Cultural Diversity Within The United States - 1194 Words

Throughout history there has been a cluster of tension and conflict between police and minority communities within the United States. The job of a police officer is to enforce the law and protect all citizens regardless of their race, gender, or sexual preferences; however, more and more police departments across the United States are being accused of targeting and harassing those who are different. State and local police departments have been left to their own devices on how to police minority communities and improve cultural differences among their officers by seeking out a reform recruitment and adjusting policies in hopes to attract a significant improvement of minority applicants, all while training other officers in understanding†¦show more content†¦The major question is what does this mean for law enforcement officers? Shusta (2005) answered the question saying: Law enforcement officers will have a natural tendency to interpret behavior, motivations, and criminal activity. This tendency is due to an inability to understand behavior from alternative perspectives i.e. an attitude of seeing and judging all other cultures from the perspectives of one’s own culture. Culture does affect interpretations, meaning, and intentions of all police officers on the force. (p. 19-20) Since the creation of the first organized police force problems have occurred that have created a mixture of suspicion and hostility by minorities within the United States. The police have found their selves drawn into racial struggles in American history, moments like suppression of African American riots in the 1930s and 1940s and clashes with civil rights activists in the 1960s damaged police and minority relations leaving many communities to believe that police only had interest in white communities. Persistent accusations of racial profiling and police harassment has also done an incredible amount of damage to police-minority relationships where generations of minorities are complaining about being treated more harshly. Minorities are searched, handcuffed, and arrested more during traffic stops than whites and they are victimized more for violent crimes and thefts (Rennison, 2001). With all of this evidence