XBUS Quail - Assignment Example

Examining Race, Ethni INTRODUCTION This is a review profile of one of the cases that was received by the New York City CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) web site. The case involves a racial component. It demonstrates the role of the ethnicity and race in the societal response and criminal behaviours to crime. This complain was solved through mediation and it involves two officers, five teenagers and a 42 year-old woman. Some of the fundamental identifying details of this case have not been included to protect the confidentiality of the case such as names, site and the exact date, but the mediation session and the key details of encounter remain the same as they are in the real case.

CASE DISCRIPTIONIt was on March 18th 2011 at approximated time of 8:30 in the morning. There were two officers: Officers 4 and Officer 3, who were on their assignment at a subway station in Manhattan on West 72nd street. They came across five teenage boys shoving one another at about ten yards away near the subway platform that was crowded with many people. The two officers walked towards to five boys where Officer 3 shouted at the five boys telling them to stop the shoving of one another but they went on with the shoving.

When the other officer approached, he yelled, “Freeze, if you know what is good for you.” When the teenagers received the caution from Officer 3, they stopped shoving one another and they began talking to the other officer. There was a woman, 42 year-old, Ms. Smith who was standing at the subway platform got curious of the activities of the officers and the boys. She tapped Officer 3 on his shoulder and then asked the officer why they were disturbing the boys. He turned around and said, “Back off or I’ll take you in too.

  I’m busting my ass to save your ass.” Officer Four came to Ms. Smith and Officer 3 after speaking to the five boys. When he noticed the Ms. Smith was questioning his fellow officer, Officer 4 said, “We don’t need this type of crap.  Let’s go.” It was then when Ms. Smith recorded their budge numbers and their names on her cell phone when the two officers walked away as they continued with their patrol. After all this, it was then when Ms. Smith filed her complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB).

On her complaint, she stated that both the officers were discourteous. She also stated that Officer 3 had threatened to arrest her. She claimed that she believed the two officers had questioned and stopped the teenagers since they were Hispanic and black and there were other reason for bothering them. After being given the opportunity to mediate, Ms. Smith agrees the mediation of her complaint by a Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) investigator. The two officers also agreed to the mediation process.

MEDIATION PROCESS During the session of mediation, both the two officers and Ms. Smith were given opportunities to speak after the mediator had explained the process required to the three participants. Ms. Smith stated that while she was waiting for her train at the subway on her way to work, she heard the two officers (Officers Four and Officer Three) shouting at the five boys who were just paying with each other. She stated that the five boys seemed to act like they were typical strangers. Due to this, she just wanted to know the reason why the two officers were yelling at the boys.

She also said that she was shocked by the manner the two officers spoke and treated her at the subway. She concluded her claims by stating that the two officers were hassling the teenage boys since they were among the minorities and that act was wrong. After she spoke, Officer 3 said that he did not pay attention the races of the teenage boys when he yelled at them telling them to stop the shoving of one another. He claimed that his intensions were to stop the boys so that none of the boys could get pushed onto the tracks of the subway.

He also claimed that their reason for them to be on the subway platform was because there was an incident a day before (A person had been shoved onto the tracks and had to be rescued by another officer from their precinct). Officer Three claimed that he had not yet known what was going on with his partner and the five boys when Ms. Smith tapped him on his shoulder and when she started questioning him. He claimed that he wanted to put his focus of the boys first but not to the woman. The officer claimed again that his intensions were to prevent an incident like the one that had happened the previous day whereby an officer had to rescue someone by jumping onto the tracks.

As per Officer 4, he echoed the comment by Officer 3 and said that he did not recall the words that he spoke to the woman. He claimed that he was relieved with the fact that the five boys were just playing with one another but not fighting. In addition, the fact that no one had ended up onto the tracks. With the mediator’s guidance, Ms. Smith and the two officers were talking directly with one another. Before the session ended, Ms. Smith had understood what the two officers were thinking and what had happened at the subway station and she had believed that the two officers were not profiling the boys. Ms. Smith said that she sympathised with the two officers and she appreciated the fact that the officers were actually out there trying to protect people.

However, despite all those factors, she still felt that she was offended with the improper manner the officers spoke to her. The two officers appreciated Ms. Smith’s words and agreed that fact that they could have acted on a more professional way. All the participants agree that the session had dressed the issues that were raised by Ms. Smith and that it was a valuable learning experience. The case has addressed the role of race in criminal behaviour and the societal to crime. The reaction of Ms.

Smith shows how the society responses to crime as she thought that the reason for the officers to disturb the boys on the subway. The issue of racial discrimination has been represented in the case as she thinks that that was the reason for the officers to be concerned with the teenagers. References Coles, R. (2006). Race & family: A structural approach. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications Top of FormBottom of FormRich, W. (1996). The politics of minority coalitions: Race, ethnicity, and shared uncertainties.

Westport, Conn.: Praeger Top of FormBottom of FormSokoloff, N. (2005). Domestic violence at the margins: Readings on race, class, gender, and culture. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press Top of FormBottom of FormZusman, M., & Knox, D. (2009). The social context view of sociology. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.