Two Case Studies for Police officersTwo Case Studies for Police officersIn life there are a lot of issues that involve social psychology. Being a police officer is a profession that encounters a lot of social psychology issues. One issue that all police officers have to encounter is prejudice. Police officers have to not be prejudiced against the citizens that they are trying to protect and serve the criminals that they must apprehend and also against each other. Two case studies that will be discussed are prejudice against female police officers by their male counterparts and racial prejudice against potential criminals.
You’re a female cop. You arrive to your precinct fifteen minutes before you scheduled time to prepare yourself for the day, and you patiently wait for your partner to arrive. Fifteen minutes after your scheduled time, your partner shows up. Although he did not call ahead of time, your captain did not reprimand him for his actions. You get mad at this because, just last week when you did call and say you would be a little late, you still got yelled at by the same captain for being late and your job position was threatened.
As you’re out on patrol, you noticed a small brawl between two men starting to form in front of a corner store. You inform your partner about the possible fight and instruct him to pull over so you can see what’s going on. As the two of you get out of the car he says, “You should stay in the car there could be weapons involved and I don’t know if you can handle that.” You inform him that you have been working for the police force for over six years and have had to deal with situations far worse than this. He then tells you that this is a mans job and if he needs help he will call you for back up. Instead of fighting with him, you get back in the car even madder because of the comments he made about you. You sit in the car thinking if you were another male cop then it would not have been a problem, but since you are a female, there is a stereotype set upon you that you are weaker then he is and could not handle the situation. While thinking about this, you notice in the rearview mirror that your partner seems to be having some problems. As you get out of the car, you call for some backup just in case the situation gets out of hand. As you rush to his aid, he falls to the ground after being struck by one of the assailants. After a short fight between the two assailants and yourself, you gain control of the situation, and arrest both of the men. As soon as everything becomes under your control, your partner regains consciousness, and backup arrives. Although the crowd around you all praised you for your quick thinking and courage, your fellow officers didn’t acknowledge the fact that you did this alone.
Upon arriving back at the precinct with the two suspects and your partner, you immediately are called into the captain’s office. Thinking that you are going to get a little praise from the captain, you instead are reprimanded for not being at your partner’s side from the start, and then for taking control of a public situation with no other back up than yourself. As your captain is yelling at you, you noticed your partner telling the story making him out to be the hero and you to be nothing. Everyone was praising him for his courage when you in fact know the hero of the story was yourself. After you are yelled at, you captain tells you to do the paper work for the arrest and says that you are not to go back on the street for the rest of your shift. Your partner is then partnered up with someone else and goes back out on the street. After your shift is over and you are preparing to go home, you overhear some officers talking about celebrating after work with a couple of beers. You start to ask about where they are going and they tell you that you are not invited because it is a boy’s night out. Not only do you feel left out, but also you feel invisible to them and to everyone else.
As a female police officer there are a lot of social psychology issues that one must deal with. Such issues as discrimination, stereotyping, prejudice, and sexism are all things that a female police officer must be aware of. Discrimination, defined as: Negative behavior directed against people because of their membership to a particular group. (Brehm, Kassin, & Fein, 2005) Many of the male counterparts in the police force will discriminate against women because they are female. Being a member of the female group, may complicate many things for a female’s police experience. Prejudice defined as: Negative feelings toward people because of their membership in certain groups. (Brehm, Kassin, & Fein, 2005). Prejudice is very similar to discrimination, but the fact that the male counterparts may have these prejudiced beliefs about women because they are a female, will impact their actions towards the female officer. Stereotyping
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This type of social pressure is not only difficult, but it can affect a relationship that can adversely affect the career opportunities of anyone in both the first and second decades of modern policing. It can also affect gender relations in the early 20th century (Cape, 2004).
When the police force has been made less hostile to minorities, there becomes a stigma attached to the officers of women’s and male police officers’ jobs. The police officers feel that, by forcing non-women to accept a lower value for work or family they are also perceived by those of other races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and other characteristics of both sexes to be less respected and, ultimately, less worthy of respect and respect.
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When we get told that a member of the female police force will be a police officer, we have every right to feel as if that has never happened to us, and feel very guilty for it. For example, some women in my country who were in uniform during a particularly difficult period will only feel guilty if their partner is a cop. Many of them will also be very uncomfortable with being excluded from a community and if they refuse, the law will effectively penalize them and prevent them from getting other jobs. As a matter of reality, in many states women’s courts of record have successfully found that police departments and police chiefs will routinely violate their equal protection and fundamental rights (Gold, 2005). The police department generally will hold and enforce civil rights laws when no legal recourse has been sought before a lawsuit. Many police department commanders who have been involved in this case have made good on their role in finding out about those things that have happened. One of them, I can tell you directly, was the only person who knew of this, and we all knew him and so I can’t tell anyone if there is any information in that case. He was one of the guys who was going to get fired for it. I remember he went down to the station and asked the officer what was going on, and he said, ‘If you are the cop who is going to fire me, you are not a cop’.”
[page 3] “The most frustrating thing about this particular instance is that in all jurisdictions which have this issue, and are making decisions where it is not at issue or where it is not allowed to be at issue, the law has always been broken. The courts have just done what we thought ought to be done but it hasn’t.”
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Since it is so often the case that gender identity isn’t important, and women’s rights were a part of the feminist movement in North America during this time, I’m going to look at why this is happening – what is the solution?
One of the things that has surprised me on this subject is the way that men and women have been treated by law enforcement agencies (which I mentioned several years ago). While in their current forms law enforcement law enforcement agencies are often not concerned about gender identity, and in fact still are quite open about it, some aspects of them still are. This should worry everybody. The reality is that the laws that are being enforced in the country today are not very clear and very complex. I just want to highlight some aspects. For example, in some states, a man’s right to a public restroom can only be limited by age or sex. In many cases, an age restriction can also be imposed on people as they pass through a public place. But as I suggested in our recent talk, it really
[page 1]
This type of social pressure is not only difficult, but it can affect a relationship that can adversely affect the career opportunities of anyone in both the first and second decades of modern policing. It can also affect gender relations in the early 20th century (Cape, 2004).
When the police force has been made less hostile to minorities, there becomes a stigma attached to the officers of women’s and male police officers’ jobs. The police officers feel that, by forcing non-women to accept a lower value for work or family they are also perceived by those of other races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and other characteristics of both sexes to be less respected and, ultimately, less worthy of respect and respect.
[page 2]
When we get told that a member of the female police force will be a police officer, we have every right to feel as if that has never happened to us, and feel very guilty for it. For example, some women in my country who were in uniform during a particularly difficult period will only feel guilty if their partner is a cop. Many of them will also be very uncomfortable with being excluded from a community and if they refuse, the law will effectively penalize them and prevent them from getting other jobs. As a matter of reality, in many states women’s courts of record have successfully found that police departments and police chiefs will routinely violate their equal protection and fundamental rights (Gold, 2005). The police department generally will hold and enforce civil rights laws when no legal recourse has been sought before a lawsuit. Many police department commanders who have been involved in this case have made good on their role in finding out about those things that have happened. One of them, I can tell you directly, was the only person who knew of this, and we all knew him and so I can’t tell anyone if there is any information in that case. He was one of the guys who was going to get fired for it. I remember he went down to the station and asked the officer what was going on, and he said, ‘If you are the cop who is going to fire me, you are not a cop’.”
[page 3] “The most frustrating thing about this particular instance is that in all jurisdictions which have this issue, and are making decisions where it is not at issue or where it is not allowed to be at issue, the law has always been broken. The courts have just done what we thought ought to be done but it hasn’t.”
[page 4]
Since it is so often the case that gender identity isn’t important, and women’s rights were a part of the feminist movement in North America during this time, I’m going to look at why this is happening – what is the solution?
One of the things that has surprised me on this subject is the way that men and women have been treated by law enforcement agencies (which I mentioned several years ago). While in their current forms law enforcement law enforcement agencies are often not concerned about gender identity, and in fact still are quite open about it, some aspects of them still are. This should worry everybody. The reality is that the laws that are being enforced in the country today are not very clear and very complex. I just want to highlight some aspects. For example, in some states, a man’s right to a public restroom can only be limited by age or sex. In many cases, an age restriction can also be imposed on people as they pass through a public place. But as I suggested in our recent talk, it really