Police Stereotyping Research Paper

others and the surrounding circumstances or situation, both consciously and subconsciously which is also a form of stereotyping. This sort of stereotyping, or looking for what once perceives to be indicators, provides a preliminary mental rating of potential risk to a person encountering a particular event or a person” (391). These unconscious and subconscious attitudes are also classified as implicit and explicit biases. Implicit biases unconsciously contributed to racially bias by triggering a part of our brain that is reactive rather than reasoned it may influence how an officer handles a situation or perceives crime. Possible factors that can contribute to these unconscious attitudes are passed experiences, drawing conclusions based on

Race can become a legitimate tool for law enforcement when investigators or police officers have information on a subject or a particular suspect or if the suspect described is of a particular race or ethnic origin. Furthermore, the illegitimate way of using race and ethnicity would be when an officer stops a citizen based solely on their race and ethnicity or any other demographic feature. The officer must base his stop, “whether in a vehicle or on foot, on reasonable suspicion or probable cause that a violation of the law has been or is about to be committed based on facts and information that they can articulate”

some suggestions found in Multicultural Law Enforcement in a Diverse Society is to “determine whether racially biased policing is a problem in the jurisdiction and to effectively manage and allocate department resources” (416). However, there is the opposition which believes data collection on the phenomenon yields invalid data and information and could potentially damage an agency. Allowing the use of data collection would allow people to know who is being stopped and the reasons for being stopped and whether officers are using their best judgments based n observations. In addition, those in favor of collecting data on racially biased policing believe that it would help agencies to determine whether racially biased policing is a problem in the jurisdiction. Further suggestion found in Racially Biased Policing a Principled Response is that data collection helps agencies effectively allocate and manage department resources (p. 117). Furthermore, those who are against and oppose data collection of the phenomenon presumably believe social science is not capable of answering or providing valid answers to questions, meaning some departments aren’t sure the collection of data would benefit them