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Police and minority relations
Police and minority relations
Police and minority relations
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I imagine people believe this statement to be true because their opposite, they both stand for different beliefs and actions. Democracy is always hard on the police, because democracy represents harmony, freedom, involvement, and fairness. Instead the police represent ruling, limitation, and authority over the people. “That is why the police in a democracy are often confronted with hostility, opposition, and criticism no matter how effectively or fairly they may operate. (Roy Roberg, 2015)”
Some people beliefs are strictly based on society and how people imagine it should run. If you believe in more of a strict authority, you will not agree with democracy but with police. I personally believe in the police more than democracy itself, because
...e to the nature of Democracy it lacks righteousness but it could never be considered corrupted. A Democratic regime based on egalitarian rights allows for qualified citizens to share in the government under the sovereignty of the law. In this type of regime the majority class rules, allowing for all citizens to have a true say in the pertinent matters in regards to their regime or city.
“The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority. . . . And so to challenge the police is to challenge the American people who send them into the ghettos armed with the same self-generated fears that compelled the people who think they are white to flee the cities and into the Dream. The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs.”
It is easy for police to get caught up in the idea that it is them against the rest of society (Barkan, 2012). Many citizens in today’s democratic society have a negative or fearful view of our law enforcement. Think back to grade school, who was that one kid in class that everyone was annoyed by or despised? Most people would answer the teacher’s pet or the tattletale. We have grown up from a young age to have a negative view towards those that get us into trouble when we think we can get away with something we know is wrong. In the adult world, the police force can equate to those tattletales.
"Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in many multiracial societies. Surveys consistently document racial differences in perceptions of the police, with minorities more likely than whites to harbor negative views." (Weitzer and Tuch, Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct, 2004)
With the current environment of law enforcement and the struggle with trust and legitimacy within communities; police departments are exploring programs that seek to increase police legitimacy. The You Have Options program is such an example of a program that can build trust and legitimacy with a vulnerable population within communities. Research by Mazerolle et al. (2013) noted that “police legitimacy is thought to be a sure pathway for police to elicit cooperation, obtain compliance and gain satisfaction from the public.” The pathway to promoting legitimacy is through procedural justice where police provide a high quality of treatment, are fair, and make good decisions. The 20 elements of the You Have Options program
Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However, whilst arming police with guns can act as a protector when on duty it can also cause an increase in police misconduct. This issue will be discussed throughout this essay.
Undoubtedly race and ethnicity plays a key role in whether perceptions of law enforcement is positive or negative. Most of the research presented finds that police contact with white’s vs blacks shapes their attitudes. Although contact with police plays a role, it is not the only component. Perceptions of police not only come from contact with police officers but from hearsay and media portrayal. As stated by (Callanan & Rosenberger, 2011) “most citizens are probably not likely to establish their opinions of law enforcement solely based on an occasional encounter, but also from other sources of information about the police, which for most members of the public is chiefly derived from the media.” Also, minorities are more likely than whites to believe that minorities are treated worse by police, and minority communities receive inferior police services (Graziano, Schuck & Martin 2010).
Furthermore, many individuals believe that the police officers are misusing their power by taking extreme measures when situations arise. In shootings for example, we see that many police officers claim that their lives were in danger and the individual displayed threatening behavior that required them to fire. Many people contend this as they think that the police officers did not have sufficient discretion in firing their weapon and used their deep rooted, or even subtle, racism in handling the situation. In other words, had the individual been White the situation would have ended differently, and not with a dead African American person. The fact that in each of these cases of police brutality the individual ends up dead and unable to tell their side of the story is extremely alarming to
Police shootings occur all over the world but are a huge problem within the United States. We continue to hear more and more about them. These shootings are making headlines. Front page news it seems almost weekly. All the shootings go one of two ways. Either a Police Officer has been shot or a Police Officer has shot a citizen, but either way the final result is death. Whether an Officer has been shot or an Officer has shot someone these cases seem to be related to one thing, fear. People in today’s society feel as though they can’t trust Police Officers as they are there to hurt and kill them. And Police Officers feel as though they are in danger of doing their everyday duties because people see them as the “bad guys” and want to hurt or kill them. Yes, police brutality and racism still exist, but not all cops are bad. Yes there are still bad citizens in this world that want to kill and harm others, but not all citizens are bad. People seem to react to these shootings by rioting quickly after a police officer has shot and killed someone without
In a rule of a law where democracy exists the independence and power of police should be authorized based on their accountability. Accountability that consists of holding police responsible for what they do as an organization or individuals by observing their policies and practices and the purpose for which they claim authority which should be justifiable. And checking to what extent would the police be feasible to the societies for their actions?
Democracy in the American culture is defined as “a system of government in which power is vested in people, either directly or through freely elected representatives.” Which is stated in Webster dictionary. Many Americans to me do not advantage democracy we live in. I feel as though too many people in authority have a substantial amount of power, and end up making the wrong decision. Which is not of the best interest for the people. The Government has devised a way for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. There is no median in between the high levels of society and the lower-class. Our middle class is vanishing, and it mainly because of how our democracy is setup. Our government is corrupt as a whole, which includes our democracy. Too many people in our democracy have the overall power and decision making ability to enforce, what they feel should be enforced in law. One example of this is the ongoing pain of taxes. Democracy is all about equality, but we totally lack it when paying our taxes. The small one percent of high class Americans are getting richer while
Democracy: a government by the people, in which citizens rule either directly or through elected representatives - the latter description more relevant to today’s societies. Quite evidently, democracy is not perfect; like any other political system, it is subject to a plethora of flaws. For instance, it is no secret that voters tend to make illogical decisions – not out of sheer malice, but as a result of being wrongly informed. Politicians also make erroneous choices, whether they do so because they are dishonest or simply out of touch with the true will of their constituents. Further, anyone who has studied the government of a parliamentary democracy knows gerrymandering can have a powerful say in determining elections. Despite these and other flaws however, democracy still seems to work.
news and internet makes it look as if police are the bad guys which in some situations they are,
Understanding the issue is just part of what’s needed. The purpose of the section is to identify a solution, or as may be the case, solutions. So, the question here is what can we do to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens. Over the years there has been many books written and studies conducted, all in an effort to find the best way to improve police and citizen relationships. To do this we must look at all available information. According to The Study Circles Resource Center’s Protecting Communities, Serving the Public: Police and residents building relationships to work together (2000), “Bring police and community together. We need to meet not just when there is a crisis or a big crime. We should do things to build relationships that are not so full of conflict. Then it would be easier to work together. We can build respect and trust for one another when we make time to meet with and learn about each other. This is the only way to do it.
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.