NCJ Number
163985
Date Published
1993
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video instructs police officers in the importance and techniques of respecting and communicating with cultural, racial, and gender groups different from their own.
Abstract
The material is designed to help officers re-examine values, beliefs, and attitudes toward diverse groups and expand their cultural awareness. Through a series of dramatized vignettes, discrimination and stereotyping is shown in a law enforcement setting. The scenarios depict how easy it is to be misunderstood by citizens or fellow employees. They demonstrate stereotyping and prejudicial behavior against minority and gender groups and contain suggestions for overcoming these problems. The first section of vignettes pertains to respect for cultural, gender, ethnic, and rank differences among police officers themselves. The vignettes depict insensitive comments within the organizational setting, and suggest the importance of respecting the feelings of fellow officers. Other vignettes pertain to how officers view the communities and individuals they serve. Some of the issues addressed are the stereotyping of certain racial groups as likely to be criminals, such that an officer assumes that a person of a particular race has a criminal background or is prone to criminal behavior. Vignettes consider such issues as language barriers, communicating respect for a person of a different race, and avoidance of value judgments about people. An instructional pamphlet accompanies the video.