NCJ Number
90109
Journal
Counselor Education and Supervison Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1982) Pages: 181-186
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Human relations skills in police hands become effective tools for achieving social control while avoiding resistance generated by more coercive methods, thus functioning as oppressive rather than as humanistic measures.
Abstract
The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 has resulted in increased expenditures on police technology and humanistically oriented police training programs, two outcomes which may not be as contradictory as they appear. Human relations experts agree that while both coercive and interpersonal skills are necessary for the good police officer, alliance techniques are preferred. However, advocates of human relations training ignore the police role in maintaining social inequities through suppression of riots and robbery, repressing dissent and social change, and diffusing legitimate protest. Arguments can be made that humanizing the police represents progress because it changes an important group's attitudes and behavior and can moderate community reactions to law enforcement. However, human relations skills in the hands of society's main enforcers can also function as a less expensive way of achieving control. Such methods do not address social or economic problems, but try to make oppressed people more accepting of their lot. Thus, the framers of the Safe Streets Act understood the complementary roles of coercive and alliance police tactics. The essay includes 16 references.