Running head: WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Capstone Research Project What Do Police Recruits Identify as Strategies to Deal with Their Triggers/Biases to Deliver Fair and Impartial Policing? Author: Md Asif Hossain Program: Bachelor of Law Enforcement Studies Course: Research Project: LAWS 4003 Justice Institute of British Columbia Instructors: Gregory Keenan & Florence Daddey Advisors: Marjory Jardine & Nora Houlahan Date: April 9th 2018 1 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Abstract 2 Police officers have an obligation to ensure their investigations are fair and impartial; to do so they must be aware of their own implicit biases and develop strategies to mitigate their effect. Due to the increase in awareness of implicit bias, there has also been an increase in interest in police training in fair and impartial policing. The study examined the responses to scenario debrief questions from one class of police recruits at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) Police Academy. The main objective of this project is to learn how police recruits identify their biases and what strategies they utilize to deal with such biases and triggers to ensure their investigations are fair and impartial in the scenario-based training environment. Keywords: Implicit biases, explicit biases, prejudices, police discrimination, police fairness, police impartiality, police training, and Canadian policing. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Table of contents 3 Introduction 4 Study Population 5 Literature Search Methodology 6 Literature Review 7 Research Design and Data Analysis 10 Findings 12 Recruits’ Triggers 13 Strategies for Fair and Impartial Investigations 19 Discussion 23 Limitations 25 Recommendations and Conclusion 25 References 27 Appendices 29 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Introduction 4 Bias, either conscious (explicit) or unconscious (implicit) can be problematic in modern day law enforcement. According to Bergen (2001) bias is a prejudice in favor of or against something and prejudice is a preconceived opinion or a negative feeling towards people from different groups based on factors such as ethnicity or race, sexual orientation, religion, or age. Child psychologists have found children as young as four years old who can/may differentiate people from a “good race” or “bad race” according to their social learning (Bergen, 2001). As it is evident that every human being has biases, how do police officers operate with such biases? Can race, gender, age, religion or sexual orientation make a difference in how fast an officer will react with lethal force or how threatened an officer may feel? How can officers better relate to someone from another race? All these questions have important implications for police officers, police departments, and the communities they serve. Although there are numerous stories of police officers responding with bias and stereotypical attitudes, the picture has changed dramatically since the early days of policing where explicit biases and open racist practices were much more common (Whalen, 2016). Discrimination is illegal in our society today and officers are held to a high standard of accountability. Because of this high standard of accountability, it is important that police training address the impact that implicit bias can have on attitudes and behaviour. According to Staats (2014), implicit biases are attitudes or stereotypes that people tend to carry around with them unconsciously. Such mental association may influence perception, behaviour, actions, and decisions. The problem with implicit bias is that it is activated involuntarily and often unknowingly. With training, however, implicit bias can WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? be recognized and strategies can be developed to mitigate its impact. Learning to 5 recognize bias and conduct fair and impartial investigations should be integrated throughout the training program, particularly for those just entering the profession. In 2016, the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) Police Academy moved away from the traditional lecture based curriculum delivery model and adopted a new competency based education model. Under the new curriculum the recruits learn concepts and skills through case based real-life scenarios in order to move towards professional competence. Case based learning helps the recruits utilize theoretical information in real life situations and build concrete knowledge about the subject matter (JIBC Police Academy, ca. 2015). Following application through case based learning, the recruits apply their new knowledge in practical scenarios. These scenarios, though artificial, can trigger biases that have the potential to impact recruit behaviour and performance. Following each scenario, recruits are asked to debrief and examine their actions and reactions. Accordingly, the research question for this project is “What do police recruits identify as strategies to deal with their triggers/biases to deliver fair and impartial policing?” Understanding their perceptions, mindsets, and experiences during training may lead to recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of fair and impartial police training for municipal police recruits in British Columbia (BC). Study Population The Police Academy at the JIBC is responsible for training all municipal police recruits, the transit police, and tribal police in the province of BC. This study examined the training material from one class of 48 police recruits who had already completed the first part of their training (Block I of recruit training). This class was the first class to WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? train in the fully redesigned new delivery model. The study did not examine training 6 material from classes that were currently underway or that did not experience the fully redesigned program. Of the 48 recruits the majority were males as shown in Figure 1. Fifty two percent of the recruits in the class were between 25 to 29 years old. AGE RANGES GENDER 20-24 Female 38% Male 62% 25-29 20% 6% 30-34 22% 35-39 52% Figure 1: Gender Ratio and Age Ranges Literature Search Methodology Following systematic procedures, the literature search discovered 200 articles, amongst which 53 articles were peer-reviewed and published between 1990-2018. A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed journals and relevant academic books was completed based on a wide range of keywords including implicit biases, explicit biases, prejudices, police discrimination, police fairness, police impartiality, police training, and Canadian policing literature. The JIBC Library EBSCOhost Discovery Service was the primary source for retrieving articles. In addition, key databases such as ProQuest, Statistics Canada, Google Scholar and Google were also used to find articles. The references in each article were also used to find additional articles. Published sociology, psychology and police journals from Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Education and Society, Sage Journals, Police Quarterly, Journal of Educational WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Psychology, and Sociology Publications were also searched independently. Lastly, 31 7 articles were selected for the abstract review, amongst which seven articles were chosen for the final review. Literature Review Literature on theoretical standpoints of fair and impartial policing was the major focus in this study to seek a better understanding of the scientific processes that direct human behaviour when it comes to implicit bias. The final review of the seven selected articles focused on different aspects of implicit bias discussed in the literature: the impact of internal stressors, the environmental impact or constant exposure to established attitudes, or situational adaptation of bias, and bias driven by faulty perception. However, finding relevant articles was difficult due to lack of research on bias from a Canadian police training perspective. Implicit Biases and Environment According to Bergen (2001), prejudice is predetermined judgment that is not based on genuine understanding. It is a form of bias that is learned from family, peers and the social environment. Every environment breeds some type of prejudiced mindset into young children. As the child grows up, these implicit biases may remain throughout the stages of their life. James (2018) conducted a study to identify whether implicit biases could be a situational adaptation. The study promoted the biases for pro-white, anti-black and antiwhite, pro-black by showing one group the pictures of respected whites like Tom Hanks or John F. Kennedy and dishonourable blacks like O. J. Simpson or Marion Barry. The other group was shown pictures of respected blacks like Denzel Washington or Michael Jordan and infamous whites like Ted Bundy or Timothy McVeigh. The results supported that WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 8 implicit biases are a situational adaptation as people perceived the images accordingly (James, 2018). According to the findings of James (2018), it can be pointed out that biases and preconceptions may occupy a police officer’s mind by associating blacks with crimes more than white due to the situational adaptation of blacks being the majority population in the prison system in the U.S. James (2018) also stated implicit biases may/can mirror the environment involuntarily. For example, any person may have implicit biases against members of a specific ethnic group if they reside in a neighbourhood that has a high crime rate due to that ethnic group. However, it also is possible for that same person to reduce or eliminate any implicit biases against that ethnic group if he/she moves to a neighbourhood where that ethnic group has minimal to no involvement in crimes. Bergen (2001) stated the attachment of a child is mostly to his/her family and children learn everything in their life from their family through observation and imitation of role models. As a result, he/she also believes the established attitudes the family brings to him/her about out-groups. James (2018) used another example of an officer working in an area where the crime rates for a certain ethnic group are high. As the officer has continued exposure to that group committing crimes, he/she may start implicitly associating crimes with that group. In the 2014 Kirwanian Institute report on implicit bias, Staats stated exposure to media and news programming could also influence an individual’s implicit bias about a certain social group of people. Staats (2014) also claimed, despite having preference for one’s in group, implicit biases could/may work against one's own group due to the exposure of established beliefs. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Internal Stressors Can Influence Implicit Biases 9 The work of Fridell (2016), James (2018), Staats (2014), and Whalen (2016) agreed implicit biases are subtle and unconscious attitudes that influence human behaviour. Although police officers may not display explicit biases, concerns about racially motivated policing implicitly can be present depending on the situation. According to James (2018), implicit racial biases can fluctuate amongst police officers due to their internal stressors, which include job stress and fatigue. According to Staats (2014), implicit biases could be effectively measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) developed by the Harvard University. The IAT determines the cognitive process of an individual outside their awareness by examining how fast they associate separate concepts mentally using one of two computer keys. In the study by James (2018), a sample of 80 officers was tested with the IAT across four separate patrol shifts in different time points to assess whether their sleep patterns or sleep restrictions changed implicit biases. The scores changed across the testing times, which suggested that implicit biases were not stable (James, 2018). Also, the study concluded internal stressors such as lack of sleep could trigger implicit bias. However, the study did not look at how this impacted actions of officers on the road. Bias Can Drive Faulty Perception According to Fridell (2016) due to biases, an officer may either be under or overvigilant while responding to a situation. This can cause faulty perceptions or threaten perception failures and create problems for the police and the public when it comes to life and death situations (Fridell, 2016). James (2018) added implicit biases are more easily learned than changed or removed. Laboratory studies showed participants were faster in WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? shooting armed black individuals and slower in shooting armed white individuals. The 10 participants also exhibited the tendency to shoot unarmed black individuals in error more than shooting unarmed white individuals in error (Fridell, 2016). This is evident in real life settings as well due to influences of biases. Hence many police officers stay more on guard due to a heightened perception of danger because the suspect belongs to a certain social group. For example, intensified perception of danger with the blacks (Whalen, 2016). Research Design and Data Analysis The study examined the training material from one class of 48 police recruits who had already completed the first part of their training (Block 1 of recruit training). The data was obtained from the debrief forms that recruits filled out after each case-based scenario. The answers to questions “What strategies did you use, or could you have used, to ensure your investigations were fair, impartial, and bias free?” and “Is there anything that the subjects did/said that caused you to react negatively to them (what are your triggers)?” were analyzed and compared across Weeks 1 to 4 and Week 11 of Block 1. The data was redacted by the Police Academy staff and it met the JIBC Research Ethics Board standards (Protocol # JIBCER-2018-03-PRIS, refer to Appendix V). As shown in Figure 2, Week 1 scenarios required recruits to have consensual encounters with subjects and initiate investigative detention. In Week 2, the recruits had to engage with violators and proceed with an investigative detention. Week 3 involved three scenarios including domestic assaults, hostile person interaction and dealing with intoxicated person(s) in public. Week 4 had three assault scenarios that involved a road rage situation, a consensual fight and a parking lot fight. And, in Week 11, the recruits had an impaired WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 11 driving scenario that required them to issue immediate roadside driving prohibitions and request breath samples from subjects. Weeks Scenario/s Week 1: Police and the public Consensual encounter and investigative detention Week 2: Initial contact Violator contact and investigative detention Week 3: Communication and State of intoxication in a public place, hostile person, and domestic investigation with breach Week 4: Assault Consensual fight, road rage, and parking lot fight. Week 11: Impaired driving Immediate Roadside Prohibition and refusal to blow Figure 2: Case Based Scenario/s by Weeks A qualitative research method was used for this study to analyze the recruits’ responses to the questions related to bias and strategies for fair and impartial policing. According to Creswell (2014, p. 4), “qualitative research is an approach to explore and understand the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem.” Qualitative research also has a smaller sample size and its data collection techniques rely on observation and interpretation. Using grounded theory as a method of discovery, this study analyzed the recruit responses from their scenario debrief forms. Grounded theory is a step towards conceptual thinking and theory building rather than experimental testing of an existing theory (Khan, 2014). In other words, grounded theory is not a theory itself, but an approach or strategy to generate a theory or theories from any available data. The data obtained from the debrief forms after each scenario had answers from the recruits addressing issues surrounding triggers, biases, or strategies they used to ensure fair and impartial police investigations. The Word Frequency Query in Nvivo software version: 11.4.3 (2084) was run on all data sources and common themes were identified for analyzing the data. After the data was analyzed, a holistic picture of the triggers, biases and strategies was drawn and coded to various nodes, sub nodes and sub-sub nodes. After 12 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? coding all the sources according to the nodes, each of the nodes had all the coded references organized by the themes. Findings There were three sources of triggers identified by the recruits: subject actions, subject characteristics, and call characteristics. Within the subject actions, physical actions and verbal actions were two sub-nodes. Physical actions included sub-sub nodes such as hands in pockets, being dismissive and displaying aggressive behaviour such as punching at walls or kicking chairs. Verbal actions included sub-sub nodes of lying, raised voice, mocking and flirtation. Subject characteristics included sub nodes of subject size and subject’s intoxicated state. And within call charactersitics, domestic violence and impaired driving were two sub nodes. Refer to Figure 3 for a visual perspective of recruits’ triggers in a flow chart. Triggers Subject action Subject characteristics Physical actions Hands inside pockets Aggressive behaviour (Eg. kicking chairs) Verbal actions Dismissive Lying Figure 3: Flow Chart: Recruits’ Triggers Raised voice Flirtation Subject size Mocking Subject intoxicated Call characteristics Impaired driving (using cellphone while driving) Domestic violence 13 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? The Word Frequency Query was run on all sources by including stemmed words to display the most frequent words used by recruits. The five most commonly used words were: investigative, negatively, fair, respect and distrust as shown in Figure 4. For a visual perspective refer to Appendix III to view the Word Query as a word cloud and Appendix IV to view the total results of the Word Query. Word Count Similar words Investigative 105 Investigate, investigating, investigation, investigations, investigative Negatively 85 Negative, negatively, negativity Fair 79 Fair, fairly, fairness Respect 36 Respect, respectable, respected, respectful, respectfully Distrust 33 Distrust, distrusting Figure 4: Five Frequently Words Used by Recruits Recruits’ Triggers Subject Physical Action: Displaying Aggression Three recruits from Week 1, two recruits from Week 2, five recruits from Week 3 and 10 recruits from Week 4 identified getting triggered when the subject’s attitude was aggressive or had a confrontational body language. Their behaviours included yelling, speaking aggressively, moving back and forth, being pushy, hitting walls, kicking chairs, throwing coffee cups directly in front of recruits, displaying intense emotions, agitation or assaultive behaviour such as clenching fists or jaw. According to a Week 3 recruit, the threat level of a subject increased by the way he/she displayed aggressiveness. In a Week 3 scenario, subject kicked chairs, which triggered the recruit with higher alertness for safety and he/she immediately arrested the subject. Another recruit from Week 2 said, “The mannerisms of the hostile individual made me want to react with some force to get them to stop acting so sporadically. I believe that aggressive behaviours and yelling may WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 14 be one of my triggers, I sometimes want to yell back or use physical force to calm down the situation other than staying calm and trying to calm them down”. Subject Physical Action: Hands Inside the Pocket Eight recruits from Week 1 and two recruits from Week 2 identified triggers when the subject had his/her hands inside their pockets. A Week 1 recruit said “Upon detention, the individual began to put her hands in her pockets. I then raised my voice at her and stated that she was to refrain from doing this. Her action caused me to distrust her, and was a trigger for me as I was then concerned for my safety.” Other recruits also mentioned that subjects with hands inside their pockets triggered alertness for their own safety. They identified such action caused them to distrust the subject. Subject Physical Action: Dismissive Subject Twelve recruits from Week 1, eleven recruits from Week 2, seven recruits from Week 3, seven recruits from Week 4, and seven recruits from Week 11, identified getting triggered when subjects refused to stop, walked away, were not receptive of the recruits’ questions, did not obey commands, were uncooperative, and were unwilling to speak. A Week 2 recruit mentioned, “The subject was dismissive and attempted to brush off officers during the encounter. This resulted in myself ‘ramping up’ to a more authoritative approach.” Another Week 11 recruit said, “At one point the driver started the vehicle and turned the radio on. This showed me that the driver was not cooperating with me; this in turn caused me to distrust them.” Recruits also stated, they got frustrated or went blank when the suspects seemed arrogant or dismissive despite the recruits’ polite approach. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Subject Verbal Action: Flirtation 15 One recruit from Week 1, two recruits from Week 2, three recruits from Week 3, and one recruit from Week 11 identified getting triggered when the subjects flirted or made inappropriate comments to the recruits. One recruit from Week 3 said, “I realized that I didn’t appreciate being harassed by the intoxicated person. At first I was unsure as to how to reply to comments such as “hey I will go home with you” or “you’re a sexy lady.” However, throughout the call, I realized that if I kept focused on what I was trying to accomplish and disregarded the comments, I was able to move along with the call. I realized afterwards that I could say, “please don’t call me that” or “let’s be respectful please” and see how he responds to that.” However, a recruit from Week 11 identified that flirtation did not affect his/her decision-making. Subject Verbal Action: Subject Lying Eight recruits from Week 1, two recruits from Week 2, two recruits from Week 3, four recruits from Week 4, and six recruits from Week 11 identified getting triggered when the subjects gave fake names or dates of birth, made up false stories, and lied about how many drinks they had. A Week 11 recruit added, “The subject had stated that he had only had a half of a beer that evening. Based on my observations, it was clear that this was not the case and the individual was highly intoxicated. Although I did not react negatively, it did cause me to distrust the individual because I was certain that he was lying to me. This then reinforced the concept that I had to have reasonable and probable grounds to back up my decision.” The majority of the recruits throughout the five training weeks described having distrust towards suspects who lied. A recruit from Week 1 described frustration when being lied to. His/her thought process was negatively WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 16 impacted and he/she started seeing the subject in a negative light. Another Week 2 recruit found he/she got argumentative with the subject as he/she lied to the recruit about impaired driving. Subject Verbal Action: Subject Yelling Three recruits from Week 3 and two recruits from Week 4 identified getting triggered when subjects yelled at them. One Week 3 recruit said, “There isn’t anything specific that caused me to react negatively to the subject, but I did react a little during the week when I was getting yelled at and not let into a house during the dropped 911 call. I knew I could go in but when you are put under scrutiny as to your authority to be there in the moment it’s hard to come up with something specific in response. I maintained my composure and kept trying different avenues.” A recruit from Week 1 recommended recruits must adapt to changing situations and not take it personally or develop triggers from an interaction. Subject Verbal Action: Subject Mocking Two recruits from Week 1, two recruits from Week 2, one recruit from Week 4, and one recruit from Week 11 identified getting triggered when subjects mocked them. One recruit from Week 1 mentioned, “Most of what the subject said or did, did not trigger any negative reaction, as it was difficult to react negatively knowing it was a simulation. However, because I was so nervous in the scenario my verbal communication became jumbled up and asking certain questions did not communicate as intended. For example, I asked “Do you have a birth date” and my subject responded by laughing and making fun of the way I worded my question. This definitely triggered some emotions of embarrassment and made me feel more uncomfortable, which I noticed affected the rest WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 17 of my interaction, as I was nervous to make another mistake.” Two recruits from Week 2 identified being triggered by the subject who continuously asked the same question despite the recruits’ already having addressed the question several times. Subject Characteristics: Subject Size One Week 1 recruit, one Week 2 recruit, one Week 3 recruit and one Week four recruited identified getting triggered due to subject’s size. One Week 3 recruit said, “In the hostile person encounter I was taken aback when he got into my personal space and postured his chest to me. As a very small female, I must admit I felt afraid and didn’t want to get close to him to effect the arrest. I don’t believe I reacted negatively to him in an overt way but I definitely felt it internally.” Another recruit from Week 1 identified how he/she reacted negatively to the suspect, due to the perception that the suspect would not respond respectfully because of the recruit’s smaller size. Subject Characteristics: Intoxicated Subject Seven Week 3 recruits, and eight Week 11 recruits identified getting triggered due to the intoxicated state of the subjects. Two recruits mentioned, they got irritated by repeating themselves multiple times as the subject was not understanding their demands. Another Week 3 recruit said, “When dealing with the intoxicated individual, I found myself becoming slightly frustrated due to his level of intoxication, which in turn, had an effect on my ability to obtain background information, and come to a solution based on the information received. It did take me slightly longer to come to a conclusion based on the situation, yet I was able to do so without becoming escalated or letting his state effect my ability to problem solve.” Recruits from Weeks 3 and 11 also identified lengthy interactions with intoxicated subjects as exhausting. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Call Characteristics: Domestic Violence 18 Three recruits from Week 3 mentioned they had pre-conceived assumptions before they responded to the domestic violence call. This was a trigger for them. One recruit said, “I developed a pre-conceived notion before I entered the domestic call thinking that the male was the aggressor. I found out later that the male was actually the victim and this threw me off. I was too quick to judge and this hindered my investigation and rapport building with the subject.” Call Characteristics: Impaired Driving Four recruits from Week 2 and three recruits from Week 11 identified getting triggered from calls such as driving under the influence of alcohol and using cellular device while driving. One Week 2 recruit stated, “Upon initiating the traffic stop I was aware of a level of bias as I have no patience for people who use their cellular devices and drive. I had to make myself aware of this bias upon entering the situation, in order to not treat the person as if they are an idiot. I therefore drew from a place of patience and understanding, using empathy as if I were the person receiving a $368 ticket.” And another recruit said, “I found the concept of an impaired driver triggering from the start, since I believe that driving is a responsibility and a privilege, and driving while under the influence is selfish and places other lives at risk. At the time of the vehicle stop and proceeding investigation, I recognized my feeling of negativity towards the driver, and made the effort to be sensitive to this distrust in order to better remain impartial through the traffic stop and field interview.” WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Strategies for Fair and Impartial Investigations 19 Strategies used by recruits to conduct fair and impartial investigations were divided into seven categories as shown in Figure 5: assertiveness, focusing on investigation objectives, building rapport, interpreting events with an open mindset, being professional, remaining calm, and treating everyone with respect. Assertiveness Focus on investigation objectives Respect Strategies Building rapport Remain calm Being professional Open mindset Figure 5: List of Strategies Recruits’ Use for Fair and Impartial Investigations Assertiveness Five Week 1 recruits, one Week 2 recruit, and one Week 3 recruit used assertiveness in calls as a strategy to remain bias free. One recruit from Week 1 stated, “The subject in the investigative detention scenario provided me with a fake name initially. This caused me to distrust him, however by being assertive, I was able to obtain his real name and continue with the investigation.” Focusing on Investigation Objectives Eleven recruits from Week 1, five recruits from Week 2, four recruits from Week WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 3, two recruits from Week 4, and five recruits from Week 11 mentioned they attended 20 calls by being fair, balanced, impartial and remaining objective to the facts of the investigation. A Week 1 recruit said, “The strategies that I used to ensure my investigations were fair, impartial, and bias free were to use the objective facts that I received from the call. Such as using the objective facts in the B&E call, subject was walking in an industrial area at 0300hrs and that there was approximately 12 B&E’s in the last 2-3 days.” Recruits also mentioned, despite the subjects using inappropriate words, the recruits did not get bothered and managed to remain focused on conducting the investigation. Building Rapport Eight recruits from Week 1, five recruits from Week 3, one recruit from Week 4, and one recruit from Week 11 mentioned by building rapport the recruits were able to gain cooperation from difficult subjects and not be biased. Though many subjects were disrespectful towards the recruits at the beginning of the encounter, as rapport was established, the encounters took a positive turn. One Week 1 recruit said, “Throughout both of the scenarios, I ensured that I treated all individuals equally, whether it be the homeless individuals living on the streets, or the male walking at night. This allowed for a positive interaction, and for a positive rapport to be built.” Another Week 11 recruit said, “I treated the suspect in a respectable manner and built rapport to mitigate the chance of things going sideways.” Interpreting Events with an Open Mind Four Week 1 recruits, three Week 2 recruits, 16 Week 3 recruits, 13 Week 4 recruits and six Week 11 recruits mentioned they approach calls with an open mind to WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 21 remain fair and impartial. Recruits also added they tried not to assume anything or have pre-conceived ideas before getting to the calls. A Week 3 recruit said, “I approached the situations with an open mind and allowed the SOC to give me their version of what was going on before I jumped to any conclusions.” Another recruit from the same week stated, “I found by coming into the situation with an open mind, it allowed me to remain impartial. I was able to assess the situation from my first encounter and based my approach on the reaction I received from the role player. I found by remaining professional and courteous also allowed me to remain bias free. I addressed the individual as “sir” and always said please and thank you throughout the whole encounter. Moreover, by explaining my legal authorities and actions to the role player, I found I was able to justify my detention and demonstrate why my investigation was fair.” Two recruits from Week 1 mentioned that they approached every situation as though they were going to have a casual conversation with a regular citizen and not a criminal. Professionalism Twelve recruits from Week 1, five recruits from Week 2, five recruits from Week 3, six recruits from Week 4, and eight recruits from Week 11 stated being professional and polite helped them remain bias free. Though recruits felt nervous and frustrated in various situations where subjects were uncooperative and impolite, by behaving professionally the recruits were able to execute their common law duties. A Week 3 recruit said, “I used the strategy of maintaining a professional and positive demeanour. I can display sensitivity but still have a positive demeanour, and this helps to de-escalate situations and keep things professional.” By being professional recruits were able to build a connection with the subjects and achieve a good level of understanding. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Remain calm 22 Seven Week 1 recruits, three Week 2 recruits, six Week 3 recruits, seven Week 4 recruits and two Week 11 recruits highlighted the importance of staying calm during their encounters with subjects. Recruits faced numerous situations where the subject was resistant to cooperate, showed disrespect, refused any commands or showed fingers when the recruit demanded something. Despite feeling frustrated or getting negatively triggered, the recruits remained calm, polite and dealt with the subjects peacefully. By remaining calm and listening carefully, the recruits were able to de-escalate the situations. A Week 1 recruit said, “I found going into the call with a clear head allowed me to remain fair and impartial to the situation. I was able to adapt and assess my approach to the individuals based on the initial encounter with the subjects. This allowed me to remain calm and refrain from allowing previous biases to interfere with my first encounter with the individual. During both of my encounters, I went into the situation analyzing and focusing on my common law duties and my lawful authority to be present in the situation.” Treating Everyone with Respect Twenty one recruits in Week 1, 14 recruits in Week 2, 11 recruits in Week 3, 12 recruits in Week 4, nine recruits in Week 11 mentioned “respect” and “equal treatment” in their answers. They explained the importance of treating every subject with respect regardless of their age, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, social class or ethnicity. This was the most common strategy used by recruits throughout the weeks of their training. A recruit from Week 1 said, “I ensured that I treated all individuals equally, whether it be the homeless individuals living on the streets, or the male walking at 23 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? night.” Another recruit from the same week said, “Whenever I deal with people, I always treat them how I would like to be treated. I believe this is key in order to guarantee an investigation is impartial and bias free.” One Week 2 recruit said, “During my violator contact scenario, the driver was being extremely rude and responded to me in an argumentative manner. I ignored his rude demeanour and maintained my composure and reacted in a respectful manner. My strategy during this scenario was to ignore his rude comments and to respond back politely.” A Week 3 recruit mentioned, “As always, I ensure that I act in a fair and impartial manner, especially when making decisions that will effect someone’s disposition and human rights. I respect everyone I come into contact with and I try my best to communicate with them in a way that they will understand and appreciate. I am patient when listening to subjects and tailor my explanations based off their reactions and what I believe will help deescalate the situation and achieve the most desirable result. “Another recruit from Week 4 stated, “I used the strategy of treating everyone equally, be they the aggressor or the victim. This helps us as officers to obtain a fair and impartial idea of what occurred.” Lastly, one Week 11 recruit said, “I always enter into any situation with the mindset that the situation can change at any point. On top of that, I always treat others (Subjects specifically) how I would want to be treated, or better yet, how I would want my family member to be treated. This ensures that my investigations are fair and bias free.” Discussion Most people don’t intend to be discriminatory but because implicit bias activates involuntarily, people often act without recognizing their biases. The intent of this study was to understand what recruits identify as their triggers/biases in scenario training and WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 24 what strategies they identify to deliver fair and impartial policing. The literature review provided context for the discussion on implicit bias in a broad policing context, however the literature only focused on racial aspects of bias. Block 1 recruits, however, did not identify any racially based biases from the scenarios. Recruits focused on subject actions, subject characteristics and call characteristics as the source of their triggers. Some of this difference is likely due to the artificial nature of scenario training. The scenarios at the JIBC involve the recruits acting for each other; as a result, the diversity in subjects encountered is limited to the diversity in the class. To identify implicit biases with regard to race or racial discrimination, actors would need to come from diverse ethnic groups. In addition to the potential lack of actor diversity in scenario training, the literature focus also lacks a comprehensive view of implicit bias. The majority of the literature comes from the U.S. where the racially based tensions are very different than those in Canada. Implicit biases are not limited to racial friction between officers and subjects. The literature does not identify other sources of bias, such as subject behaviour or call characteristics that can be important, particularly in a developing police recruit. Therefore, there is a gap in the literature as it did not recognize other types of implicit bias that are essential for police officers to recognize in order to deliver fair and impartial police services. The practice of self-reflection is a vital component in the JIBC recruittraining curriculum. The scenario based training and debriefing at the JIBC Police Academy is intended to provide structure where police recruits get into the practice of recognizing their own biases and developing strategies to mitigate them. As James (2018) mentioned implicit biases are more easily learned than changed or removed. The 25 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? awareness of self-reflection prepares recruits to recognize and mitigate any implicit bias triggered in any situation in the future. Limitations There were a number of limitations to this study. The sample size was small and limited to the 48 recruits in one class in Block 1of training at JIBC. Because the study is specific to JIBC Police Academy training, it is not generalizable to other police training academies or police agencies. The second challenge was due to the coverage of Canadian police topics and its volume of research literature being very low. For example, according to Huey (2016, p. 3), from 2006 to 2015, only 188 research studies on contemporary Canadian policing issues were published. During this time, the number of studies published each year increased from only seven in 2006 to 40 in 2015 (Huey, 2016, p. 10). Despite this increase in literature, there is still considerable room for more research on contemporary Canadian policing topics. Huey’s (2016) inclusion criteria were quite stringent and therefore resulted in a limited number of results. For example, Huey required that the articles contained the results of a research study, focussed on an aspect of contemporary Canadian public policing, drew on Canadian data and contained a clear description of the methodology (p. 6). Despite these restrictions, the results indicate the challenge in finding Canadian research studies on policing. Recommendations and Conclusion There is definitely a gap between the literature findings and those of the current JIBC police recruit study. This opens doors for new topics to be explored, and, existing topics to be built upon. Recommendations for future research include involving more cohorts from Block 1 to identify additional triggers, biases or strategies. The analysis WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? could also be expanded to include Block 3 recruits to determine if the triggers, biases, 26 and strategies were the same as Block 1 recruits or if additional themes for triggers, bias or strategies to mitigate such issues are identified. There is also potential for further research by utilizing the Implicit Association Test (IAT) by Harvard University with the recruit cohorts to determine the cognitive processes of the recruits outside their awareness and estimate their implicit association more directly (James, 2018). There is also the possibility to follow up with the recruits who have graduated from the Police Academy and are working in the field. The follow up research with recruits who have graduated could be used to examine whether the self-reflection practice at the Police Academy did, or did not, actually build the reflective practice in the real world. The JIBC (ca. 2015) proposal explains how self-reflection can be a powerful tool to focus on core values and how feedback can play a significant role for improvement and in developing skills for delivering improved police services when it comes to fair and impartial policing. Reflecting upon calls is an important step to identify biases and act to mitigate them. WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? References 27 Bergen, T. J. J. (2001). The development of prejudice in children. Education and Society, 122(1), 154–163. Retrieved from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jnp/es Berger, R., Abu-Raiya, H., & Gelkopf, M. (2014). The art of living together: Reducing stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes through the Arab-Jewish class exchange program (CEP). Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 678–688. doi.org/10.1037/edu0000015 Blumberg, D. M., Giromini, L., & Jacobson, L. B. (2016). Impact of police academy training on recruits’ integrity. Police Quarterly, 19(1), 63-86. doi: 10.1177/1098611115608322 Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Fridell, L. A. (2016). Racial aspects of police shootings. American Society of Criminology, 15(2), 481-489. doi:10.1111/1745-9133.12189 Huey, L., (2016). What one might expect: A scoping review of the Canadian policing research literature. Sociology Publications, (Paper 36). Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/sociologypub/36 James, L. (2018). The stability of implicit racial bias in police officers. Police Quarterly, 21(1), 30-52. doi:10.1177/1098611117732974 Justice Institute of British Columbia Police Academy. (ca. 2015). Aligning recruit training with principles of competency based education. (Curriculum proposal) New Westminster, BC: Author Khan, N. S. (2014). Qualitative research method: Grounded theory. Canadian Center of WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Science and Education, 9(11), 224-233. Retrieved from http://web.ccsenet.org 28 Robertson, N. (2012). Policing: Fundamental principles in a Canadian context. Institute of Public Administration of Canada, 55(3), 343-363. Retrieved from https://www.ipac.ca Spencer, B. K., Charbonneau, A. K., & Glaser, J. (2016). Implicit bias and policing. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(1), 50-63. Retrieved from https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Social+and+Personality+Psychology+Compass-p9780JRNL68028 Staats, C. (2014). State of the science: Implicit bias review 2014. Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Retrieved from http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2014/03/2014-implicit-bias.pdf Streb, M. J., Burrell, B., Frederick, B., & Genovese, M. A. (2007). Social desirability effects and support for female American president. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(1), 76–89. doi:10.1093/poq/nfm035 Vinkle, E. (2012). Cultural competency – working with Aboriginal peoples: A nonNative perspective. Native Social Work, 8, 129-142. Retrieved from https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/378 Whalen, C. B. (2017). Implicit bias and the police. The Journal of California Law Enforcement, 51(1), 21-28. Retrieved from https://cpoa.org/resources/journal-ofca-law-enforcement/ 29 WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Appendices Resources Appendix I: List of Articles for Final Review Keywords Hits Inclusion/Exclusion Hits Final Review EDS Discovery System, JIBC library Google search engine EDS Discovery System, JIBC library EDS Discovery System, JIBC library EDS Discovery System, JIBC library Implicit bias and policing 79 Bias science 1090 0000 0 400 EDS Discovery System, JIBC library Sage Journals Police shooting and bias Full text, scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, publication dates: 20152018 Publication dates: 2014 and scholarly articles 13 Implicit Bias and Policing 6170 000 State of the science: implicit bias review 2014 Full text, scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, publication dates: 20152017 Full text, scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, publication dates: 20012017 Full text, scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, publication dates: 20152017 23 Racial aspects of police shootings 1495 The development of prejudice in children 20 The art of living together: reducing stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes through the Arab-Jewish class exchange program (CEP) Implicit bias and the police. Prejudice development and children 2483 Reducing prejudice and children 248 Implicit bias and police 197 Full text, publication: 2015-2017 145 Implicit racial bias 9927 N/A 9927 The Stability of Implicit Racial Bias in Police Officers Appendix II: Literature Search (Pie of Pie) Literature Search 7 31 200 14 7 Initial Search/Title Review Abstract Review Full Review Included in study WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? 30 Appendix III: Word Frequency Query Table (NVivo Version 11.4) Word Length Count Weighted Similar Words Percentage Negatively 10 85 0.94% negative, negatively, negativity Fair 4 79 0.87% fair, fairly, fairness Encounter 9 77 0.85% encounter, encountered, encounters React 5 73 0.81% react, reacted, reacting Ensure 6 67 0.74% ensure, ensured, ensures, ensuring Detention 9 67 0.74% detention Triggers 8 67 0.74% trigger, triggered, triggering, triggers Arrest 6 67 0.74% arrest, arrestable, arrested, arresting Treated 7 65 0.72% treat, treated, treating Bias 4 64 0.71% bias, biased, biases Impartial 9 62 0.69% impartial, impartiality, impartially Caused 6 57 0.63% cause, caused, causing Feel 4 49 0.54% feel, feeling Detainment 10 47 0.52% detain, detained, detaining, detainment Facts 5 45 0.50% fact, facts Believe 7 42 0.47% believe, believed Decision 8 40 0.44% decision, decisions Reasons 7 39 0.43% reason, reasonable, reasoning, reasons Calm 4 37 0.41% calm, calmed, calmly Respect 7 36 0.40% respect, respectable, respected, respectful, respectfully Mind 4 35 0.39% mind Know 4 35 0.39% know, knowing Think 5 35 0.39% think, thinking Approach 8 34 0.38% approach, approached, approaching Distrust 8 33 0.37% distrust, distrusting Explain 7 32 0.35% explain, explained, explaining Victim 6 31 0.34% victim Listening 9 31 0.34% listen, listened, listening Talking 7 31 0.34% talk, talked, talking Safety 6 30 0.33% safety Strategy 8 29 0.32% strategy, strategies, strategy Assault 7 28 0.31% assault, assaulted, assaulter, assaulting, assaultive, assaults Manner 6 28 0.31% manner Actions 7 27 0.30% action, actions Grounds 7 27 0.30% ground, grounds Hands 5 25 0.28% hand, hands WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Understand 10 25 Rights Impaired Communicati on Professional 6 8 13 24 24 22 12 22 Intoxicated 11 22 Cooperative 11 21 Assume Interactive 6 11 21 21 Effectively Objective Witness Speaking Domestic Frustrating 11 9 7 8 8 11 20 20 20 19 19 19 31 0.28% understand, understanding, understands 0.27% right, rights 0.27% impaired, impairment 0.24% communicate, communicated, communicating, communication 0.24% professional, professionalism, professionally 0.24% intoxicated, intoxication, intoxications 0.23% cooperate, cooperated, cooperating, cooperation, cooperative 0.23% assume, assumed, assuming 0.23% interacted, interacting, interaction, interactions, interactive 0.22% effect, effective, effectively 0.22% objective, objectively 0.22% witness, witnessed, witnesses 0.21% speak, speaking 0.21% domestic 0.21% frustrate, frustrated, frustrates, frustrating, frustration Appendix IV: Word Cloud (NVivo Version 11.4) WHAT DO POLICE RECRUITS? Appendix V: Ethics Review 32