Cultural Diversity for the Criminal Justice Professional – 2 Teamwork B Week 10: Week Ten - B: Teamwork Note You must not copy and paste information. Do not copy or paste information / Please ……. (In your own words, referencing) Only 100 words Instructional Objectives for this activity: Compare the rationale for and against the collection of racial profiling data. Suppose that your group was given the economic resources and political clout to monitor traffic stops among police officers and their contact with the public. What steps would the group take to alleviate the problem of racial profiling during traffic stops? How would the group measure your success or failure in reducing or eliminating racial profiling? Would the department hire someone from the outside to monitor the program? Why or why not? For your individual main post, identify an issue related to prejudice, racial profiling, or stereotyping that has a major negative social impact within criminal justice. Explain the basis for your selection and your reasoning. Explain the steps you would take to alleviate the problem and how you would measure your success. Police departments across the country have spent enormous amounts of money to maintain the integrity of their respective departments. This week, we will take a look at programs that could potentially reduce the problem of racial profiling and aid in maintaining a police departments' integrity. • Read Chapter 13, "Racial Profiling,” pages 388-428. Racial Profiling: The authors will use the definition by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). According to those organizations, racial; profiling is any police- initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origins rather than on the behavior of an individual or on information that leads the police to a particular individual who also known as “Driving While Black or Brown (DWB), HAS BEEN RULED ILLEGAL BY the courts and is considered improper police practice by law enforcement officers and agencies. Police Perceptions: What are the police officers’ perceptions of allegations that all race- based decision making by them is motivated by their own prejudice? Most law enforcement officers would maintain they are not biased, prejudiced, or using racial profiling in their policing methods. Proactive policing sometimes involves using legitimate profiling based on officer experience and training or using profiles provided by their agency. Sometimes, however officer experience can mean a lot of things. If the experience leads to faulty assumptions and conclusions, then the officer might engage in inappropriate behavior and take the wrong action. (See the section “Education and Training” of this chapter for a discussion of the sources of officers’ beliefs and attitudes.) Officers use profiling (behavioral commonalities or indicator) or written profiles to identify those whom they should investigate to determine if they are committing or about to commit a crime. Profiling is done in a daily basis by police officers, not just in high- crime areas where gangs congregate or highway corridors where drug runners operate, but in all communities. It also takes place in predominantly white communities when officers see out- of- place it suspicious- looking members of minority groups. The officer in this situation would argue that he or she would find reason to check out anyone, regardless of color, who did not seem to fit the area or time sees a white person in a predominantly minority area, especially if the area is one in which drug sales or prostitution takes place. The officer checks out the individual if reasonable suspicion is present that a crime night is taking place. Most officers would emphatically deny they are biased or prejudiced when using such profiling. CALEA in 2001 issued Standard 1.2.9. Regarding bias- based profiling. The standard requires that CALEA accredited agencies have a written policy governing bias-based profiling and, at a minimum, include the following provisions: (1) a prohibition against biased- based profiling in traffic contacts, in field contacts, and in asset seizures and forfeiture efforts; (2) training agency enforcement personnel in bias-based profiling issues including legal aspects; (3) corrective measures if bias- based profiling occurs; and (4) an annual administrative review of agency practices including citizen concerns. CALEA does not require mandatory collection of traffic stop data even though there is a growing demand for such action. The Commission’s position is that not all systems are in use and / or the situation in the community served does not indicate there is a concern about police bias (Bureau of Justice Statistics Report, 2006). The officers the departments should be recruiting are those who are aware of and capable of managing their own ethnic, racial, and cultural stereotypes and bias a professional way. Within legal parameters, the demographics. Those hired should be expected to carry out their community’s racial and ethnic demographics. Those hired should be expected to carry out their duties with fairness and impartiality. Having such a workforce increases the probability that, as a whole, the agency will be able to understand the perspectives of its racial/ethnic minorities and communicate with them effectively. Professional Police Traffic stops: The reason for every stop made by a law enforcement officer must by legally defendable and professional. Professional traffic stops involve four key elements: • Organizational/ agency policy. Agencies must develop a well-structured policy concerning professional traffic stops, outlining the conduct of officers and the prohibition of discriminatory practices. • Officer training. Agencies should include a component on racial profiling into existing in-service training programs. Special workshop discussions on the racial profiling can also be scheduled. • Data collection. Agencies should mist collect traffic stop data when the situation in the community served indicate that there is a concern about police bias. • Accountability/ supervision. Law enforcement supervisors and managers must hold officers accountable for adhering to the policy. They must personally take the message to employees, as well as to the public, that biased policing will not be tolerated and could result in discipline, possibly including prosecution or termination. Mangers, supervisors, and the entire workforce must embrace and adhere to the policy. Summary: Citizen discontent and lawsuits can originate as a result of racial profiling or the use of any profiling that appears to have been based on bias. Law enforcement professionals must be critical and introspective when analyzing the problem of racism and prejudice in the feeling the topic of profiling engenders. Reference: Shusta, R. M. Levine, D.R., (2010. Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society. 5th edition. New Jersey: Pearson.