This kind of specialised and advanced training is meant to prepare the officers physically and emotionally for the challenging tasks ahead in their policing career. In policing and law enforcement, multiculturalism and diversity can be looked at in different perspectives when trying to establish the nature of police culture. The primary objective of this essay is to discuss the various aspects of the police service with much emphasis with the nature of the police culture and its relationship with racism, sexism and homophobia.
The individual characteristics and personality of the police officers are usually attributed to various factors that eventually influence the police culture. It may be correctly or incorrectly argued that women, minorities, better trained and better educated officers usually have a tendency of acting differently when compared to their counterparts with less education and training. Such assumptions of the evolving police culture were that female officers could be less violent and less aggressive when compared to their male counterparts, college- trained officers could have the ability to tackle more complex aspects in the policing profession, and increased rates of officer training could most probably result in bringing up law enforcers who are well prepared to handle the challenges of their profession.
The Nature of Police Culture
Most people interested in understanding the nature of the police culture have in many cases appreciated the vital role that culture plays in the daily lives of the police officers. Most classifications of the police culture usually revolve around defining the different elements and features of one major phenomenon among members of the occupation. Such elements are not confined to group loyalty, image portrayed while combating crime, and institutional tension with their seniors among other notable aspects.
The police behaviour and culture can be categorized or grouped into two major categories i.e. The Police Uniform and Dress Code, and finally the academic training and studies that develop the police tradition. Personality and general behaviour of a given law enforcement officer is usually influenced by the various structural establishments within the police force. Culture has got several meanings depending on particular circumstances.
Some people e.g. in regard to Brooker in his glossary of cultural theory culture and tradition comprise of artistic and intellectual practices which describe a given social group such as the Police Force as being collectively constituted and not naturally constructed. Traditions also comprises of the shared common beliefs which have a direct impact in influencing a given communitys ideological structures, general mode of living, experiences and attitudes.
The Police Uniform
Many social organizations (namely, religious denominations, schools and so on) all over the world other than the police wear different types and designs of uniforms for different purposes.
According to Fussel, the major purpose of wearing the uniform is to bring respect to the wearer since it identifies the wearer in question as one who performs relevant and exceptional tasks of a given body, say the law enforcement agencies. Police uniforms all over the world have different designs and each design is meant to bring out the rank, job seniority or command a given police officer has attained in the line of service.
Other designs have varied number of buttons on the uniform, exhibit different modes of fastening the buttons or may have badges and lapel pins each of which has different symbolic meaning depending on individual police force agencies. Police uniforms and other associated dress codes in many countries all over the world can only be worn while in assignment. Any policeman who resigns at will, retires from the force or gets dismissed has to return the uniform back to the service before being released.
Academic studies of the Police Culture
Early studies of the police culture in the U.S. were often limited to the psychological and the sociological perspectives before the recent emergence of the other perspective dealing with the anthropological concepts. Syndromes as used in the general studies of police traditions often refer to the challenges encountered by given officers in an attempt to meet the set ideologies or standards so as to maintain the image of the police force. These syndromes are usually as a result of role strain whereby police officers are expected to play various multidisciplinary roles in law, criminology, medical, athlete roles and public service. The syndromes may to some extent come about when a given officer fails to fully satisfy the dynamic job requirement.
Common examples of such syndromes include the Parker syndrome which is in essence an anti community attitude and the Ganzer syndrome which is a kind of weakness that makes most officers to apply humour in order to ward off terror, the Wyatt Earp syndrome, the John Wayne syndrome characterized by coldness and over seriousness while on duty, the Doc Holiday syndrome usually common to the quick tempered and always bitter police officers, and the Custer syndrome composed of officers who enjoy defending the law enforcement service at all costs.
Academic studies of the police cultures and tradition have also established that the overall career life cycle of an American police officer is composed of five phases. The first phase is the Rookie stage which occurs during the first two years of service, followed by the TV cop stage occurring during the third and fourth years of the police career and the cynicism phase occurring anywhere between the fifth and the tenth year of service. Realism is the fourth stage occurring after ten years of service but before fifteen years. The last and final stage of the police career life i.e. the Retirement phase usually occurs when an officer has completed an average of eighteen years in the police service.
a. Anthropological Concepts
Studies based on these concepts often revolve around the worldview, the ethos, the theme and the postulate. Ethos in this case is an inspiration in the police force that often reveals the traditional value system of the police force.
The ethos inspire the daily work of the police officers and the most common elements in the ethos of a given police culture include but are not confined to, secrecy, bravery, solidarity, and autonomy. The worldview deals with the cognitive inclination regarding how police officers consider themselves with reference to ordinary civilians. The theme concept is the initiation of a belief structure that regulates the nature of social interactions that the police officers have within and outside their normal culture.
b. Sociological Concepts
This study is usually based on the social aspects of the police culture. The sociological concepts should not in any way be associated with the cultural and traditional features of isolation, brotherhood and solidarity whereby an attack on a given member of the police force is regarded as an attack on the entire force, and finally the capacity to identify possible dangers and associated assailants.
It can however be argued in the study using the sociological concepts that most police officers experience high stress levels which may in turn lead to substance and drug abuse, divorce cases and in the worst cases suicide. In the academic studies of police culture, it can also be said that cynicism is often at its highest level in the middle phase of most police careers. Cynicism usually comes up in three possible stages namely, over idealism, disenchantment, and frustration and can be in form of any of the several varieties ranging from tragic to extreme.
c. Psychological Concepts
Several psychological studies have in the past put more emphasis on the pre-dispositional or self- selection models which make it possible for the police force to attract applicants with the desired personalities. In this approach of the study, authoritarianism in the police force is regarded as a personality trait made up of a set of beliefs and attitudes associated with components such as aggressiveness, conventionalism, submissiveness, destructiveness, sexual exaggeration, projection and ambition, and finally being superstitious and unreflective. In psychological approach, any forms of suspicion are regarded as healthy and cynicism is taken as unhealthy.
d. Typologies
The topic of typologies can also be used as an alternative method of studying police traditions and cultures. Common typologies include the Brodericks typology which is composed of Idealists i.e. college educated officers committed to social order, the Enforcers( only in the career to make ends meet), Optimists who are often people oriented with aspirations to join the management team, Realists who take policing to be a job just like any other. The other typology is the Whites Typology composed of officers with problem solution skills, results orientation, crime fighters and strict rule appliers.
The Coates typology is made up of police officers, who always give community based services the first priority in their careers, task oriented cops who often ensure that given rules and regulations cover almost everything. The Muirs Typology is made up various categories of officers including those who have the tendency of avoid their duties at any slightest opportunity, the professionals who do appropriate integration of sympathy and coercion, enforcers who exhibit both coerciveness and cynicism and finally the reciprocators who are often extremely sympathetic with difficulties in decision making.
In conclusion, a given law enforcement officer should be flexible enough to adjust and adapt to life in all the four police worlds i.e. the defensive world, the paperwork station based world, the social corporate world and finally the quick responsestreet world.
Racism and Police Culture
In law enforcement and policing, the phrase racial profiling is often used to describe and illustrate an individuals ethnicity or race as a major factor that influences a cops decision for instance expressing logical reason to question, arrest or stop an individual. These acts of discretion based on race and ethnicity by most law enforcement officers amount to the direct violation and infringement of an individuals civil rights. For the benefit of the police service and its public image, any officer suspected of promoting racism within or outside the police service should be reported to higher authorities. Before forwarding such cases, the officer concerned should always take adequate preventive measures to minimize chances of victimization for his actions.
In an attempt to fight racism in the U.K police force, a commission of inquiry on racial equality was established to suggest and recommend all necessary reforms that could be adopted to end the persistent tradition of racism within the law enforcement service. The commission of inquiry into the issue recommended that a different and independent body, other than the police service should be formed with an aim of investigating such claims in order to gain public confidence.
In the world today, racism in law enforcement and policing may take several forms. The most common examples include, but are not confined to, the deployment trends and patterns, evaluation of the arrest statistics, recruitments, reported incidences of police brutality and frequent encounters with violence by the targeted minority race(s).
The table below shows the 5 year projection on changing demographic trends and efforts to balance the racial composition of the American police service from the year 2006.
Source Crank, J. (2004) Police Culture in a Changing Multicultural Environment, pp 68 in Q. Thurman A
Race20062007200820092010White9085807260Black810121418Hispanic1351012Female113410
In the early 1990s, Black American officers were the dominant group in Washington D.C., Detroit and Atlanta whereas in Miami, the majority group was the Hispanics. Most people who were advocating for police reforms in terms of racial composition had arguments that police officers from minority races could quite easily establish good working rapport with the minority groups and could quite easily favour them when they are caught up breaking the law.
Deployment and Recruitment patterns
Most senior officers in charge of transfers have got the tendency of transferring their juniors to regions and neighbourhoods where their races are dominant. To some extent, residents of such neighbourhoods often openly admit that their regions are overstaffed by officers of a given race. In even worst case scenarios, pro-racism senior police officers often transfer their juniors belonging to particular races to regions characterised by high rates of racist and xenophobic attacks. This is normally aimed at settling racial scores and sabotaging the work of affected junior officers.
Racism also takes centre stage during recruitments, selection and hiring of law enforcement officers. Applicants from a given race may have some added advantage since some rules such as education level, crime history, heights and health conditions often favours some races during such recruitment drives
Arrest Statistics
Racism in the police force can also be established by studying the arrest statistics. In the U.S. alone, statistics indicate that white males only have an overall lifetime arrest probability of 15 percent compared to black males who have a greater probability of 52 percent. This fact is attributed to the fact that blacks only make a total of 12.5 percent of all sworn in law enforcement officers in the U.S. the remaining percentage is comprised of whites and other related races.
About 65 percent of those shot dead by police officers in the U.S. are black and may imply some forms of racism in the murders. This point is however debatable since some regions in the U.S., usually referred to as ghettos or slums are associated with high crime rates due to many factors such as unemployment. The number of those killed in such regions should therefore not be used as a measure of racism.
Incidences of Police Brutality and Violent Encounters
Another act that can be regarded as an act of racism in the U.S. police force is the reported incidences of police brutality. According to most black officers who have been reported for such off duty incidences, and increased public complaints, all these allegations are based on the colour of their skin which is in reality a case of racism.
Most encounters associated with violence are usually left for black officers (approximately 23 percent) compared to their white counters who only encounter 11 percent of such incidences. These forms of prejudice and unfairness can only be attributed to racism since the number of black officers is much less than that of the white enforcers and yet ironically more black officers deal with risky and life- threatening exposures. It can also be argued that the U.S and British law enforcement officers usually deployed or taken for peace keeping missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries with extreme cases of violence and civil strife are often black and Hispanic officers.
The most notorious incidences of racism and police brutality in the U.S. have been reported in the State of Ohio. As an example, one lady was allegedly arrested, beaten up and tortured for several hours in February, 2008 after she had tried to find police help.
Another young mother was also brutally murdered when holding her infant kid. The mother and her baby were allegedly used as targets during shooting exercises by the racist SWAT squad. All these incidences occurring in a span of two weeks were attributed partly to racism.
In many cases, officers who end up exposing any acts of racism within a given police service unit end up being directly victimised and isolated by their colleagues belonging to the other race. Victimization may take various forms not limited to unjustified transfers, demotions, murders, framing of affected officers to various crimes and in the worst case, murders and arranged attacks. Victims of racist attacks within the police service often avoid taking legal actions since by filing civil suits against their racist bosses they end up being penalized by being assigned less attractive tasks and poor work recommendations and ratings.
Sexism and the Police Culture
Sexism is the attitude or mindset that a given sex or gender is less competent, less valuable or inferior to the other gender. Sexism may also refer to the general prejudice towards sex as a whole through either female or male chauvinism. Generally the police culture is more unambiguous regarding its perception of women. This is what portrays the force as being one of the most sexist groups in internationally. According to recorded statistics, the Navy is the most sexist global organization with an average reporting rate of 91 percent followed by law enforcement and policing agencies with an average reporting rate of 68 percent.
According to reports in the Journal of Employee Rights and Responsibilities in November, 2009, research conducted in Netherlands to evaluate the possible outcomes of the sexism policy in the Netherlands Police Service Unit between the years 2000 2006 clearly showed that cases of sexual harassment involving both the female and male officers within the service were rising at an alarming rate. The research findings also reported increased sexism cases in the police service stations that were male dominated.
In most cases, the attitudes of individual officers towards their departments, roles and obligations are not normally affected by their gender. However, it may be argued that unlike males, female officers usually embrace community policing programs and initiatives with a more open heart.
Sexual harassment
In general terms, sexual harassment is described as any form of undesirable actions or advances that create a daunting, offensive or hostile working environment. From this definition, it can be deduced that there exists two forms of sexual harassment namely the quid pro quo which is an open and certainly offensive sexual advance whereby the perpetrators of such acts, usually senior police officers, demand sex as a payback for certain favours such as promotions to their juniors. The other form in which sexual harassment can take shape is more commonly portrayed in working environments and several other places other than the police force.
To clearly demonstrate unfriendly work atmospheres, the aggrieved party must always be in provide evidence related to the allegations of the sexual harassment and directly indicate how the offence inhibited or interfered with her health, emotions and normal working. If it is confirmed, then an appropriate penalty should be issued to the guilty perpetrator. Despite the ever increasing numbers of policewomen who experience such antagonistic acts, only 12 percent report their cases. About 3 opt to solve such matters through informal channels. In most cases however, half of the affected women usually ignore the case, a quarter of them seek medical advice, 16 resign from duty and the remaining 12 abscond work..
Effects of Sexism within the Police force
The nature of the effect of sexual harassment on a given victim or the social organization is in most cases dependent on an individuals response mechanism. Possible effects of sexual harassment within or outside the police force include isolation, stress and depression, physical injuries and illness, emotional distress and contracting of sexually transmitted diseases. In some cases, it may inhibit a given officers capacity to perform her duties due to the embarrassment brought about by the activity to the victim, the perpetrator and her colleagues.
In most cases, women feel confined to either one of the possible four possible roles that policemen allow them to play. Some of the roles include the sex toy role, the sympathetic mother role, the kid sister role and the butch role which is more of a mans role. According to Kanters studies and theories of tokenism, sexual harassment in a given police station is usually more physical if the female officers in the station are less than 15 percent. More cases of psychological forms of sexual harassment usually occur if the number of police women in a given station is more than 15 percent.
Dealing with Sexual Harassment in the Police Service
This prohibited activity can be minimized through adopting several preventive strategies by the vulnerable group of officers. To scare away potential perpetrators of this scourge, all affected officers should always try to act with authority and professionalism, should avoid disclosing extreme details of their social or private lives, minimize chances of being in compromised positions with the suspected perpetrators, always avoid accepting or demanding for personal favours for this may be used as a trap and finally, the officers should always keep any conversations to work related subjects and resist any attempts to divert subjects during conversations.
Any police officer who gets sexually harassed in one way or another should always initiate actions that can minimize the activity for instance through documentation, reporting and issuing warning notifications to the perpetrators. This should first be done in friendly and professional ways especially in cases where the victim has to continue working with such a colleague.
In situations where diplomatic means fail to stop sexism and associated harassments in the police working environments, legal remedies may be pursued through human rights organs, labour courts and trade unions, applying criminal suits e.g. for rape cases, and instituting civil suits and actions which often take long durations to reach conclusions.
The management team of any police service unit should always be informed of any sexism and associated harassment that takes shape within their units. Failure to justly deal with the prevalent cases on the part of such employers may result in serious legal actions. The most common and effective preventive measures that may be adopted by law enforcement agencies are not limited to, organizing sensitization seminars and forums for senior managers on the subject, creating employee awareness about it and possible consequences if implicated, investigating reported cases and subsequently disciplining such offenders, and finally offering medical treatment and psychological counselling to the police officers who fall victim of such cases.
Homophobia and Police Culture
Homophobia may be described as the open discrimination against individuals perceived as homosexuals. In general terms it may be described as an aversion to and irrational fear of homosexuality and to gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people usually based on acts of intolerance and prejudice. Homophobia usually manifests itself in various forms namely social homophobia, internalized homophobia, rationalized homophobia and finally the emotional homophobia. Homophobia in the police culture falls under social homophobia manifestation.
Cases of homophobia are prevalent in the law enforcement and police service. This has left thousands of women and men feeling discriminated against and excluded according to several surveys. The question of whether the British law enforcement officers still have a trouble with the homosexual community has many answers. Hari Johann explains that, several forms of evidence linking outright bigotry from state agents, particularly the police service are emerging with every passing day.
A survey conducted by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advisory Group in 2007 clearly shows that the manner in which the British police handle cases related to homophobic murders is in itself suspicious, and clearly shows increased forms of institutionalised homophobia in the British police service. The British Gay Police Association indicates that most law enforcement officers avoid investigating homophobic attacks resulting from religious causes.
A survey conducted on 200 homosexuals by GALOP (the gay London police monitoring unit) in 1998 on the victims aged 15 26 established that 80 percent of the victims had at one point been issued by homophobic threats and 48 percent of them had already been attacked. Only a third of the 19 percent victims who reported the cases got massive support from the police service.
Over the years, the general policing of the homosexual gay lesbian community have continued to undergo improvements all over the world. These improvements are pegged on the individual discipline of the police officers since most countries have not yet adopted or embraced policies that sound friendly to members of this community. Most law enforcement agencies in the worlds major cities often isolate such publicly known gay communities during their recruitment drives to minimize chances of hiring such people in the police force.
Fighting Combating Homophobia
Several internationally renowned human rights bodies e.g. Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch dog have always publicly condemned and distanced themselves from any legislations that criminalise voluntary gay unions between adults of sound mind. The United Nations Human Rights Committee declared in 1994 that laws against homosexuality were against the victims rights to privacy provided for by the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. According to statements issued to the UN General Assembly, some religious denominations particularly the Roman Catholic Church in 2008 relaxed its position on homosexuality and urged nations to scrap harsh penalties issued against homosexual people
In most cases, the gays, lesbians, transgender and bisexual communities often use political activism and organise lesbian gay pride parades. In Latin America, mass media anti homophobia campaigns have been embraced since 2002 as a tool of combating homophobia. To add on the public opinion, several laws and legislations have been formulated in many countries to illegalise homophobia. Early this year, a research conducted by the Stockholm University College, Sweden established that out of 85 countries in the world that consider lesbianism and homosexuality as illegal affairs, 6, particularly the Islamic nations issue a death penalty for any activities associated with homophobia. Such Islam countries include Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania and some states and provinces of Nigeria and Somalia.
In the 1990s, the British police force stepped up its fight against homosexuals. The police officers used powerful binoculars and hidden cameras installed in toilets and casinos so as to monitor such activities. Some could use ingenious methods by camouflaging as gayslesbians and then convicting and arresting responding culprits.
The ever increasing cases of homophobia in India and some nations of South Asia may have the direct benefit of uniting religious and political lobby groups and moral police. A recent judgement by the high court in Delhi (as quoted in the July 02, Herald Newspaper), legalizing gay unions was victorious to human rights activists, but disastrous to conservative bodies and other religious forces that do all in their disposal to condemn the prevalent acts of homosexuality and any attempts to legalise the activity in India. Religious conservatives openly have the fears that legalising such activities may result in sexual anarchy within the society and erosion of the Indian traditions by western forces.
In the year 2006, Britains Labour government formulated legislations and laws that criminalised any forms of prejudice and discrimination of gay and lesbian people at their work places. This government move was however questionable in the eyes of gay law enforcement officers since the government at the same time had passed laws that guaranteed religious rights and freedoms. Since the British enjoy their constitutionally approved religious rights, religious homophobes take this opportunity to fight and combat same sex unions and activities.
In different parts of Britain, several strategies and measures have been put in place to monitor and fight homophobia and related violence cases within and outside the police service. Common example of such strategies is the assignment of a transformed gay police officer to investigate and deal with any reported cases of homophobic crimes, creation of a special police line to report the anti-lesbian attacks.
Homophobia may also be dealt with appropriately by the police service when they place notices and posters and adverts in the media, casinos, public libraries and colleges illegalizing and criminalizing homophobic attacks and providing police hotline details on such adverts. The police may also fight this habit by organizing regular open forums between them, the gay community and the general public with an aim of reaching an optimal solution agreeable to both parties. Since most law enforcement agencies including the police have several resources at their disposal, these readily available resources may be widely used in organizing massive operations in combating gay unions and conducting conclusive investigations on reported an unrecorded cases of homophobic attacks.
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