Discrimination
as Corruption
Police officers come from the same cities or towns,
suburbs or slums, rich or poor families that we do, so they bring to the police
force the same preconceived notions, fears, prejudices and biases that each and
every one of us either experienced or were taught from childhood. While the police academy teaches and trains
future police officers the moral, ethical and legal way to properly engage
people, the true nature of the officer will eventually show up. The best of them can even make it through the
physiological screenings; that is what makes them so dangerous. Ultimately, if the trainers and supervisors
don’t catch the bad seeds before they hit the streets, they become everyone’s
problem.
The preferred outcome is that exposing recruits to a
variety of ethnicities, cultures as well as instill into them a the “band of
brothers” mentality that could affect their way of reacting to negative stimuli
and produce a more balanced and tolerant (on matters of discrimination) police
officer that can serve and protect based on the laws of the land without
letting their personal issues direct or effect their actions. Banks
describes two aspects of discrimination; “racial discrimination, in the form of
police discrimination against minorities, and discrimination that the police
may exercise in the enforcement of the law, either as individuals or as a
result of department policy” (Banks, 2013, pg. 50). Discrimination normally erupts when the police
officer feels he or she is not receiving the level of respect they deserve, so
they lash out in racist comments or excessive use of force. Racial profiling and stereotyping a community
based on their perception leads to the disparity in arrests and sentencing in
the criminal justice system. Of course
you are going to have more minorities in prison if police officers spend more
street time in neighborhoods where they think crime will occur. Urban, low income, gang infested areas cut
off from the level of economic opportunities enjoyed by those blessed enough to
have made it out.
My first personal experience of police discrimination as corruption occurred when I was wrongly accused of shop lifting and arrested by a racist of-duty police officer at a high end department store when I was nineteen years old. The officer called me every derogatory name he had in his limited vocabulary and even after the store manager told him to leave us alone, he persisted to berate us and attempted to plant stolen property in my friend’s purse. Ultimately we had our day in court; fortunately the judge knew of this officer’s racist antics and through the case out after giving him a very stern admonishment about his waste of court system time and money on false charges motivated by his personal biases. The ethical message is far too clear, if we have discriminatory issues with other ethnicities based on our preconceived notions, stereotypes and unfounded fears, it will eventually rear its’ ugly head regardless of your profession. Policed officers are not exempt. The most successful officers have learned to exercise self-control even in the most volatile situations and serve their citizenry well; the worst of them wind up being reprimanded, fired or arrested for their inability to adjust their attitude to appropriately reflect the tremendous trust and authority their profession requires. I have dealt with both and nothing makes a community feel confident, secure and protected as when you know that the when a police officer is called to your emergency situation, you can be assured that his motives are not clouded by his prejudices.
My first personal experience of police discrimination as corruption occurred when I was wrongly accused of shop lifting and arrested by a racist of-duty police officer at a high end department store when I was nineteen years old. The officer called me every derogatory name he had in his limited vocabulary and even after the store manager told him to leave us alone, he persisted to berate us and attempted to plant stolen property in my friend’s purse. Ultimately we had our day in court; fortunately the judge knew of this officer’s racist antics and through the case out after giving him a very stern admonishment about his waste of court system time and money on false charges motivated by his personal biases. The ethical message is far too clear, if we have discriminatory issues with other ethnicities based on our preconceived notions, stereotypes and unfounded fears, it will eventually rear its’ ugly head regardless of your profession. Policed officers are not exempt. The most successful officers have learned to exercise self-control even in the most volatile situations and serve their citizenry well; the worst of them wind up being reprimanded, fired or arrested for their inability to adjust their attitude to appropriately reflect the tremendous trust and authority their profession requires. I have dealt with both and nothing makes a community feel confident, secure and protected as when you know that the when a police officer is called to your emergency situation, you can be assured that his motives are not clouded by his prejudices.
If key leaders and supervisors set clear standards and
policies that discriminatory corruption will not be tolerated or ignored at any
level, officers who value their careers tend to fall in line. It becomes less intimidating for the moral
and ethically sound police officer to educate and correct his peers when they
tread dangerously close or completely cross the line. When
unwritten policies allow for better police presence or quicker police response
time to certain neighborhoods because of the affluent population who reside
there, police orchestrated traffic stops deemed necessary only in urban areas, police
drug stings conducted in minority neighborhoods or urban areas because you are targeting
a certain minority group, people lose trust and confidence in the police
department they look to for assistance during emergencies. Complaints filed by citizens that are not
taken seriously, reports of aggressive or abusive treatment from police
officers, and lack or response from internal affairs or administrators
contribute to the negative perception of the police department. People begin to
feel powerless and see the police as the enemy.
When discriminatory corruption goes unchecked it will degrade the
respect and trust citizens have in the police department and the criminal
justice system as a whole.
References
Banks,
C. (2013). Criminal justice ethics. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, INC.
