods include, improving the data collected on the age,
The violence that some officers exude to minorities should only be used in extreme, desperate situations not when a teen steals some cigars or is walking home with a hood on. Besides showing an interest in racial justice and issues of race helps to break down barriers, exposed as false perceived misunderstandings, and shed light on commonly held perceptions of a race-infused
Because of exceptional results akin to those of the Rialto study, Birmingham police Chief, A.C. Roper plans to equip every officer in Birmingham with a body camera. Since the behavior of the police are so much better, there will be more diversity within the police force. Therefore, the police force’s public image would alleviate, and more people would be willing to join the police force. Diversity will increase the placement of trust in the police force. Diversity will allow the agency to converse more effectively with minority communities. Diversity will allow the police to understand racial perspectives through communication with other police officers. People would believe that their interactions with the police are not based on racial
Ramsey mentions the prejudices present in today’s police officers. After reading this article I have thought about my own prejudices and how it would affect my police work. Ramsey explains that it is human nature for officers to have prejudices, but it is up to the individual officer to not let those prejudices control his/her police work. It would take self-discipline and self-control for officers to not let their prejudices surface and become a problem while working. However, officers are taught self-discipline and self-control at the Police Academy to prevent this problem.
Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict
As difficult as their job may be, and as big a toll as it may take on them emotionally, it is important to bear in mind that police officers are normal human beings with normal brains and mental processes. Consequently, they are prone to make the same stereotype-biased judgments the rest of us are. Because they are often operating under conditions of uncertainty, high discretion, and stress and threat, the pervasive stereotypes linking Blacks and Latinos with violence, crime, and even specifically weapons are likely to cause them to make misattributions in seeking to disambiguate the intentions and behaviors of citizens. This can lead to racially disparate rates of stops, searches, arrests, and use of force. Several interventions that aim to reduce bias or discriminatory behavior at the individual level warrant further investigation in the policing context. Nonnegative intergroup contact is especially promising given its strong evidence base and that it could be achieved through
This paper provides an overview of the problems facing the police in their efforts to improve relations with minority communities in the United States, as well as a survey of previous research and existing literature on cultural diversity
There is recent controversy over police use of force, especially in minority communities such as in African American communities, Hispanic communities, and other publics with large populations of minorities. Increased levels of force among these communities have created challenges for police departments. These challenges include a lack of trust from the community towards law enforcement officers and an absence of respect creating situations that lead to police use of force. There are already various programs in place that attempt to decrease this challenge by educating the public, respecting one another, and giving those who were on the wrong track second chances. A combination of these solutions and the implementation of more of them would decrease the number of contacts between police and minorities that lead to the use of force (Roberg & Novak, 2014).
Besides enacting racial bias screening and training requirements, police departments need to change the way they operate, by changing poor police protocol currently in place. In other words, in some cases, this issue of racial profiling can stem from police chiefs who provide their officers with patrol assignments targeting minority neighborhoods due to implicit biases which they have. In Driving While Black: Racial Profiling On Our Nation's Highways, David Harris suggests, “Because police look for drugs primarily among African Americans and Latinos, they find a disproportionate number of them with contraband” (Harris). Certain police chiefs intentionally target minority neighborhoods and put a greater effort on catching the people living there for their wrongdoings, thus making those minority groups appear as higher threats to society. The picture of crime would be reversed if the police targeted White people rather than minorities.
Different races, sexual orientations, and genders are all encompassed by a single word, diversity. Diversity is defined as a variety or range of different things. Organizations, employers, and companies are looking to include minorities and multiculturalism into the work place in order to become more diverse. In the past decades the police services have made significant efforts to achieve a status as an employer of choice and increase the recruitment of minorities. Police services in Canada and around the world are starting to respond to the realities of diversity in the societies which they live. By using laws, policies and mandates employers are starting to get an accurate depiction of their community representations. Under and over-policing methods by police against minorities is one of the few issues minorities face due to lack of diversity in the police service.
A perception that police target members of specific ethnic or racial groups creates a deep divide between the police and the communities we serve. But as an officer who has spent a lot of time patrolling the city's streets, I just don't think the perception is accurate (Dutta
"Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in many multiracial societies. Surveys consistently document racial differences in perceptions of the police, with minorities more likely than whites to harbor negative views." (Weitzer and Tuch, Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct, 2004)
It has been consistently shown in research that minorities are more likely to be mistreated by the police compared to other people (Dunnaville, 2000). Recent incidents have seen the police use excessive force on people and mistreat minorities. As such, the legitimacy of the police has been put under scrutiny and questioned. Many communities in the United States have demonstrated in reaction to recent incidents of police misconduct and excessive use of force. The people have lost trust in the police because of these issues. The police force has been accused of mistreating people, sexual harassment, violent and careless arrests among people particularly the minorities. As demonstrated in the movie ‘Policing the Police’ police officers are seen mistreating people for instance the scene where the police sexually harassed a teenager by touching sensitive areas. Community members are not willing to trust or work with the police to fight crime. As such, it is critical for the police agencies and department to make improving police-community relationship a top police priority. Policies should be developed that will strengthen the mutual trust between the police and the community. This relationship is critical because the police depend on information from the community to fight crime in the society.