Officer Richard Neil (retired)

1. Officer Richard Neil (retired) Community Diversity Part 5

3. Nuclear Survival Exercise Only 6 can enter . . .

4. 1. Bookkeeper, White, Male, 31 oldyears 2. His wife, 28, Asian, six months pregnant 3. Black male militant, 26, second-year medical student 4. Famous historian-author, Hispanic, Male, 42 years old 5. Hollywood starlet, 25, singer; dancer 6. Bio-chemist, 35, Male, Saudi, Muslim, 7. Rabbi; 54 oldyears 8. Olympic Track Athlete, 22, Black, Female 9. College student, 20, White, Female 10. Police Officer, 48, White, Male, with gun (they can’t be separated)

5. Which 4 did your group exclude? Why? Which 6 did your group keep? Why

6. RACISM AND BIGOTRY RACISM AND BIGOTRY ARE VERY MUCH A PART OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

8. RACISM CAN BE AS COMMON IN LAW ENFORCEMENT AS IN ANY OTHER SEGMENT OF SOCIETY

10. SPO #6 THREE TYPES OF RACISM • INDIVIDUAL • INSTITUTIONAL • CULTURAL

11. INDIVIDUAL RACISM The belief that ethnic minorities are inferior because of their racial identity and the corresponding behavior patterns which seem to perpetuate these attitudes and positions

13. INSTITUTIONAL RACISM • Any internal organizational activities that create racial inequalities and result in the subordination and oppression of minorities either intentional or the result of “business as usual” • Institutional racism is an extension of individual racism inherent in culture

14. CULTURAL RACISM • Involves the elevation of the cultural heritage of one group to a position of superiority over the cultural experiences of other ethnic, minority groups

15. CULTURAL RACISM • The idea that one group is right, to the exclusion of all others, prevails in this expression of racism

16. CULTURAL RACISM • In this view, only those values, attitudes, beliefs, traditions, customs and morals ascribed to the dominant group are considered acceptable and normal prescriptions of behavior

18. CULTURAL RACISM • Prejudice against individuals because of their culture • The culture of minority groups is seen as flawed in some way • Minorities are encouraged to turn their back on their own culture and to become absorbed by the majority culture • Cultural racism, as a theory, needs to prove the superiority of Europeans, and needs to do so without recourse to the older arguments from religion and from biology. How does it do this?

19. CULTURAL RACISM • By recourse to history – by constructing a characteristic theory of cultural (and intellectual) history • The claim is simply made that nearly all of the important cultural innovations which historically generate cultural progress occurred first in Europe, then, later, diffused to the non-European peoples

20. CULTURAL RACISM • Therefore, at each moment in history Europeans are more advanced than non-Europeans in overall cultural development, and they are more progressive than non-Europeans • This is asserted as a great bundle of apparently empirical facts about invention and innovation, not only of material and technological traits but of political and social traits like the state, the market, the family

22. SPO #7 PREJUDICE Unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious or national group

23. What’s different?

24. STEREOTYPES • Positive or negative images we hold of certain people, races or ethnic groups within various categories • People use stereotypes as a justification for their actions in accepting or rejecting various people or groups

25. DISCRIMINATION Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.

28. CONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE • When we accept a person “conditionally” a burden is placed on him or her • The term “If” is the key that locks them in a box • Conditional acceptance is the proposal to include a person as long as he or she changes something in his or her behavior or values to suit our taste • This kind of acceptance is not respectful of a person’s uniqueness

29. UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE • You include the person as he or she is • Is free from judgment and evaluation

30. PREJUDICIAL BEHAVIOR MAY BE RANKED ON A CONTINUUM FROM LEAST SEVERE TO MOST SEVERE • Avoidance • Negative speech • Discrimination • Physical attack • Extermination/genocide

31. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION TRAPS INTO WHICH OFFICERS CAN FALL • Using language to become or sound like “one of them” • Trying to “fit” by emulating the lifestyle of group members can be viewed as mocking that group • Working “too hard” not to offend can be offensive • Use of statements such as, “Some of my best friends are…” can be offensive

32. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Gestures. There are a few gestures in American English that are offensive in other cultures . . . [e.g., the O.K. gesture is obscene in Latin America, the good luck gesture is offensive in parts of Vietnam, and the “come here” gesture (beckoning people to come with the palm up) is very insulting in most of Asia and Latin America]

33. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Body Position. A person relaxing at his desk with his feet up, baring the soles of his shoes, would most likely offend a Saudi Arabian or Thai (and other groups as well) coming into the office. To show one’s foot in many cultures is insulting -- the foot is considered the dirtiest part of the body. (This would also apply to an officer who makes physical contact with the foot when, for example, someone is lying on the ground.)

34. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Facial Expressions. Not all facial expressions mean the same thing across cultures. The smile is a great source of confusion for many people in law enforcement when they encounter people from Asian, especially Southeast Asian, cultures. A smile or giggle can cover up pain, humiliation, and embarrassment. Some women (e.g. Japanese, Vietnamese) cover up their mouth when they smile or giggle. . . .>

35. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Facial Expressions.Upon hearing something sad, a Vietnamese may smile. Similarly, an officer may need to communicate something that causes a loss of face to a person, resulting in the person smiling. This smile does not mean that the person is trying to be a “smart aleck” with you. It is simply a culturally conditioned response.

36. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Eye contact. In many parts of the world, eye contact is avoided with authority figures. In parts of India, for example, a father would discipline his child by saying, “Don’t look me in the eye when I’m speaking to you.” An American parent would say “Look me in the eye when I’m speaking to you.” To maintain direct eye contact with a police officer in some cultures would be disrespectful.

37. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Physical distance. Police officers are perhaps more aware than others of the distance they keep from people in order to remain safe. When someone “violates” this distance, a person often feels threatened and backs away, or in the case of an officer, begins to think about protective measures.

38. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Physical distance. In general, Latin Americans, and Middle Easterners are more comfortable at closer distances than are northern Europeans, Asians, or the majority of Americans.

39. WHEN STRESSED, PEOPLE REVERT TO WHAT IS FAMILIAR INCLUDING THEIR LANGUAGE

40. SPO #8 INDICATIONS THAT INDICATE RACISM EXISTS IN THE WORKPLACE • Polarization of officers • Racial slurs, gestures, graffiti • Stereotyping • Unfair promotional practices • Intimidation • Pattern of unpleasant job assignments

41. SPO #8 INDICATIONS THAT INDICATE RACISM EXISTS IN THE WORKPLACE • Biased personnel assignments • Perception of lowered standards for minorities • Hierarchy, lacking parity of minorities • Racial inequality in specialized units • Forced to depend on organization other than dept. bargaining unit for protection of workplace equality

42. BIAS BASED PROFILING & ILLEGAL PROFILING

44. BIAS AN ADVERSE OR PRECONCEIVED OPINION OR JUDGMENT TOWARDS A SPECIFIC GROUP, RACE, RELIGION OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION WITH AN INCLINATION FOR OR AGAINST A PERSON THAT INHIBITS IMPARTIAL JUDGMENT

45. SPO #9 PROFILING UNEQUAL TREATMENT BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OF ANY PERSON BY STOPPING, QUESTIONING, SEARCHING, DETAINING OR ARRESTING HIM/HER ON THE BASIS OF THE PERSON’S ETHNIC OR RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS, GENDER, RELIGION OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION

47. Scenario #1 Officer parked at a stop sign in proximity to an upper class neighborhood high school. Two cars with white teens roll through the stop sign in “Acura” – type vehicles. The officer does not stop either vehicle. Two Hispanic teens, in a “Chevy Capri” , roll through the stop sign. The officer makes a stop on that vehicle. Legal / ethical???

48. Scenario #2 Two Vietnamese teen boys are walking in front of a liquor store in a high-crime, low economical area where several reports of robberies by Vietnamese gang members have taken place. There are a couple of citizens in the background walking or talking. Officer pulls up to the curb and gets out of the unit. He calls to the boys, “Hey, you two! Come over here, we need to talk!” Legal / Ethical???

49. Scenario #3 A black middle-age male in sweats is riding a bicycle and carrying a package under his arm. This is in an upper, middle-class, predominantly white neighborhood. A white officer driving by pulls up alongside and says, “I need you to pull over, now! Hold up right there!” The man stops and officer parks and approaches him. Legal / Ethical???

50. SPO #10 TYPICAL ATTITUDES HELD BY HOMOPHOBICS • Uncomfortable around gays/lesbians • Fear of disease • Homosexuality is a free choice • Reprisals against gay/lesbian co-workers are okay • Feel their masculinity/femininity is challenged