Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices Essay

Historically, police departments have been underrepresented by minorities and ethnic groups. Since the beginning, many years ago the police department was primarily staffed with middle- class white male and still in the present that is the predominantly class within police organizations. Diversifying police department is not a simple task due to the fact that minorities feel that they would be underrepresented and that they would not be welcome and treated fairly just because they are different. “The underrepresentation of such groups contributed and in some cases continues to contribute to problematic police- community relations” (Burns 2013). Some tensions between the minorities and the police departments are due because they feel they do

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).

In the United States the issue of Policing in regards to race, gender and ethnicity has

"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)

A police officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to protect and serve the people, not to abuse their power. Due to the fact that the U.S is consisted of many different races and ethnic groups, the ongoing conflict between police officers and citizens of color is at a constant rise. Although policies today no longer directly target those of colors, the policies applied by law enforcements in African-Americans communities are discriminating. Officers sometimes abuse the policies resulting in citizens viewing it as discrimination. By changing the way laws and regulations that unfairly impact Black and Brown communities can improve the justice system (Policy 5).Racial impact has changed the view of the government resulting in more inclusion of people of color in the system. Policies that are not racially excluding anyone of color should be used within police departments to evaluate the impact of different policing.

Although, racial profiling has been practiced for many years, it is now becoming more popular and a serious problem for today’s society and law enforcement. Depending on the treatment of the organization and its management staff to all of its employees will dictate a positive or negative working environment. In the past, most studies viewed the problem of misconduct as one of the individual problem officers, the so-called bad apples on the force (National Institute of Justice, 2016). The police officers training is very important and must be effective and efficient because police officers rely heavily on their training for judgment and decision-making that has to be swift and smart. Despite training to avoid discrimination, officers may still rely on cultural stereotypes and act on their perceptions of a person's characteristics (such as age, race or gender) (National Institute of Justice, 2013).

Cochran, J. C., & Warren, P. Y. (2012, May). Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Perceptions of the Police. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 28(2), 206-227.

African Americans are highly diverse group and a part of this diversity is police profiling, equal rights and discrimination. Individual versus society, blacks, for example are more likely than whites to report having negative interactions with police, to be exposed to media reports of police misconduct, and to live in high-crime neighborhoods where policing may be contentious—each of which increases perceptions of police misconduct. Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in the United States and other multiracial societies.

Police agencies are becoming more accustomed to hiring police officers of all cultures and ethnicities. However, like most careers an individual will choose to pursue there is always the possibility of them being discriminated against. A common type of discrimination police officers face is one based on their race or ethnicity. An officer is likely might experience racial discrimination in the form of harassment in the workplace. An example of this is a co-worker using racial slurs or unfavourable remarks towards an individual. Another form of discrimination in the workplace is the degrading of an individual based on their race or ethnicity, suggesting that their race or ethnicity is what got them here and not their hard work.

By analyzing, assessing, evaluating, and combining the works of several law enforcement scholars regarding community- oriented policing, this thesis will develop a theoretical framework for recruiting Asian-Americans towards a career in law enforcement. The theoretical framework provided will address the challenges of recruiting a diverse police workforce. Furthermore, it will bring forth questions and hypothesis relevant to possible strategies for accomplishing issues pertaining to minority recruitment and retention. Community-oriented policing is utilized as a conceptual framework that will show the importance of the relationship between Asian communities and law enforcement agencies (Hanser & Gomila, 2015).

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.

In the recent past, conflicts between the police and citizens have been rampant. When riots occur, the police are called upon to control the situation, and thus conflicts are bound to occur (Mohan, 2015). The social benefits of police officers from minority groups have been observed, but hiring police officers from minority groups is not the only solution to policing (Ashcroft et al,, 2004). The police should understand the norms and culture of the communities in order to prevent any conflicts. Some studies have shown that matching police officers to areas based on ethnicity or race may have social benefits, but the effectiveness of police work is mainly dependent on the police officers themselves so as to reduce racial profiling and corruption

The officer seemed to have lost himself and directed unprofessional behavior towards this individual. As participants of the law, officers should be able to hold their professionalism and composure as it is a crucial component to this field of work. There is not a moment in which officers are not under the public eye. Although the criminal justice world involves lots of political views and opinions, the political views of the law enforcement community should be kept unbiased. One can argue that expressing political views or even personal opinions can affect officers’ ability to perform efficiently. Since black male shootings, there are people that believe that certain groups of officers, such as either groups of white or black cops, base their work on race. A possible way to change this opinion towards officers is to expose all officers to community policing and become more involved with these causes. Officers from different descents can prove to society that race is not factored in police work. Also, educating officers in the field is crucial in the progression of police