Can an Old Dog Be Taught New Tricks? Teaching Cultural Diversity to Police Officers

• NCJ Number: 171259
• Journal: Policing Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: (1997) Pages: 339-356
• Author(s): L A Gould
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Earlier version of paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Society, 1995, Montreal

Annotation

This paper examines the reactions of police officers, both cadets and experienced officers, to a course in cultural diversity that was offered over a 2-day period at a police training facility; the relationship between police officer attitudes toward the course and self-reported personality characteristics was assessed.

Abstract

All police officers attending the course were asked to participate in the research project. The sample consisted of 151 police officers in various stages of their careers. On the day after training, respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire of 14 closed-ended items. Each question was scaled from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The questionnaire included demographic questions and other questions on respondent attitudes toward class information, expected effect of the class on behavior, and value of the class. Compared with more experienced police officers, cadets were generally more positive about and receptive to the class, information presented in the class, and class usefulness. Feelings of anger and cynicism on the part of police officers were closely related to police officer attitudes toward information presented in the class, class usefulness, and whether the class seemed to blame the police for police-community problems. Cadets generally had lower levels of anger and were less cynical than more experienced police officers. Anger on the part of experienced police officers most often appeared to be related to beliefs that the community did not appreciate what they did, that most police administrators and supervisors had lost touch with the reality of policing, that many police administrators and community politicians were looking for a scapegoat and unfairly blamed police officers for some problems, and that information presented in the class was different than what society actually expected police officers to do. Overall, results clearly demonstrated a relationship between the amount of time an individual was exposed to the policing environment and attitudes toward cultural diversity training. Recommendations to make cultural diversity training for police officers more relevant and appropriate are offered. 28 references and 6 tables