Police Officer Profiling

[vinceasneed]

I am a person that agrees that some profiling is needed. Everyone does it whether admit or not. This is because the media and society stereotypes and unfortunately everyone caters to some sort of stereotype whether they realize or not. But I am wondering from a police officer perspective if they are profiled by the general public. When a person sees a white officer, do they automatically make certain assumptions? When someone sees a black officer, does the same thing occur? I am curious from a police perspective how much they deal with this.

 

[Mackmax]

I see all police officers the same. White, black, male, or female, they're all police with the same capabilities so I don't think that a cop of a certain race or gender belongs to a certain profile. I will agree that all of us do profile at least a little bit, wether we realize it or not. I also agree that some profiling is needed. For example, we profile shady middle-aged men who hang out at parks as potential pedophiles, because many men like this are pedophiles. This profile lets us know what we need to watch out for.

 

[primalclaws1974]

I was about to jump on here and say that I already made a profiling post, but this is different. I would say people judge even if they don't really want to. As we have a huge variety of people in this world, a lot of us are dissimilar. It is natural to want to be around people like yourself, and to back away (and judge) people that aren't. This is not the same as racism. So, to answer your question, if the officer was white and the civilian Asian, yes, he/she is more likely to judge that the officer would be a certain way, but it is not limited to police by a long shot.

 

[missbishi]

A cop is a cop to me. Black, white, Asian, male or female, they are all cops and all do the same job. However, I can understand why people would prefer to deal with a cop of their own gender in some situations but race shouldn't come into it at all.

 

[Peachdejour]

I don't think I've ever profiled a cop. I know I've given a woman an extra kudos in my mind for being an officer in a male dominated field, but that's not because I think she's any less capable, but because I think people probably give her more shit. Good topic thought. I definitely had to think about it.

 

[LitoLawless]

That's actually a pretty interesting question. I don't think that happens too often. When I see a cop, I see a cop first and a color second. I think that a white cop will do the same thing in a situation that a black cop or any other cop would do in the same situation.

 

[DancingLady]

I think affirmative action has backfired in this case. I know ornament of people who feel that it is much easier for minority people to get into the police force and incredibly hard for white men. This unfortunately means one will automatically assume the white male officer had to achieve a higher standard than the minirity or female officer. I don't know if that is necessarily the case, perhaps in some cities it is because of quotas and competition. But it doesn't mean the minirity officers are not good officers.

 

[missbishi]

There are gender and race specific quotas which have to be filled in the UK. They aren't massive and they are not compulsory but the police forces are given these guidelines in an attempt to be more representative of the general population. I have heard people comment on how much harder it is for a white male to join the force too.

 

[Profit5500]

It depends on the police officer who is working. Every police officer has his or her skills regardless of color. Even if there is a black or white present they would have to follow the same police procedure when dealing with the public.