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Diverse Backgrounds And Policing, Maya I. Wilson

AYSPS Masters Theses

In recent years, high-profile cases of police violence have garnered national debate around the future of policing and how it will address racial/ethnic bias. Current police recruiting campaigns target diversity, hiring racially and ethnically diverse officers, as a solution to the ongoing tensions between officers and the ethnically/racially diverse communities they serve. Consequently, bias is present in all Americans, as race has culturally constructed American society. This research questions the reliability of an officer's racial/ethnic status as catalysts of change for biases present in police organizations and police practices. More so, this research prompts using diverse experiences from childhood and …