Culture Clash: Making the Case for a New Paradigm in Police Cultural Training

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Culture Clash: Making the Case for a New Paradigm in Police Cultural Training UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2004 Culture clash: Making the case for a new paradigm in police cultural training Hal S Edwards University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Edwards, Hal S, "Culture clash: Making the case for a new paradigm in police cultural training" (2004). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 1661. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/u8l0-475r This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CULTURE CLASH: MAKING THE CASE FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN POLICE CULTURAL TRAINING By Hal S. Edwards Bachelor of Arts University of Hawaii 1983 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice Department of Criminal Justice Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1422794 Copyright 2004 by Edwards, Hal S. All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 1422794 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced witfi permission of tfie copyrigfit owner. Furtfier reproduction profiibited witfiout permission. Thesis Approval T7N T V The Graduate College njNiy University of Nevada, Las Vegas A p ril 15 ^ 2 0M _ The Thesis prepared by Hal S . Edwards Entitled Culture Clash; Making the Case for a New Paradigm in Police Cultural Training _____________________________________________________________________ is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Examination Committee Chair Dean of the Graduate College Examination Committee Member nation Committee Member Graduàîé College Eacmty Representative PR/1017-53/1-00 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Hal Edwards 2004 All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Culture Clash: Making the Case for a New Paradigm in Police Cultural Training by Hal S. Edwards Dr. Richard McCorkle, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Criminal Justice University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hiring standards in most police agencies result in most officer candidates having little, if any, meaningful exposure to the “oppositional” culture of the urban, minority poor. Given the current popularity of the Community Oriented Policing paradigm—with its emphasis on positive police/community relations—current police hiring and training practices handicap police agencies in their efforts to gain the trust of urban, minority communities. A content analysis of United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigations under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14141) was found to support the hypothesis that the interface between the police and urban males is problematic and that cultural training was identified as a training inadequacy in police departments, both large and small. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyrightowner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 A Brief History of American Policing ............................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................9 Racial Attitudes in American Society ...............................................................................10 The News Media and Racial Stereotyping ....................................................................... 14 Racial Attitudes and Police Recruits ................................................................................ 15 Racial Stereotypes and the Police Decision Making Process .........................................17 The Police Personality.......................................................................................................19 Police Academy Training .................................................................................................23 The Police Subculture ....................................................................................................... 27 The Culture of the Streets................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY.................................................................................... 39 Sample.................................................................................................................................39 Data Limitations .................................................................................................................41 Analysis Strategy...............................................................................................................42 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS..................................................................................................46 Los Angeles .......................................................................................................................49 Detroit .................................................................................................................................53 Buffalo................................................................................................................................56 Schenectady....................................................................................................................... 59 Columbus ........................................................................................................................... 62 Cleveland ........................................................................................................................... 65 Cincinnati ........................................................................................................................... 68 Steubenville ........................................................................................................................ 71 Miami..................................................................................................................................75 Washington D C .................................................................................................................78 Pittsburgh........................................................................................................................... 81 Portland ...............................................................................................................................84 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Analysis Summary..............................................................................................................86 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION..............................................................................................88 APPENDIX............................ 94 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................95 VITA...................................................................................................................................... 101 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 California POST Training Requirements ........................................................25
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