International Attitudes to Teaching Religion and Faith and the Policing of Minority Communities

Abstract

This chapter will critically examine the role that the teaching of religion and faith issues play in the education and training of contemporary police officers around the world, in the context of histories of ethnic, racial, and other sectional conflicts and attempts to reduce them. The chapter first details the history of representative bureaucracy and efforts to reflect the beliefs and values of minorities in government administration. Secondly, the rationale and methods used in this exploratory study into the teaching and training of police officers in matters of religion and faith is detailed. Thirdly, the chapter will summarise the attitude to these matters in different policing jurisdictions and finally, provide case studies of some of the policing problems experienced in various jurisdictions, which touch on matters of religion and faith and whether the education and training of police officers address any of these matters in St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Britain, and if so how.