Racism and Policing - Essay Example

?Running head: Racism and Policing Racism and Policing Introduction The relationship between the police and racial minorities in many countries has had a troubled history. Canada is one of the countries where the police have targeted racial minorities through racial tendencies such as racial profiling. The link between crime and race is based on racist ideologies and processes of criminalization and racialization, which have become the basis of discrimination with regard to race in societies that are democratically liberal. The aforementioned processes do form a base for analyzing racial profiling which police use. In Canada, the blacks are a racial minority that has been targeted severally. The legal framework in the countries where racial profiling by police is conducted posit that he police are responsible for racial profiling especially targeting racialized groups with blacks being the major target (Tator & Henry, 2006). Particularly, in Canada there are some instances where a driver is stopped and searched thoroughly for being black. Racial profiling has increased in many countries and Canada is no exception. This essay will highlight the relationship between racism and policing. Discussion Racism in Various Countries The is the notion that the minorities are involved in more crimes in countries such as United States, Canada and UK is a major reason as to why racial profiling is entrenched in these societies. According to Tator & Henry (2006), there is less focus on crimes committed by white individuals and the police hide the fact that white individuals are responsible for the commission of most crimes. Moreover, the emphasis on criminal tendencies of racial minorities has dominated numerous researches by sociologists and criminologists. The common form of manifestation of the hostile relations between racial minorities and the police is racial profiling. Police have used this form of racism whereby they apprehend driving citizens from minority groups. Throughout the history of countries such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, racial profiling has been used as a tool to maintain social power of the white majority with the police playing a central role in ensuring that the white dominance is maintained. According to Tator & Henry(2006), an examination of the history of the relationship between the police and the minorities in the western nations show that the police have been used o conduct intense surveillance on the minorities in which numerous arrests, incarcerations convictions and forms of violence have been meted on the racial minorities. Racism in Canada’s policing In Canada, the issue of racism in policing brings problems to the society in terms of knowledge and policy. Racism is created by factors that are complex and multiple. Moreover, the programs and policies that are meant to bring the appropriate action are not comprehensive. Precisely, these programs are absent in some instances such as in small towns. The police are an integral part of politics and its dominance in power should make it a subject of scrutiny on how the body relates with the ordinary citizens. Furthermore, police forces are institutions that are in position of ideological and legal domination and their racist attitude and behaviors require some form of scrutiny. The explicit racism that is practiced by police officers in Canada is a form of power abuse that is unjustifiable (Rowe, 2004). The terrorist attacks that happened in the United States in 2001 played a major role in entrenching racism in Canadian Policing. This is because Canada was blamed by some US politicians of allowing terrorist to enter the country due to the weak immigration policies that Canada had. These claims served to heighten fears in the Canadian society and led to formulation of legislations in a desperate bid to secure the Canadian territory (Tator & Henry, 2006). These legislations were responsible for the escalation of racist tendencies in the police departments in Canada as in 2002, a black immigrant from Ghana, who was deaf, was apprehended several times by the police who demanded his identification. Despite the immigrant being deaf, the police gave him a thorough beating which made him to file a complaint, in which he indicated that the police had arrested him over 17 times (Tator & Henry, 2006). The legal system in Canada is racialized which makes it impossible to address the issue of racism in policing. The existing legislation in Canada was formulated when judges were allowed great jurisdiction, which enabled them to discriminate the racial minorities. Moreover, Rowe( 2004) indicates that black individuals who had been incarcerated for drug-related offences could not find any form of rehabilitation or training that white prisoner enjoyed in Canadian prisons. Racist Immigration Policies in Canada Racism in Canada’s policing can be discerned by looking at the nature in which racial profiling and racism are indirectly legalized through the immigration policies. According to Carrington & Fitzgerald (2011), Canada is a country where police have restricted the entrance of minorities and prevented the immigrants from playing a part in major aspects of Canadian society. Before 1967, the immigration policies of this country divided people into broad groups. Immigrant from Britain, other European societies, and other individuals who were white were among the preferred immigrants. The rest of individuals such as Blacks and Asian were deemed inassimilable. Moreover, the minorities were thought to possess social, cultural and genetic traits, which made them inadaptable and inferior. Among the immigration policies and policing practices that have taken part in Canada are discrimination, segregation and refusal of service in recreational centers, theaters and restaurants. Court challenges launched by black Canadians ended with declaration from the courts that discrimination based on race, was legal (Bennetto, n.d). The Canadian society was previously not aware of racism and policing in the country and the legal system made it possible for police to exercise racism when offering their services. Following serious studies in the 1980’s by criminologists and sociologists on the concept of racism, the society was faced by shocking revelations about the nature in which racism had been entrenched in Canadian’s police systems. According to Tator & Henry (2006), the Canadian police were perpetrating racist acts which were violent and had deadly ramifications. Racist cases made headlines and compelled the federal municipal and provincial governments as well as the police forces in Canada to alleviate the situation as it was a major cause of bad blood between minorities that were racialized and the police (Bennetto, n.d). Immigrants from Chinese have been target of racism in Canada. Racial profiling of Chinese’s immigrants has a long history with the immigrants being subjected to high taxes for them to enter Canada. Moreover, these immigrants were paid a quarter less than their white co-workers. An increase in the number of the Chinese immigrants saw the minorities being subjected to discrimination and racial bias especially by the police as they were deemed a threat to the Canadian Society (Tator & Henry, 2006). The increase in the number of immigrants into Canada led to the formulation of new laws in policing which were aimed at regulating the flow of refugees and immigrants to Canada. The police were identifying and classifying individuals, who needed to be managed, monitored and prevented from entering Canada. The racist tendencies by the police were supported by the formulation of legislation on immigration, which reflected the role of race, class and ethnicity on classification of immigrants (Tator & Henry, 2006). The media and the politicians in Canada have influenced the police to engage in racism by formulating racist discourses and highlighting that Canada was being affected by the criminal tendencies of foreigners, mainly the racial minorities. Reports and Commissions highlighting racism in Canada’s policing The human rights commission based in Quebec has been examining the hypothesis that individuals from groups that are racialized and the ethnic minorities in Canada have been continuously subjected to suspicion by police and treated by the police according to racial prejudice. Moreover, Walker (2008) has indicated the police as offering less protection to citizens from minority groups. The findings from the commission indicated that police officers in Canada have been showing discriminatory tendencies, attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, the police saw that their source of mandate was the fact that they belonged to a majority race which made them to oppress the minorities. The direct or indirect prevention of the minority from participation in social and cultural development has impeded the development of healthy relations between the minorities and the police (Walker, 2008). In a democratic country such as Canada where police operations are ambiguous, the police’s fight against crime goes beyond their stipulated jurisdiction, which causes uncontrollable and dire social repercussions. Scholars such as (Walker, 2008), indicate that although some officers do co-exist with individuals from diverse ethnicities, most of the officers, in dealing with individuals from minor groups, exhibit biased behavior and perceptions. Moreover, the police officers use language that indicates their racist inclinations. In their views, the officers indicate that blacks always exaggerate on trivial matters (Gordon, 2006). Police in Canada, when apprehending individuals from minority groups use racist statements. Moreover, the police have behaviors attitudes and perceptions that are based on mistrust. Another report by the commission indicates that Aboriginal communities were also experiencing the problem of racism. Particularly, the Montreal police was organized in such a way that in incorporated features that made it likely for offenders from the minority groups to receive unjust police attention in Montreal than offenders of the white race. Moreover, victims from minority races were receiving very little attention from the police as opposed to their white counterparts. In addition, individuals from aboriginal communities were also receiving the same type of treatment that blacks and other racial minorities were receiving (Walker, 2008). The use and practice of racism by the police may have fatal consequences. Through numerous studies and commissions in Canada about the proliferation of racist tendencies in the police force, findings have indicated that some suspects from minority groups have died following due to gunshots by the police. However, police organizations ten to show a tendency of denying the existence of racism in their activities in case there is inadequate media coverage about a racist incidence. Due to lack of media coverage of racist behavior by the police, racist tendencies emanating from the police have escalated in various parts of Canada. There are forms of racism that do not receive media attention and have lasting, deplorable and unjust effects on the victims. The varieties of differential practices from the police create negative perceptions about the services offered by the police and succeed in maintaining a racist mentality on the side of the police departments (Tator & Henry, 2006). Combating racism in police departments The aforementioned commissions proposed solutions to alleviate the situation, which includes formulation of policies, creation of training programs and the formulation of guidelines to help police respond to certain situations. Moreover, in order to address racism in Canada’s policing, the commissions have suggested that police officers from the racialized groups will be hired. The inclusion of police from racialized minorities will help in eradicating racism that persists in the police institutions in Canada. However, the hiring of police from diverse origins may not effectively yield the expected results. The main strategy is for each police department to come up with mechanisms that are necessary for the diagnosis of internal problems existing within its unit (Carrington & Fitzgerald, 2011). There is the need for the identification of racist behaviors and attitudes and finding appropriate and genuine remedies. Furthermore, since police forces tend to be institutions, which justify themselves and are often on the defense instead of being self-critical in an attempt to eradicating racism, there is the need for critical and honest analysis of the police departments since an unacknowledged problem cannot find remedy. The state can take action in preventing and counteracting terrorism because the police are dependent on the levels of government such as municipal, federal regional and provincial governments. The police officer has the mandate of offering protection and ensuring the safety of every individual regardless of the race, color, religion or biological and cultural differences (Tator & Henry, 2006). Conclusion In summary, racism has been deeply entrenched in the police departments of countries such as the United States, The United Kingdom and Canada. Particularly, in Canada, the relations between the racial minorities and the police has had a troubled past due to injustices perpetrated on the racial minorities by the police. The Canadian police have used racial profiling in public places. This essay has highlighted racism and policing in Canada whereby criminologists’ ideologies that link crime to race have been a source of discrimination that the police in Canada and other countries have practiced against the racial minorities. The legal framework in Canada is also to blame, as police officers committing violent crimes against racial minorities have been acquitted. However, the situation can be addressed by hiring police officers from minority groups and formulating training programs to help police officers deal with racism. References Bennetto, J. (n.d). Police and racism. Retrieved June 2, 2012, from http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/raceinbritain/policeandracism.pdf Carrington, P. J., & Fitzgerald, R. T. (2011). Disproportionate Minority Contact in Canada: Police and Visible Minority Youth. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 53(4), 449-486. Gordon, T. (2006). Neoiiberalism, Racism, and the War on Drugs in Canada. Social Justice, 33(1), 59-78. Rowe, M. (2004). Policing, race and racism. London: Willan. Tator, C., & Henry, F. (2006). Racial Profiling in Canada: Challenging the Myth of "a Few Bad Apples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Walker, B. (2008). The History of Immigration and Racism in Canada: Essential Readings. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press. Read More