Police Diversity Research Paper
How diversity affects police work?
Traci Ann Fuchs
August 16, 2013
SS 310 Cultural Diversity
DR. Don Kirk Macon
The role of the police is to enforce the law, not to question it. This means that the police have been used to do society 's racial dirty work--to return runaway slaves to their masters and to enforce segregation in the South. We have only to think of Southern sheriffs like "Bull" Connor to remind us of how the white power structure has fought to maintain its privileges. However, it also pays to remember that it is always easier to admit the sins of the past than it is to identify those of today. Few people today would defend a sheriff like Connor, but while there is widespread agreement today that racism is a serious problem, …show more content…
There are, of course, no guarantees that Community Policing can prevent civil disorders. But by reducing opportunities for police brutality and encouraging better relations between people and their police, Community policing can reduce the threat. Obviously, Community Policing cannot solve all the underlying economic and social problems, that poor neighborhoods face. Community Officers also cannot close the income gap between whites and minorities, nor do they come to their beats bearing lists of high-paying jobs for unskilled workers. Community Officers also cannot undo the effects of past childhood abuse and neglect. They cannot single-handedly eradicate the scourge of substance abuse, domestic evidence, illiteracy, and poverty, though they may be able to do far more than their motor patrol counterparts. Yet even the most dedicated Community Officers cannot play both Mother and Father for all the children whose parents simply do not …show more content…
(Robert M. Shusta, 2103) The American criminal justice system was based on the belief of providing equality to all individuals legal and illegal charged with a crime or suspected of committing a crime in the United States. Unfortunately, disparity and discrimination continues to occur from the time an individual of a low socioeconomic status or of color comes into contact with law enforcement right through the entire stages of a trial, and into the correctional facility. Fortunately, with the increase in minority population the criminal justice system is witnessing a shift in balance. Even though whites still continue to dominate all aspects of the criminal justice system, minorities are entering the system at record speeds. Minorities employed in the system offer new ideas responsible for creating and implementing new policies, procedures, and laws. This in return, is creating a system open to culture and a Nation as highly developed and sophisticated as the United States cannot accept anything less. (Harley,
Traci Ann Fuchs
August 16, 2013
SS 310 Cultural Diversity
DR. Don Kirk Macon
The role of the police is to enforce the law, not to question it. This means that the police have been used to do society 's racial dirty work--to return runaway slaves to their masters and to enforce segregation in the South. We have only to think of Southern sheriffs like "Bull" Connor to remind us of how the white power structure has fought to maintain its privileges. However, it also pays to remember that it is always easier to admit the sins of the past than it is to identify those of today. Few people today would defend a sheriff like Connor, but while there is widespread agreement today that racism is a serious problem, …show more content…
There are, of course, no guarantees that Community Policing can prevent civil disorders. But by reducing opportunities for police brutality and encouraging better relations between people and their police, Community policing can reduce the threat. Obviously, Community Policing cannot solve all the underlying economic and social problems, that poor neighborhoods face. Community Officers also cannot close the income gap between whites and minorities, nor do they come to their beats bearing lists of high-paying jobs for unskilled workers. Community Officers also cannot undo the effects of past childhood abuse and neglect. They cannot single-handedly eradicate the scourge of substance abuse, domestic evidence, illiteracy, and poverty, though they may be able to do far more than their motor patrol counterparts. Yet even the most dedicated Community Officers cannot play both Mother and Father for all the children whose parents simply do not …show more content…
(Robert M. Shusta, 2103) The American criminal justice system was based on the belief of providing equality to all individuals legal and illegal charged with a crime or suspected of committing a crime in the United States. Unfortunately, disparity and discrimination continues to occur from the time an individual of a low socioeconomic status or of color comes into contact with law enforcement right through the entire stages of a trial, and into the correctional facility. Fortunately, with the increase in minority population the criminal justice system is witnessing a shift in balance. Even though whites still continue to dominate all aspects of the criminal justice system, minorities are entering the system at record speeds. Minorities employed in the system offer new ideas responsible for creating and implementing new policies, procedures, and laws. This in return, is creating a system open to culture and a Nation as highly developed and sophisticated as the United States cannot accept anything less. (Harley,