The current movement to develop cultural diversity awareness training programs for police officers and other criminal justice personnel may support rather than transform the status quo, but contradictions within the mission of cultural diversity awareness training should not cause such training to be abolished or discourage improved police-minority relations.
The cultural diversity training movement has arisen out of a growing sense of urgency regarding tensions in police-minority relations. Cultural diversity, cultural sensitivity, or race relations training is a central component of many recent proposals to reform police-community relations. Some cultural diversity training programs have developed in response to pressure from grass roots organizations, while others are proactive initiatives of criminal justice and government officials. The effectiveness of cultural diversity training must be assessed in relation to the history of criminal justice policy innovations and in the context of the fundamental nature of policing and police-community relations. Initiatives in cultural diversity training are noted, and ways in which the cultural diversity training movement authenticates theoretical approaches to social phenomena are examined. 29 references and 10 notes