In the context of robberies, what are action, physical, and situational stereotyping?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

1. Action stereotyping occurs when the officers' expectations are set to see one thing and this closes their minds to other eventualities. For example, the responding officer may expect the suspect to come rushing out of the store, hop into a car, and speed away.
2. Physical stereotyping is an officer's expectations that the robber will be of a particular description. Such stereotypes may allow the suspect to escape or be fatal to officers. Another aspect of physical stereotyping is that investigators may have difficulty believing witnesses' descriptions. For example, we expect bank robbers to be relatively young adults and vigorous. However, in northern Colorado nearly a decade ago, an 82-year-old man known as the "salt-and-pepper bandit" was arrested for a string of bank robberies; in another case, a 105-pound 70-year-old woman donned a black plastic bag as a disguise and robbed a bank, declaring, "There's a bomb here; give me the money, no bells, no sirens."
3. In situational stereotyping, the officers' previous experience with, and knowledge of, a particular location increases their vulnerability. Although the suspects may be observed fleeing the scene or may reveal themselves in some manner to the officer assigned to respond to the call, such encounters do not take place with any regularity. In addition, deviating from the assignment to become engaged in a "pursuit," instead of proceeding directly to the call, is often unproductive. In such instances, the "suspect," especially one driving an automobile, may merely be acting in a suspicious manner because he or she may have committed some minor traffic violation and is fearful that the officer is going to write a traffic citation. The officer actually assigned to the robbery call should not normally deviate from the assignment without significant reason; the officer's responsibility is to get to the scene and to get accurate, detailed information for the preliminary pickup order or BOLO as rapidly as possible. When the officer does this, more resources are then brought to bear on the offense, and the likelihood is reduced that other officers may unknowingly stop armed suspects for what they think is only a traffic violation.
If not assigned to the call as the primary or backup unit, other officers should not respond to the scene. Instead, they should patrol along a likely escape route such as entrances to expressways. They should avoid transmitting routine messages, because the primary unit will need to transmit temporary pickup orders or BOLOs concerning the offense.
If available, helicopters have the potential of being helpful in robbery investigations when a good description of the vehicle in which the robbers fled is included in the BOLO. Helicopters can cover territory rapidly. Flying at 500 feet, a helicopter provides observers accompanying the pilot with an excellent observation platform. Approximately 75 percent of all pursuits aided by a helicopter are successful.