NCJ Number
194024
Date Published
2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This lesson plan is provided as a teaching aid for instructors or facilitators responsible for providing information to police officers on the issue of mutual respect in policing.
Abstract
The ultimate performance objective of the training is to instill in trainees the importance of and skills for police behavior that is respectful of the rights and sensitivities of those with whom they interact in the course of their police duties. A focus of the training is unbiased policing that refrains from using race as a reason to stop someone and the nurturing of community partnerships in promoting safety and order. This lesson plan is to be used in conjunction with a video that presents five scenarios that are to be analyzed to promote respectful police practices. In one scenario a white male officer makes a traffic stop of a Black male motorist in a newer Cadillac. The class is guided in a critique of the officer's demeanor and behavior in managing the interaction. In a second scenario, an African-American couple is looking at a house in a nice neighborhood when they are confronted by two police officers, one a white female and the other a white male. Issues of racial bias are discussed in the analysis. In the third scenario, two traffic stops are portrayed, one of an African-American in a red Corvette and the other of a white man in a SUV. The other scenarios are of two white officers leading a Latino youth to his home and past several local residents and two youth playing, one African-American and the other white, when they are approached by a police officer in a cruiser. Instructions are provided for the trainer in guiding the discussion of each scenario through recommended questions, with some suggestion as to how trainees may answer. 11 resources