Instructions:
- Post a new discussion related to the topics covered in this module. Your post needs to provide specific lessons learned with examples from this module helping you enhance your leadership capacity at work.
- After posting your discussion, review posts provided by other students in the class and reply to at least one of them.
5 Comments
In today’s society, biases and prejudices can be observed everywhere in all major walks of life. They can be primary based (race/gender/orientation) or secondary based (economic/religion/geographic); both of which are externally viewed in the jurisdiction worked, as well as internally being rank/clique/salary/vaccinated. These can be observed more prevalent due to factors of social media and the ability to send information at the click of a finger or the emotions charging behavior. We as a “whole” must remain vigilant to keep a biased or prejudiced decision be made for the wrong reasons.
Learning about different cultural backgrounds has helped in this field. People of different cultures have had rough past with law enforcement and look upon us negatively no matter their skin color. I like to show inmates that just because I wear this uniform does not mean that I am any less of a human being. I will treat them with respect and communicate with them properly and as a human as well. We are here to provide a positive outlook on law enforcement not negative.
You make a great point that I just thought of, law enforcement is a type of culture that most people don’t understand if they aren’t a part of it. Being a member of any law enforcement agency you immediately become a brother/sister in that family. With that comes a lot of responsibility and one of those responsibilities is treating all citizens with respect. Many individuals don’t trust members of public service because of past experiences or experiences members of their family had. As a member of public service it is important for each of us to have a better understanding of cultural differences and treat everyone like we would like to be treated, over time this will change the negative outlook on law enforcement to a positive outlook.
Cultural diversity are constantly changing in the United States and as public safety members it is our responsibility to ensure that we continue to be informed about the cultural diversities within our community. Having a good understanding of the different cultures allows public safety members to effectively communicate with individuals as well as understand why and how they operate as individuals and family units. This isn’t only important for the community but also for the deputies. It improves officer safety and community relationships which also decreases the risk of miscommunication between citizens and public safety members. This allows for better interactions, improved relationships and builds trust amongst the citizens and public safety members (Perry, 2017).
Reference
Perry, D. (2017). Cultural diversity. 2.7, Week # 7. National Command and Staff College. Retrieved from https://cloud.scorm.com/content/
courses/NAGVXPB5E6/CulturalDiversity064376e8-fb40-4622-ac7b-94547c590eb1/2/index_lms.html
You are absolutely correct. It is extremely important to understand and know your environment. That’s taught to us right out of the academy. Part of our environment is cultural, which having that lack knowledge can be harmful to all involved. Being able to use good judgement and have an awareness is important, especially with regards to the verbal and non-verbal cues observed/displayed by the people you encounter.