NCJ Number
197786
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 71 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 16-18
Date Published
November 2002
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article emphasizes the importance of appropriate training and education as the key to preparing police officers to provide effective services to increasingly culturally diverse communities.
Abstract
Law enforcement administrators must commit to a proactive approach to eliminate community disorder and unrest, particularly that which results from a lack of police officers' understanding of the culturally diverse perspectives, traditions, attitudes, and behaviors of the citizens they serve. Police administrators can reduce the human factors that spark community unrest and dissatisfaction by recognizing, accepting, and managing cultural diversity and human differences, both within their departments and their communities. When police do not have an understanding of the diversity of cultural influences in the communities they serve, the community will lack a significant component of the leadership necessary for a community to address its problems through citizen-police positive interactions and cooperation. Training in cultural diversity can help police officers make a break from their traditional stance of being "apart from" the community to a more inclusive philosophy of being "a part of" the community. Police administrators must be aware of and attempt to deal with the attitudes, biases, and prejudices that police officers carry into their job performance. Training must develop interpersonal skills, such as active listening, and police personnel must become aware of their own feelings, values, biases, and behavior. Only through training and continuous reinforcement both within the department and in community policing can cultural-diversity management take hold and become the organizational norm. 3 notes