Discuss the relationship between the police and ethnic minorities

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The history of American police in terms of a relationship with ethnic minorities has not been a pleasant one. For example, many of the major riots of the last centuries have involved minorities who were often in conflict with police officers. In addition, it seems that statistics show that a disproportionate number of minorities are arrested by the police. To further compound the problem of negative relations between the police and minorities is the fact that their representation historically in terms of being hired as police officers has been low. Furthermore, minorities often fall into the class of economically poor individuals which is a class of individuals again more likely to be arrested by the police.
However, the relationship between the police and minorities although still negative has improved somewhat. For example, the police are now encouraged to relate better to minorities and because of various programs such as affirmative action, more minorities have been hired as police officers. The text notes minorities were considered to be "tokens" when they were first hired as police officers. However, several large cities have hired minority individuals as chiefs of police. Some of them are: Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. In addition, the text cites a number of prominent minorities who held a high rank in a police department such as Reuben Greenberg who was a police chief in Charleston, South Carolina, and Lee P. Brown who was described as the "best police chief in the nation." Hence, one might say that although minorities are still underrepresented in police organizations, there have been some notable improvements.