Today there is a significant will, politically and socially, for law enforcement to be physically closer and more proactively involved in the communities they serve.
In community-oriented policing, there are several objectives it is intended to accomplish. A summary of the key goals is paraphrased below from a document prepared by the Department of Justice (DOJ):
Despite varying definitions of community- oriented policing, it is generally agreed that there are three key components to the community policing philosophy.
the creation of and reliance on effective partnerships with the community and other public/private-sector resources
the application of problem-solving strategies or tactics
the transformation of police organization and culture to support this philosophical shift
In other words, community policing is not in itself a tactic or strategy, but instead a philosophical approach to how policing is conducted. At its core, community-oriented policing is based on law enforcement and the community joining together to identify and address issues of crime and social disorder.
Source: United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, “What is Community Policing,” http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=36
Many feel these methods can significantly contribute to a more effective relationship between law enforcement and the people
in the community. However, some events have made it difficult for this process to realize its desired outcome: Police officers being ambushed in their squad car, citizens being shot under questionable circumstances, communities rioting and marching in protest of police actions, police officers being assassinated, local law enforcement becoming involved in immigration and deportation matters, and the speed that this information is now communicated. These have a direct effect on the ability to build trusting and constructive relationships between local law enforcement and the people in the communities they serve.
Some of us want to place police officers on a higher and different level of “humanness”. However, they are no more, or less, human than you and I. Police officers face the same personal opportunities, issues and challenges that we all do. The uniform and badge do not provide any super-human or super-natural capabilities. So, what makes a police officer different from those not in law enforcement? The major difference is the screening and training they receive.
However, like us, police officers have early environments and experiences with others, situations, and events that influence and shape their beliefs.
As it relates to unconscious biases, they, like you and I, are affected by the same root causes: early environment and experiences.
Regardless of how unique our individual environments and experiences were, they create beliefs that we may not be aware of. Many of those beliefs may be based on false or inaccurate information. However, those beliefs still create biases for us. Many times, they are biases that we may not consciously recognize.
The question for this article is how does unconscious bias relate to the relationship between police officers and the people in the communities they serve?
The excerpt below sets the stage for our exploration of unconscious bias for the remainder of this article:
The brain processes information in a certain way, we gather millions of bits of information. What happens at the unconscious level is that we categorize this information. We categorize people by gender, ethnicity and a whole range of other social categories, such as disability, body size, and profession – if they are a police officer or a CEO – and other social labels. This categorization is useful for human beings as we use these visual clues to make assessments of people. The obvious problem is that we take these random categories and we start to make positive or negative views based on our relationships with others. If someone looks and sounds like me, if we have a similar background, I am much more likely to give a positive attribution to them. If someone is different, I’ll be more likely to give them a negative attribution.
In our interactive workshops and discussions regarding unconscious bias, we identify that our beliefs (accurate or inaccurate) can create biases that have a tremendous effect on our behavior (favorable or unfavorable). These biases produce our first responses when interacting with others, or, responding or reacting to situations and events. This is true rather we are a member of the community or a police officer in the community. Understanding and identifying our individual unconscious biases is key to modifying unfavorable behaviors.
To gain this understanding of ourselves it is necessary to revisit the root causes for our unconscious beliefs: Our early environments and our own experiences.
What are early environments and experiences? When we look at early environments and experiences during our interactive workshops with clients, here are some of the considerations:
Early Environment: Home, Neighborhood, Culture
Experiences: History, Spirituality, Education, Social Exposure, and Media
These components play a role in the way our unconscious minds view the world around us.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, our unconscious mind runs at an extremely faster rate than our conscious thoughts. This difference in speed is the primary reason that we need to have a clearer understanding of what our unconscious biases are. Because our immediate responses and reactions are normally ruled by our unconscious thoughts.
This understanding of our unconscious biases allows us to make decisions about our behaviors. Especially those behaviors that may not be consistent with our actual beliefs. This conversion process is what we call “Turning Unconscious Bias into Conscious Thought”.
“Officers need to make sure "that our language doesn't unintentionally reinforce biases that have been passed on to us…"
Luann Pannell, director of training and education for the Los Angeles Police Department.
In summary, Police officers carry tremendous responsibility and accountability as they serve and protect the public. However, in addition to law enforcement, physical and weapons training; we need to provide police officers with the tools to understand the unconscious biases that they enter the job with.
To build the type of trusting relationships required for effective community-oriented policing, the diversity and inclusion conversations and training must extend beyond the outer-appearances of gender, ethnicity, race, social status, etc. We must move into a better understanding of who we are; why we hold the beliefs, biases and views of how the world should be; and how we can begin to modify any unfavorable behaviors that may result from those views. Unconscious bias training is an essential tool for police officers. Police officers are human too!
Comments