Police Stereotypes Essay

Van Maanen, J. (1978) explains how police label citizens in public in various scripted ways. The first and worse label is the “assholes”, next is the “suspicious person”, and last is the “know nothings”. The police in their culture and occupation view these individuals much different and this can have a high cost associated with it. The assholes get treated the worst and are likely to become victims of physical street justice. The know nothings are the least likely to receive street justice. When faced with disrespect an officer has 3 options according to Van Maanen, J. (1978). The first is to act physically, the second is to ignore the person and the third is create a reason to make an arrest. Police see outsiders as people who cannot be …show more content…
This allows the police to deal with incidents quicker and with less resources. An example of this would be a police officer may respond to an old lady in a wheelchair in a polite, helpful manner and not see her as being involved in criminal activity. This stereotype can also lead to the police officer overlooking the woman being involved in criminal activity. Another stereotype police might use is seeing a young black male with tattoos and all red on as dangerous and/or a gang member. This stereotyping may lead the police to act more hostile and fearful of this individual, no matter if this is any sufficient evidence of criminal activity. Unfair treatment like profiling can lead to poor community police relations and effect legitimacy and procedural justice. The examples of using cognitive shortcuts as a police officer are various including labeling individuals for their gender, race, age, environmental, dress style, vehicle, and much more. Police officers learn from past experiences to act according to their own safety and well being. They need to pick up on small cues that may indicate a person is likely to be dangerous or involved in criminal