Law Enforcementas a

Diverse CultureTexas Commission on Law Enforcement

Officer Standards and Education

PART II 3939

6.0. To understand the premise of Law Enforcement as a

culture • Identified as a sub-culture• “The Blue BrotherhoodBlue Brotherhood”• Lack of trust• Looking to each other for support

–Shared norms, values, goals, career patterns, life styles, occupational structures

• Created culture?

“Culture hideshides more than it reveals and, strangely enough, what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.”

• People are blindblind to their own embedded cultural behavior

• Natural tendency to interpret interpret behaviorbehavior from your cultural point of view

6.1. Explain the concept of law enforcement as a culture

• An organization can be defined as a culture– Key values– Beliefs– Actions

• Sustained by:– Selection of new members– Members trained– Acceptance into organizational ranks– Assimilation

• Ethnocentrism• Challenge in the interpretation and

enforcement of law

Due to one set of laws to which all citizens must adhere, one’s culture affects its interpretations, meaning, and intentions

6.2. Define “Cultural Competence” in the realm of

law enforcementFour basic components:• Awareness of one’s own cultural

worldview• Attitude about cultural differences• Knowledge of different cultural

practices and worldviews• Cross cultural skills

Tips to enhance multicultural communication…

• Make positive contact• See your non-enforcement side• Treat society objectively and fairly• All groups have good and bad• Go out of your way• Appearance and avoidance

• Patiently educate• Be a change agent• Do the right thing

Am I part of the past, present or future?

Scenarios

6.3. Discuss the immergence of women in the law enforcement

culture• New challenges in male/female

relations• Camaraderie among officers• One of the guys• Male dominant profession

• Most prominent workplace issues:• Sexual harassment• Gender discrimination

“Most of the women indicated that when they were exposed to offensive behavior by male officers, they remained quiet for fear of negative male backlash.”

Gender discrimination translates to unequal treatment for women in the workplace.

Shown by:• Assignments to traditional “women’s” jobs• Tests for promotions not job related• Held to higher or different standard in

performance evaluations

• Not given equal consideration for training or specialty job assignments

• Pregnant women not given light duty but men injured off-duty given assignments instead

This double standard has also been notably applied to gay and lesbian counterparts

Role Barriers

• In the act of protecting…the protector becomes dominant and the protected becomes subordinate

• Added responsibility of protecting women officers

• Women officers felt patronized, tolerated

• Creates barrier in peer relations

Today:• Double standard less prominent due

to the concept of community policing

6.4. Discuss law enforcements relationship with the

community• Communities unaware• Defensiveness engulfs the law

enforcement community• Blame• Tendency to isolate• “Their own kind”

• Use of force…past, present?• Debated often in community• Protect vs. Public outcry• Community policing

– Work hand-in-hand with community– Help bridge gap– Allow trust

6.5. Identify characteristics of today’s law enforcement

workforcePolicing has undergone many changes:• Attitude• Physical make-up of precinct• Values• Education and skill sets

“Let us pool the very best of allthat we have in commonand enrich one another

with our mutual differences.”