Assignment:
Continuous Course Work Assessment: Juveniles and the Police - Case Study
It was Monday at 2:15 p.m., and Officer Jones stood in front of a group of 4th form high schoolers during a time of the day when most of the youth were focused on school letting out. This was a large high school in an inner-city neighbourhood of a major metropolitan area. Officer Jones was there to discuss the potential benefits of joining the local police.
There were about 25 students in the class. Most were ethnic minorities, predominately African American and Latino American. Officer Jones was African American.
When he concluded his discussion of the potential incentives to being a police officer with his agency, he closed with the following statement:
"In reality, becoming a police officer should be to become a peace officer, to serve and protect the community as a whole."
One of the students then asked, "So, since might makes right, I guess that peace is kept by tasing or shooting people if they don't mind, right?"
Another student chimed in and said, "Yeah, like Chaz's older cousin who was just walking back from his night classes and the cops got him mixed up with another dude. Chaz's cousin was afraid and tried to keep walking and they tased his ass so bad he still has nerve problems."
Officer Jones noted that "there is no doubt about it, there are some embarrassing incidents where officers do not use good judgment."
One of the students cut in and said, "Well, all I know is that you are a black officer, a sell-out, because you gotta know how our communities get treated, and you go along with it anyway. I bet they just give you crumbs where you work, give you the crappy jobs and all, like talking with us."
Officer Jones thought about it . . . he had talked with his wife just the night before about his disappointment over not being promoted recently during an organizational selection process. He also did not always feel that his agency understood the minority community, the means by which they could hire and retain more minorities (which was a goal of the agency), and he also felt that some decisions were sometimes biased.
Sometimes, he felt the same unfairness that these youth expressed. He thought to himself and realized that, in order to remain professional in the remainder of his presentation, he would need to lie about what he thought. To do otherwise would make his agency look bad and would give the kids bogus advice. He looked at the clock . . . there were still 20 minutes left in class.
For a few seconds, he wondered what he might say or do.
Having analysed the case study above:
1. In your opinion, do youth of today look favourably on being a police officer and What do you think Officer Jones should tell the kids in the classroom?
2. What can be done to improve policing in response to race-related issues such as police shootings, the war on drugs, and disproportionate minority contact?
3. What do we know about police use of force with juveniles? What can be done to minimize any improper use of force by police?