Although this critical reflection typically focuses on the police officers, it tries to explain and interpret how the self-concept theory and perceptions have impacted interpersonal communications. The network television show and a prime time cable event such as Law and Order in southland and franchise have brought a clear picture concerning the law enforcement officers. For instance, taking a closer look at popular primetime reality shows such as COPS have revealed realistic approaches incorporated by most police officers. On the contemporary analysis, it is evident that perception has long existed as a skill set used by most officers. Specifically, in events such those associating encounters between police officers and citizens, in the event that is accompanied by high tension as well as limited chances for making any decisions attempt (Hine et al., 2018), police officers decisions are often based on personal experience that is entirely off their occupation, training and experience.
In addition, individual police officers make perceptions that involve unreliable and incomplete information. However, the primary question is how these police officers incorporate viewpoints while handling their career? Surprisingly research has revealed how officers apply judgment in making decisions about an individual’s character, credibility, and even in the event of inquiring whether an individual owns a weapon or not (Venema, 2016). In this context, there is a possibility of realizing that officers also apply the methodology of selection, organizing and interpreting. Such analysis proves that most officers use these approaches whenever they encounter situational constraints to perform specific judgments. In the context of selection, expectations have seriously had an impact on the perception of officers.
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During meetings, information briefing on those aspects to watch out for are always reminded to the police officers. Such presentations issue them with a list of expectations, for instance, in examining the make of a stolen car; which assists in pointing out guidelines through the selection procedure. This means that they must be prepared for any happening that might go against their expectations; usually, this job skill is not outlined in their profession. They have no idea whether a traffic halt could result in a crime scene or either way, a gentle person turning to be wild. On that account, these expectations are linked with the organizational strategies. For example, in a scenario where an individual is in a vehicle with the driver having a riffle that is not registered, then an officer is often going to have an assumption that the other individual also has criminal intentions.
While such actions may appear not to be harmful, they can result in apparent problems. Similarly, certain prejudgments, especially those are racial intentional, have caused perceptual errors. Police officers have in the long run, mistakenly thought of black suspects to have weapons as compared to the white suspects(Wyatt-Nichol & Seabrook, 2016). As depicted in this concept, during interpersonal communication, there is a stream of evidence displaying that both civilians and the law enforcement officers engage in almost a similar perception process. However, such practices come along with particular challenges and responsibilities hat highlight how the perception process is imperfect. Such context also applies in the police subculture since they are more prone in dealing with crime, they develop a self-concept of viewing the public to be generally untrustworthy, and a good example is when they interact with the public in a rioting scene.
References
Hine, K. A., Porter, L. E., Westera, N. J., Alpert, G. P., & Allen, A. (2018). Exploring Police Use of Force Decision-Making Processes and Impairments Using a Naturalistic Decision-Making Approach. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(11), 1782-1801.
Venema, R. M. (2016). Police officer schema of sexual assault reports: Real rape, ambiguous cases, and false reports. Journal of interpersonal violence, 31(5), 872-899.
Wyatt-Nichol, H., & Seabrook, R. (2016). The ugly side of America: Institutional oppression and race.