Does Diversity Training Have an Impact on Community Policing, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The modern human society is changing and so as its people. Gone are the days when one community is majorly composed of individuals belonging to one race or one nationality only. Considerably, today, one community houses at least ten to thirteen different racial denominations that live together at some point even at home-spaces too close to each other. This is the reason why in urban areas, tenement housings have become evidently diversified with residents coming from different nations, having different cultures, beliefs as well as behaviours. This is the reason why in areas such as the one pictured in the description above, conflicts often arise between neighbours. In instances such as this, the need to be careful and alert especially on the part of the policing officers is a must. Unlike before when the police officers simply need to know what is behind the cases they handle, today, the officers need to dig deeper. Aside from the reasons of the crime, officers today are in need of deciphering the consequential effect of diversity among the individuals involved in the situation.

In consideration with this matter, police officers are now being challenged with the need to master particular issues that involve social and behavioural psychology. It could be noticed that these issues involve critical matters that consider the involvement of personality conflicts that not all policing officers are trained to undergo as they study in the universities that they graduate from. Relatively, such training come from in-house support which means officers are presented with the lessons alongside the actual involvement that they have with the policing procedures in the field. Today’s modern policing commitment does not only involve deciphering a case according to evidence, it also involves creating a pattern of crime-occurrence based on the behaviour of the criminal and the victims that also includes an examination over the backgrounds that these individuals have especially related to being a part of a diversified community. The need to train police officers in facing the challenge of dealing with a diverse particular research materials utilized as resources for this discussion shall provide a better indication on the proceedings and results on how diversity training actually impacts the process of community policing applied in the modern society today.

What is Diversity Training?

Diversity training is basically a process of redefining the procedures of policing in the community through re-establishing a source of development that would empower the police officers in facing new challenges in the field of their duties. Considering that the society has already changed a lot since the entrant of the 20^th century, it could not be denied that diversity has become an evident element that makes up the new world. Almost everything and anything depends on it. With immigration being an open course of decision for many, urban areas even the rural areas in well-developed countries become filled with individuals and families coming from different nations. The issue that usually spurs out from this matter is the fact that at some point, these individuals and families, who are trying to squeeze in the new society they hope to live in, deal with different dilemmas including social discrimination.

The issue of discrimination alone, although noted to be as simple as it could be considered, is one of the leading causes of increased victimization in the modern world today. Relatively, being able to see how discrimination can be controlled through properly managed policing approach provides the policing officers the confidence to develop their process of assisting individuals coming from different races having different cultures and beliefs in life. At least being able to reduce the conflict and the tension between these residents in a community helps a lot in lowering the number of criminal cases involving racial disparity. Managing these situations properly however require a special skill and a concentration on a specific understanding over race, culture and diversity. This is one of the scopes discussed in diversity training. Police officers are subjected to a time-dependent program that helps them see through the situations that they are likely to incur with in the field. Giving them an overview to have them focus on what to expect specifically prepares them for the challenges that could put their position in the field in jeopardy. Knowing how to deal with racial disparity is an important factor to consider especially when one officer is expected to patrol over a community housing individuals from different nationalities.

It is with the emergence of diversity training that police officers are presented with the different ways of handling people’s concerns based on their racial identity. Police officers, as notable public servants, are expected to adjust to the situation so as to fix conflicts even before they become crimes that are already unmanageable. According to Davis and Erez’s (1998) study on Immigrant Populations as Victims: Toward a Multicultural Criminal Justice System, the course of living has changed so much for immigrants and at some point some of such changes render them vulnerable to crimes that could be directed to their racial denomination. Notably, police officers who have undergone diversity training already know this fact in a more in-depth scope allowing them to see through the possible vulnerable individuals in the community and thus assist them. There are of course those other immigrants, who out of frustration resort to aggression just so to make a stand in the new community they are trying to fit in. Notably, diversity training equips policing officers with the right skill to handle such conflicts in a way that would both help and make such criminal perpetrators to realize the wrong thing they have committed and move on to a better way of living.

The Implications and Implementations of the Program

 There have been different reactions to the implementation of diversity training in policing facilities all around the globe. Relatively, in highly urbanized regions such as that of the western countries, although such training is a must, other traditional police officers do not feel so much of the need for such program. On the other hand, new police officers and fresh graduates from the academies know how hard it is to face a diversified community and thus understands the need for such program. Take note that the program does not only provide supportive understanding on what the police officers should expect from outside their offices and out in the field. They are also given a heads up on how they are supposed to deal with diversity issues in an internal scope. This means that they are trained to maintain camaraderie among themselves and their colleagues who at some point could also come from other races and may also have different forms of beliefs and culture that affects their behavioural conditioning at work.

Relatively, knowing how to deal with the issue in an external and internal scope provides police officers see both the advantages and disadvantages of the issues of diversity in their job and their responsibilities towards the public. This has been further defined by Dilulio (1993, et al) in the study regarding Performance Measures for the Criminal Justice System. Through this material, Dilulio and his colleagues presented a remarkable distinction on how the performance of police officers have improved through time as the application of the diversity training programs have been implemented in several policing facilities around highly urbanized communities. Eck and Weisburd (2004) further elaborates the matter in their discussion on What Can Police Do to Reduce Crime, Disorder, and Fear. Here they discussed how the knowledge of police officers about diversity and its impact in the society and its residents create a conflicting matter that can be fixed and managed properly through proper policing approaches and established cooperation among the members of the community.

Results and Reflections

 Diversity is an unavoidable result of globalization that is now becoming the culture of the modern human society. As presented in this discussion, dealing with it in a more productive manner provides the policing committees better strength and control of the possible conflicts that diversity itself brings about. Tillman’s (2000) definition of The Effectiveness of Community Policing supports the said matter through creating a convincing argument that following through the modern changes that the society incurs makes policing efforts more efficient in terms of public service. True, advancement is a process that cannot be stopped; it should be followed through hence remaining in balance with the progress that the society takes. Diversity training programs directed to policing officers empower them not only to deal with the conflicts of their responsibilities but also to create a meaning for themselves that makes them more efficient in completing their duties hence allowing them to achieve more.

References:

Dilulio, J.J; Alpert, G. (et al). (1993). Performance Measures for the Criminal Justice System. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pmcjs.pdf. (Retrieved on March 16, 2012).

Tillman, R. (2000). The Effectiveness of Community Policing. School of Police Staff & Command. Eastern Michigan University. http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Unsorted/Effectiveness%20of%20Community%20Policing.pdf. (Retrieved on March 16, 2012).

Weisburd, D. ; Eck, J. (2004). What Can Police Do to Reduce Crime, Disorder, and Fear. http://gunston.gmu.edu/cebcp/WeisburdEck04.pdf. (Retrieved on March 16, 2012).

Travis, J. (1998). Immigrant Populations as Victims: Toward a Multicultural Criminal Justice System. National Institute of Justice. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/167571.pdf. (Retrieved on March 16, 2012).

Alexandra Kalev, Frank Dobbin and Erin Kelley (2006), “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies”, American Sociological Review 71: 589–617.

Vaughn, B. “The history of diversity training and its pioneers”, Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management, pp. 11-16, Spring 2007. DTUI Publications Division: San Francisco.