Training helps police officers overcome racial bias

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Munsey
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias

scholarly journals Experimental sleep loss, racial bias, and the decision criterion to shoot in the Police Officer’s Dilemma task

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. Scullin ◽  
Michelle R. Hebl ◽  
Abby Corrington ◽  
Stacy Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Decision Criterion ◽  
Sleep Loss ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Hygiene Education ◽  
Psychomotor Vigilance

AbstractViolent behavior, police brutality, and racial discrimination are currently at the forefront of society’s attention, and they should be. We investigated whether mild sleep loss—as typical for many adults throughout the work week—could aggravate the socio-emotional-cognitive processes contributing to violence and discrimination. In a sample of 40 healthy young adults, we either experimentally restricted participants’ sleep for four nights (6.2 h/night) or let participants obtain normal sleep (7.7 h/night)—and then had them complete the Police Officer’s Dilemma Task. In this computerized task, the participant must rapidly decide to shoot or not shoot at White and Black men who either are or are not holding a gun. Results showed significant racial biases, including more and quicker shooting of Black targets compared to White targets. Furthermore, signal detection analyses demonstrated that mild sleep restriction changed participants’ decision criterion, increasing the tendency to shoot, even when controlling for psychomotor vigilance, fluid intelligence, and self-reported desirability to behave in a socially acceptable manner. The increased tendency to shoot was also observed in participants who reported believing that they had adapted to the sleep loss. Future experimental research using trained police officers will help establish the generalizability of these laboratory effects. Importantly, sleep loss is modifiable via organization-level changes (e.g., shift scheduling, light entrainment) and individual-level interventions (e.g., sleep hygiene education, incentives for behavioral change), suggesting that if sleep loss is corrected, it could save lives—including Black lives.

Across the thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot.

2007 ◽  
Vol 92 (6) ◽  
pp. 1006-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Correll ◽  
Bernadette Park ◽  
Charles M. Judd ◽  
Bernd Wittenbrink ◽  
Melody S. Sadler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Blue Line

scholarly journals White civilians’ implicit danger evaluation of police officers underlies explicit perception of police

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo J. Olivett ◽  
David S. March
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Implicit Processes ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Perception Of Threat ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Perception Of Police ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe role of implicit processes during police-civilian encounters is well studied from the perspective of the police. Decades of research on the “shooter bias” suggests that implicit Black-danger associations potentiate the perception of threat of Black individuals, leading to a racial bias in the decision to use lethal force. Left understudied are civilians’ possible associations of police with danger and how such associations pervade behavior and explicit views of the police. The current work begins to address this gap. In two within-subjects studies, we separately assess police-threat (i.e., safety/danger) and police-valence (i.e., good/bad) associations as well as their relative influences on explicit perceptions of police. Study 1 revealed that implicit threat evaluations (police-danger associations) more strongly predicted negative explicit views of the police compared to implicit valence evaluations (police-negative associations). Study 2 replicated these findings and suggests that individuals evaluate the police as more dangerous versus negative when each response is pitted against each other within single misattribution procedure trials. The possible implications for explicit attitudes toward police reform and behavior during police-civilian encounters are discussed.

scholarly journals The Criticality of a Community Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-564
Author(s):  
Rebecca S. Hardin
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Police Station ◽  
Systems Thinking Approach ◽  
Systems View

To enhance interactions between police officers and citizens, industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists will have to utilize a systems thinking approach to understand the multifaceted challenges facing Baltimore and other cities across the nation and develop holistic solutions that include the whole community. Ruggs et al. (2016) overlooked the systems view of Baltimore's challenges by focusing solely on isolated incidents of racial bias and proposing solutions predominantly inside the police station. To develop a comprehensive solution that has the potential to truly extinguish Baltimore's flames, we must also account for the interplay of police bias where it exists in the community; otherwise, we risk simply fanning the flames and escalating the challenges further with linear solutions.

scholarly journals Approaching “Baltimore Is Burning” From a Systems Change Perspective: Role of I-O Psychologists as Change Agents

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepshikha (Dia) Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Readiness For Change ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Whole Systems ◽  
Different Levels

Policing in United States has been under media and public scrutiny for a while now. The focal article “Baltimore Is Burning: Can I-O Psychologists Help Extinguish the Flames?” (Ruggs et al., 2016) is a critical piece of work that not only sheds light on how racial bias may impact police–citizen interactions but also outlines possible ways in which industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists can intervene to remedy the situation. Although the call to use evidence-based I-O interventions as levers to facilitate a more effective and unbiased police force is timely, it is critical to acknowledge that the charged environment and the controversial nature of this issue imply that some members of the police force might not accept the suggested interventions at face value. Many police officers are upstanding and hard-working individuals and may see the change interventions as an attack. Thus, before attempting to execute any strategies offered in the focal article, I-O psychologists will have to do significant groundwork from a change management perspective: The current crisis needs to be approached from a whole systems change perspective so that we can (a) understand the factors causing the “flames” and define the problem space comprehensively; (b) understand the type of change we need to effect in response to the crisis, stay closely attuned to the system's readiness for change, and also anticipate resistance to change from different levels of the system; and (c) chart a clear outline of what our role should entail as change agents in helping resolve this crisis. Thus, this commentary complements the focal article by juxtaposing authors’ recommendations against a whole systems change paradigm, questions their implicit assumptions, and recommends that I-O psychologists act as change agents to help police forces define the problem, find solutions, anticipate resistance, and execute interventions at different levels of the policing system.

Understanding Police and Expert Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica J. Sim ◽  
Joshua Correll ◽  
Melody S. Sadler
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
First Person ◽  
Newspaper Article ◽  
Gang Members ◽  
Expert Performance ◽  
Special Unit ◽  
Base Rates ◽  
Racial Cues ◽  
First Person Shooter

In three studies, we examined how training may attenuate (or exacerbate) racial bias in the decision to shoot. In Experiment 1, when novices read a newspaper article about Black criminals, they showed pronounced racial bias in a first-person-shooter task (FPST); when they read about White criminals, bias was eliminated. Experts (who practiced the FPST) and police officers were unaffected by the same stereotype-accessibility manipulation. However, when training itself (base rates of armed vs. unarmed targets in the FPST, Experiment 2a; or special unit officers who routinely deal with minority gang members, Experiment 2b) reinforced the association between Blacks and danger, training did not attenuate bias. When race is unrelated to the presence/absence of a weapon, training may eliminate bias as participants learn to focus on diagnostic object information (gun vs. no gun). But when training actually promotes the utility of racial cues, it may sustain the heuristic use of stereotypes.

Criminal Justice Students’ Perceptions and Awareness of Racism and Discrimination

2019 ◽  
pp. 215336871987302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin D. Jackson ◽  
Howard Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
White Male ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Criminal Justice Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Perceptions Of Racism

The recent focus on the controversial deaths of minorities at the hands of police officers has led to increased attention on racial bias among the law enforcement community. However, this focus does not extend to criminal justice students. Instead, research examining undergraduates’ racial attitudes focuses on the general student body. In addition to reviewing literature related to criminal justice students’ attitudes toward a variety of criminal justice and social issues, the current study used multiple regression analyses to examine racial and gender differences in a Southwestern University’s criminal justice students’ perceptions of and sensitivity to racism. Findings from the study indicate that male criminal justice students in the sample and White criminal justice students are more likely to have lower perceptions of racism than their female and non-White counterparts, respectively. Additionally, findings for criminal justice students’ sensitivity to racism suggest that White male criminal justice students’ sensitivity to racism only statistically significantly differs from non-White females with White males more likely to be less sensitive than non-White females. Furthermore, the current research provides a benchmark for research related to criminal justice students’ perceptions of racism and discriminatory practices and their attitudes toward minorities. Results, study implications, recommendations, and future research are discussed.

scholarly journals In their shoes: exploring the social experiences of black male police officers in Canada.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Black Police ◽  
Negative Stereotyping

This qualitative research study presents a critical analysis of race and policing by examining the experiences of four Black male police officers in Canada. This study seeks to understand the essence of these experiences and understand the reality of what it means to be a Black male police officer. Included are the results of qualitative interviews with these police officers, using critical race theory as the theoretical framework to explain participants’ experiences as police officers. The themes that emerged from the interviews were the following: the glass ceiling for Black police officers; issues of identity and belonging; negative stereotyping; and future recommendations. Given that this group belongs to both a profession which exhibits inherent racial bias, in the form of over-surveillance and the use of excessive (and even lethal) force against racialized minorities, as well as belonging to the very minority community targeted by the police, it is imperative that we explore and understand the unique tensions black officers experience.

scholarly journals The Stability of Implicit Racial Bias in Police Officers

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lois James
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Wrist Actigraphy ◽  
The Stability

Research on police officers has found that they tend to associate African Americans with threat. Little is known however about the stability of implicit racial bias in police officers, whose attitudes could be expected to fluctuate based on their day-to-day encounters or from internal stressors such as fatigue. To investigate, this study tested 80 police officers using the Weapons Implicit Association Test (IAT) on four separate occasions. Officers’ sleep was also monitored using wrist actigraphy. Officers’ IAT scores varied significantly across the testing days ( f = 2.36; df = 1.468; p < .05), and differences in IAT scores were associated with officers’ sleep ( f = 6.49; df = 1.468; p < .05). These findings indicate that implicit racial bias was not stable among officers, and that when officers slept less prior to testing they demonstrated stronger association between Black Americans and weapons. The implications of these findings within the current climate of police–citizen unrest are discussed.

Racial bias and lethal force errors among Canadian police officers.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith P. Andersen ◽  
Paula M. Di Nota ◽  
Evelyn C. Boychuk ◽  
Ulrich Schimmack ◽  
Peter I. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Lethal Force
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