Question

You’re a well-adjusted person—mature, friendly, generous, even-tempered, and not prone to violence. You decide to join the police department (in an American city) because you regard police work as a good career option and a constructive way to serve your community. The police department trains you and your fellow recruits in today’s standard ways; and, once on the job, department policy requires that you and your fellow officers take a top-down, strict approach to policing. You’re assigned to car-patrol duty in a poor, predominately Black and Latino neighborhood.

From the standpoint of social structure and social interaction--with emphasis on social institutions (such as political power/inequality, law, economy, social class, and racial-ethnic relations) and on statuses and roles for both police officers and community—describe the probable consequences of this experience:

for your relations with the non-police community, including your pre-career friends;

for your relations with fellow police officers;

and for your perceptions and interpretations of the world, emotions, priorities/politics, and personality?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) In this case, the source of the perception would be the actions I would undertake as a police officer. If I were a bad officer, people’s views of me from most aspects would be flawed. Conversely, if I were a good officer, people from any strata would feel I am a good officer.

If car-patrol duty would be assigned in an ethnic neighbourhood, it would be essential to make the safety of the community a priority and not apprehending anyone. It would be essential to explain to the offenders what their error has been and why they are being admonished. Furthermore, if the offenders would have genuinely broken a rule by accident, it would be essential to pardon them.

For my relations, friends and the world, this act would be considered benevolent. However, the point of this would be to gain the trust of the people that I am hired to serve. A police officer is first and foremost a serviceman and not particularly an enforcer. These actions would be viewed as unethical by my colleagues as they would expect me to be officious in such a situation. However, I would explain to them that no serious or dangerous offence would go unpunished. However, the objective would be for the community to understand that the police would be there to ensure that the people are safe and not to administer punitive measures.

As for my perceptions of the world, I might understand that such issues are not absolute and have several delicate nuances on both sides of the spectrum. What is honourable is more than a “yes” or “no” and “left” or “right” issue. It is a matter of discourse, judgement and doing what is right no matter how tedious.