Human Diversity Training in Criminal Justice

Transcription

1 By Rationale for Human Diversity Training The major implication of significant increases in community and work force diversity is that the workplace and communities criminal justice practitioners serve will be laden with a variety of different, and often conflicting, languages, values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. If our organizations are to capitalize on the new ideas and creative talents which are argued to be latent in a highly diverse workforce and community, we must be proactive in dealing with diversity issues. The first step in dealing with these organizational and community changes is diversity training. Human diversity training can be a vehicle for giving criminal justice practitioners excellent tools and skills to excel and to successfully deliver quality service in their respective communities. Diversity awareness training is predicated upon a belief that an understanding of the human differences within our organizations and communities can improve our interpersonal and people skills. An improvement in interpersonal and people skills will enable us to avoid misunderstandings and/or perceptual distortions based on human differences. Effective use of people skills will then assist us in our efforts to avoid the use of hard or tactical skills that may lead to liability and/or costly litigation. Human diversity training is the beginning of a change process. Therefore, the training procedures to institute diversity awareness can be utilized for increased positive interactions between criminal justice practitioners and the people they serve. It is my hope that each human diversity trainer is truly committed to providing tools for diversity awareness and enhancement to his/her students. Human diversity trainers serve as facilitators, educators and mentors and can have a significant productive impact on their students and the entire criminal justice system. The Three Keys to Success The first key is support from the chief executive and his/her staff. When a chief executive is sincerely committed to promoting an organizational culture that values and promotes diversity, s/he can expect to see results from diversity training programs. This commitment can be displayed in an organizational vision, mission and values statement, or simply by beginning all diversity training efforts with the chief executive explaining the importance of the training as it relates to their respective organization and community. Page 1 of 5

2 This is an essential component of the diversity training because, if successful, it begins the process of undermining stereotypes about diversity training programs. For this to happen participants must feel safe enough to reveal sensitive information about themselves and to confront fear, anger, and resentment. The potential for safety and honesty in the training group is primarily determined by the second and third keys to success; the quality of the facilitator, and the cultural mix of the participants. The second key to success, the quality of the facilitator, is reflected in his/her ability to encourage and mediate candid discussions of race, ethnic and gender issues and to resolve the tension and conflict that may erupt among participants. If the facilitator has a criminal justice background, s/he shares the common culture of the participants. This sharing of common culture enhances the participant s trust in the facilitator, and the facilitator s understanding of the participants. These types of facilitators have credibility, and they are less likely to use faddish jargon. If the struggles that emerge in the group are handled skillfully, tremendous learning is possible. On the other hand, if conflicts spiral out of control, remain unresolved, or under the surface, the training may do more harm than good. Participants may leave confused, resentful, or misinformed. Safety and honesty in the training group are also more likely to develop if the third key, cultural mix of participants is adequate. The optimal group would have roughly an equal representation of men, women, whites, and people of color, so that no individual would feel isolated. When there are only one or two women in a diversity training session with twenty participants, for example, women often feel under pressure to act as spokespersons for all women and are uncomfortable describing their perceptions and experiences of sexism. Unfortunately, this ideal mix is difficult to achieve because of scheduling difficulties and/or a lack of adequate demographic mix in a particular criminal justice organization. These problems may be overcome by recruiting participants from different organizations. While there may be no immediate remedy for the underrepresentation of women and people of color in certain organizations and/or regions, diversity facilitators and chief executives should be aware of it and take steps to protect members of an underrepresented group who may feel like tokens. Anticipating Backlash An increase in resentment on the part of white males may result from poorly executed human diversity training. White males are apt to voice resentment when they perceive that they, as a group and as individuals, are going to be squeezed out of the organization so that room can be made for women and minorities. White males may wonder what they have to sacrifice. They re thinking, You re really not telling me what we need to do. This is not an uncommon reaction. The Washington Post (January 1, 1991) reports: Page 2 of 5

3 Authorities in cross-cultural relations say [there] is a growing anxiety, even defensiveness and sometimes anger among white men, who are faced with a shifting cultural and racial landscape, especially in the workplace, in which other groups are increasing in number and more aggressively asserting their identities and rights. Among white males there is a growing feeling of being threatened by these changes. If women and minorities gain in influence and stature, so this thinking goes, then white men lose. To counter these responses, the chief executive and the human diversity facilitator, must deliver this training as a change process wherein the organizational culture must accept, value and promote diversity. The facilitator must be sensitive to the reactions of white males in the group, and to encourage them to express their reservations during the training so that they do not erupt later on in the workplace or in the communities they serve. Benefits Five significant benefits of diversity training deserve brief mention. The first is the enhanced provision of voice to historically underrepresented segments of our workforce. Complex union politics, deeply held seniority driven priorities and old habits have often muffled the voices of women and minority group members, just as their disparate interests dilute their collective strengths in our pluralistic society. Second, diversity training introduces knowledge and facts to substitute for myths and stereotypes among coworkers. In the aftermath of affirmative action programs, various dysfunctional byproducts have included: feelings of injustice reflected in the charge of reverse discrimination and perceived as white male backlash; women and people of color being held to higher standards of performance; token representation employees being hired to fill narrow quotas; and a general lack of appreciation for the magnitude of change in the underlying nature of the workforce. Rather than simply filling jobs, diversity training promotes understanding and teamwork. Third, diversity training programs signify an important shift in organizational philosophy. Criminal justice organizations have recognized the need for a better understanding of human differences and the resulting positive outcomes this understanding can bring to the workplace and in the communities they serve. Page 3 of 5

4 Fourth, any exposure to the complexity of workforce and community diversity is better than ignorance of these issues. Through discussion, parties begin to examine their own possible biases and to anticipate the legitimacy of the different perspectives of coworkers and community members. Fifth, the discussion of diversity issues within the organization elevates the conceptualization of cultural tensions to one which is larger than individual villains and is a challenge to the whole organization as a social community. Page 4 of 5

5 is a Manager of Regulatory Affairs & Supply Chain Integrity for a Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical and Health Care Organization. In this position he uses analytics (big data) to identify controlled substance prescription diversion and fraud, employs effective prescription drug diversion and fraud countermeasures, and ensures the integrity of the organization's supply chain. Kelly is the former Chief of Law Enforcement with the Florida Attorney General s Office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. He previously was the Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Palm Beach Community College. Pat also was the Chief of Police with the St. Cloud (Florida) Police Department for 3 ½ years and the Chief of Police for 10 years with the Medley Police Department, in Dade County, Florida. Patrick has over 25 years of criminal justice experience. Chief Pat Kelly served 8½ years on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement s Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) and was the first Commissioner ever to serve 3 consecutive years as Chairman. The CJSTC establishes and enforces rules and policies regarding criminal justice officer s (police, correctional officers, probation and parole officers, etc.) hiring, selection, training and discipline. Pat was the chair of the CJSTC penalty guidelines committee and was an advisory member of the CJSTC domestic violence task force. Kelly received his bachelor s degree in Criminology from Florida State University and his master s degree in Management, with a specialization in Human Resource Management, from St. Thomas University. Patrick is listed in Who s Who in American Colleges and Universities and has completed his doctorate degree (Ed. D.) coursework requirements and passed his competency exams in Adult Education and Human Resource Development at Florida International University. Chief Kelly is a graduate of the Florida Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Nonviolence. Pat has served as an adjunct professor for the graduate schools at both Barry University and St. Thomas University, in Miami, Florida. Some of the courses he developed and taught are Organizational Behavior, Business Ethics, Human Resource Management, Public Speaking, Organizational Design, Consulting Skills in Human Resource Development and Instructional Design. Pat has also taught a variety of courses to police and correctional officers at Florida criminal justice training center and across North America. Chief Kelly has taught the Value-Centered Leadership, Leadership & Quality Policing, and Managing the Training Function courses for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Kelly is one of the nation s top ethics, management, human/multicultural diversity, community policing, and weapons of mass destruction training experts. Pat has trained police chiefs, sheriffs and other police and criminal justice executives in Human Diversity, Managing Diversity in Police Organizations, Equal Employment Opportunity & Sexual Harassment, Principles of Survival & Success, and Discriminatory Profiling & Professional Traffic Stops. Patrick is also a Louisiana State University (LSU) Academy of Counter Terrorist Education certified Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) trainer. Pat has provided consulting interventions and training for many large law enforcement agencies (i.e., Newark, NJ, San Diego US Border Patrol, etc.) as well as many small police agencies (i.e., Miami Spring PD, Coral Gables PD, Altamonte Springs PD, etc.). Chief Kelly s writings have been published in numerous professional and trade journals, as well as on the World Wide Web. Pat is also a Cooper Fitness Institute Certified Physical Fitness instructor, an FDLE certified defensive tactics instructor, and a Certified Protection Officer through the International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO). Chief Patrick s dynamic communication skills and enthusiastic outlook result in him being asked to provide keynote and motivational presentations for many organizations. Pat currently is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix Online (undergraduate and graduate) and teaches transformational leadership, human resource management, organizational behavior, diversity in criminal justice, ethics, contemporary issues in criminal justice and a variety of other business, leadership, and criminal justice courses. Patrick is the principal in Pat Kelly Associates, an organization & management consulting firm, and is available for motivational, training and keynote speaking engagements. He can be reached at (407) or chiefpatkelly@gmail.com. Page 5 of 5