Abstract
In the 21st century, policing of all citizens requires officers to have an increased awareness of minority communities. Yet in the wake of public complaints and mass demonstrations regarding police misconduct, it is clear that police bias toward minority communities often negatively influences engagement. To better understand police awareness of minority communities and how officers’ levels of awareness and perceptions of policing influence their perceptions of engagement, data were collected from police recruits and protective service officers (N = 1585) training at one of the largest police academies in Australia. The results show significant differences in awareness levels and perceptions of engagement of police recruits and protective service officers toward members of minority communities, as well as the factors influencing awareness during police–citizen engagement. These include the police recruit’s and protective service officer’s gender and sexuality, the frequency of socialization they have with diverse people, as well as the type of social interaction experienced. The results from this study offer suggestions to increase officers’ levels of awareness of minority communities, and how this may improve on-the-job performance overtime.
Highlights
IntroductionThe literature will point to the importance of counteracting bias within the police through diversity awareness training and the recruitment of members of minority groups into the police force, as well as recognizing the influence formal socialization has on participation in police culture
The racial and ethnic characteristics of the police recruits in this research correspond with the overall race and ethnic characteristics of the police organization since the organization has a small number of police officers who identify as a member of a minority group identified by race or ethnicity (9.5%)
Our findings suggest that one of the policing practice measures—the classification of the participants (either a police recruit (PR) or protective service officer (PSO))—and five of the level of awareness measures have a significant impact on police officers’ awareness of people from minority communities
Summary
The literature will point to the importance of counteracting bias within the police through diversity awareness training and the recruitment of members of minority groups into the police force, as well as recognizing the influence formal socialization has on participation in police culture. Multiple factors can reduce levels of police bias within police organizations, such as the recruitment of people from diverse backgrounds into the police force. Many police organizations actively recruit from different racial and ethnic groups and from diverse communities such as the LGBTIQ community. In Australia, many police organizations strategically employ people who identify with culturally diverse communities or minority groups such as members of Asian, Sudanese or Muslim communities, as well as people from other diverse groups such as self-identified LGBTIQ people (Miles-Johnson 2016a, 2016b)
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