Accomplishing critical ethical thinking in law enforcement where people have different cultures, political views, and religious backgrounds remains t tedious task to ensure issues are handled in an unbiased, unprejudiced, and open-minded manner. However, having experience with different religions, culture, and people have enabled me to embrace the diversity that makes a community whole and complementary. I came to learn that when people in a community fail to understand diversity and accept that it is inevitable and that they have to live with it, they break laws trying to prove themselves. Thus, in my practice, I do my best to make people understand that they have to live with each other’s differences, and they have to make peace with nature.
The community I live in is multicultural, and everything else is done in racial lines. It is wrong to interfere with people’s way of life, but the law does not recognize ethnicity, but it recognizes citizenship. Thus, I relate with people equally, and I avoid favoring my culture or ‘my people,’ as most people would say. I believe that every person is equal under the law and that it is the only way to achieve harmony in a multiracial community. However, achieving the objective of treating people without bias is not easy, considering that I have my own personal views about how things should be in a society.
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I have adopted strategies to prevent myself from limiting myself to my own point of view. First, I ensure that I empower the communities and people I interact with to enhance multicultural abilities to increase their awareness on their own and other people’s social identities and racial attributes. In the process, I embrace by reflecting and internalizing my own personal biases, cultural, and religious values. The process is a daily journey that overcomes the tendency to feel that people should always follow my point of view. In any case, I have learned to embrace that knowledge is two-way. People in society also help me understand their diversity, and as a result, I relate to why they behave the way they do. Since law enforcement is all about maintaining social order, the first step to success is to understand the society and how it operates. One can achieve that by interacting with people and learning about them without judgment.
Second, I have taken a personal initiative to gain knowledge on historical experiences on communities with the law enforcement and criminal justice system to avoid repeating the same mistakes when serving the people. It is imperative to recognize the communities’ experience and how they influenced the community members in forming opinions towards law enforcers and understanding social reality (Massinger & Wood, 2016). Having a wide scope of knowledge enables me to relate to people while trying to set a new example, and thereby new opinions towards law enforcement. I then use the knowledge to relate with people differently based on their past experiences to avoid awakening bitterness from the past. As a result, people trust and respect the responsibility of law enforcers, thereby enhancing cooperation. In the end, law enforcement becomes an enjoyable task for helping people live a more secure life.
Finally, I ensure that I practice my law enforcement skills in a culturally-centric manner. Applying communication skills is imperative in listening and understanding people than seeking to be listened to. I demonstrate critical humility, respect, as well as empathy when dealing with people to enhance social change, as Schlosser et al. (2015) recommend. Also, I lead by using culturally conscious intervention strategies to ensure that people come up with their own intervention measures to adopt and implement. It is always all about them and never about me. I serve them as their leader in achieving social stability peacefully.
References
Massinger, C. & Woods, N. (2016). Improving Law Enforcement Cross Cultural Competencies through Continued Education. Journal of Education and Learning , 5(2), 258-264. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1097444.pdf
Schlosser, M. et al. (2015). Improving Policing in a Multiracial Society in the United States: A New Approach. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences , 10(1), 115-121. http://www.ijcjs.com/pdfs/schlosseretalijcjs2015vol10issue1.pdf
