Police Force Bias

Regardless of the fact that both the Police College and Police Force have been striving to promote in its formal structure, this study shows that informal channels of bias were still largely affected by perceptions and influence cadets’ training the College or their duties in the Police Force. It is investigated that the Police College is highly gender-segregated, which female and male cadets merely know each other and have minimal interactions. We can tell little effort was paid to challenge and debunk the common stereotypes against female and male in the Police College, hence such unfavourable social conceptions were brought from the external to the inner and continues to impact the culture in the Police Force.
The frequent contact among parties has found to be positively correlate out-group understanding and the reduction of biased prejudices (Ata, Bastian & Lusher, 2009; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). This study believes the limited social contact between female and male cadets serves as the foremost reason why the Police College failed to demystify biases and underpin the gender-segregated mind-set in the Police Force. As Field (2003) explains, intimacy,
similar background or similar experience creates bonds between individuals to reinforce identity and solidarity among the in-group members. As a result of the homogeneity within the groups built in the College, males and females in the Police Force may find it difficult to trust each other as an out-group people, or find each other in an opposing and competing position. With male remains as the dominating group in the Police Force, female officers are more likely to suffer from a less favourable opportunity and outcome due to their weaker link with people in significant position and limited channel to obtain essential information.
In this regards, this study believes it is essential for the Police College, as the socializing agency, to build reasonable contact and interactions between male and female cadets so that they can be equipped to work in and contribute to a gender-integrated environment for the Police Force. Both the Police Force should also evaluate how perceptions and the dominating networks has been affecting the dynamic between police officers and their opportunities. When considering position that traditionally fond of men or women, the department should be very aware of that they are looking for that stereotyped characteristics rather than a particular sex, as well as the unprescribed relationship between sex and their femininity or masculinity.
While this study has collected empirical evidence to investigate on the gender issue in Police College and the Police Force, this study is limited since only one female and one male cadets are interviewed.
This can affect the validity of this study since interviewees’ responses could be subjected to factors such as personal varieties and those particular tutors, colleagues or supervisors they. Therefore, results of this study cannot be generalized to represent the whole picture. However, this study has casted insights for subsequent research possibilities such as longitudinal study that tracks the changes of gender perceptions before and after the training in Police College or cohort study that investigates the differences of perceptions among officers admitted in different time period or with different
seniority.