{"id":17904,"date":"2019-09-14T03:38:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T03:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17904"},"modified":"2019-09-15T07:04:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T07:04:56","slug":"want-to-reform-americas-police-look-to-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/want-to-reform-americas-police-look-to-firefighters\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to reform America’s police? Look to firefighters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roscoe Scarborough<\/a>, College of Coastal Georgia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Freddie Gray. Eric Garner. Michael Brown.<\/p>\n

The deaths of black youth and men at the hands of police have sparked a nationwide conversation<\/a> on discriminatory policing practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Media and the public often look to psychological explanations for discriminatory behavior<\/a>, such as obvious prejudices and implicit biases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, in my view as a sociologist<\/a>, policymakers and organizational leaders should focus less on the psychology of public servants and more on institutional culture.<\/p>\n

From 2012 to 2015, I served as a volunteer firefighter in a busy suburban department to understand how fire service organizations recruit and retain volunteers. Through my research project<\/a>, I wanted to learn why people risk their lives, spend time away from loved ones and forego paid employment to serve their community.<\/p>\n

But I learned much more about how a strong institutional culture can suppress individual dispositions, including prejudice. Firefighting culture may provide a model for reforming law enforcement.<\/p>\n

On the ground with firefighters<\/h2>\n

After completing the requisite training, I served as a volunteer firefighter for three years and interviewed 30 firefighters.<\/p>\n

I spent my days training, eating and sleeping in the \ufb01rehouse and responding to motor vehicle crashes, medical emergencies and \ufb01res.<\/p>\n

My ethnographic field notes are full of vulgar humor, \u201cfire stories\u201d about notable calls, and commentary on the public that reveal the explicit prejudices held by firefighters.<\/p>\n

Many of the white, working-class male firefighters characterize minorities encountered on recent calls as \u201cSpeedy Gonzaleses\u201d or other racist names. During downtime, a favorite pastime is to watch \u201cFamily Feud\u201d and shout answers at the television that draw on racial stereotypes, like \u201cwatermelon\u201d or \u201cgrape drink.\u201d It would be unusual to hear one of the guys condemn a racist, classist or sexist joke.<\/p>\n

But when the alarm sounds for a fire in a lower-income or majority-minority subdivision, the same firefighters who vociferously engage in prejudicial banter around the firehouse dash to the engine, demand exceptional firemanship from themselves and their peers, and risk their lives on scene.<\/p>\n

The nature of the call, not the demographics of the neighborhood or the race of the victim, shaped the type and speed of the response.<\/p>\n

Fire service culture<\/h2>\n

So why do firefighters risk their lives for those whose heritage and culture they deride?<\/p>\n

I believe that fire-service culture suppresses individual prejudice<\/a>. This causes biased individuals to treat all members of the public equitably.<\/p>\n

Sociologists contend that group culture shapes behavior in everyday life<\/a>. Immersion in a strong organizational or group culture<\/a> \u2013 such as a fraternity, church, sports team or police department \u2013 impacts how they act, especially when immersed in that social group.<\/p>\n

The fire service is a close-knit brotherhood with a shared culture that generates solidarity. Firefighter culture is based upon masculine notions<\/a> of emotional fortitude, physical strength<\/a>, a high tolerance of risk<\/a>, technical competence and a public service ethos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fire service\u2019s culture of service is taught alongside a practical curriculum of raising ladders, packing hose and live fire training.<\/p>\n

On the very first day of my fire academy class, the department\u2019s chief opened his lecture with the declaration: \u201cRisk a lot to save a lot. Risk a little to save a little. Risk nothing to save nothing. We\u2019re all here to help people\u2026 but you need to have your priorities straight: life safety first, incident stabilization second, and property conservation last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saving lives and helping those in need<\/a> are shared virtues in the fire service. Firefighting culture extols selfless service to the community and excellence at performing fireground tasks.<\/p>\n

The fire service also has its shortcomings. The firefighting brotherhood is overwhelmingly male and mostly white. Internally, sexism<\/a> and racism<\/a> are dysfunctions of a culture derived from traditional notions of masculinity.<\/p>\n

Yet, these internal inequalities do not translate into inequitable public service. Exclusionary practices around the firehouse do not translate into discriminatory treatment of the public.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Firefighting culture extols selfless service to the community.<\/span>
\nmat277\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Applying research to reform policing<\/h2>\n

I believe that cultural reform<\/a> offers an additional approach to help first responders serve all members of the community in an equal, fair and respectful manner.<\/p>\n

From this research, I see three ways that police departments could try to limit discrimination at the hands of first responders<\/a> through cultural reform.<\/p>\n

1. Departments should formally focus their mission and goals on the community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Police<\/a> and fire departments<\/a> both have strong institutional cultures, yet there are differences in the missions and challenges of these emergency services organizations.<\/p>\n

Police are tasked with enforcing the law, maintaining order and protecting people and their property. Fire departments are tasked with preventing, suppressing and investigating fires, as well as performing emergency medical services.<\/p>\n

Changing the behavior of police may involve a conversation about what Americans ask their police to do.<\/p>\n

A mission statement could provide a moral compass for a department, reflecting underlying values of service, respect, inclusion or community.<\/p>\n

Many fire departments distribute awards at annual banquets or recognition dinners, often acknowledging \u201cRookie of the Year,\u201d training accomplishments, or lifesaving actions. Police departments could adopt a formal recognition process and commend behavior that reflects a department\u2019s community orientation.<\/p>\n

Promoting a clear vision of organizational values and helping staff to find meaning in a shared destiny<\/a> are essential steps to changing institutional culture.<\/p>\n

2. Departments can enforce standard operating guidelines that promote equitable treatment of the public.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The department where I completed my research mandates a 90-second turnout time to all calls, providing a formal mandate to achieve equitable responses. This sort of standard operating procedure<\/a> can ensure that an officer\u2019s bias does not consciously or unconsciously impact their behavior.<\/p>\n

A minimum crew of two firefighters is required to respond to all incidents. Conversely, many police operate independently, in an effort to increase efficiency<\/a> or due to officer shortages<\/a>. Operating in one-man patrols may allow one\u2019s personal biases to impact their occupational performance.<\/p>\n

Requiring peer accountability through minimum crews of two could compel officers to act in a manner that aligns with the institutional culture of the department. This can produce equitable treatment of all community members, if public service is a pillar of departmental culture.<\/p>\n

3. Departments can increase community ties, with the goal of eliminating an \u201cus versus them\u201d orientation<\/a> toward the community members they serve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historically, volunteer fire departments rely on the community for funding and membership. Community involvement is achieved through open houses, public education events, fundraisers, recruitment efforts, station tours, parades and public services such as child car seat installation.<\/p>\n

Police departments can partner with community organizations<\/a> and increase community engagement through citizen\u2019s police academy, public education events and volunteer opportunities.<\/p>\n

Police can engage community members, even if this involves an uphill effort to overcome a history of distrust.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated to correct the list of shooting victims in the introduction.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[ Like what you\u2019ve read? Want more?<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s daily newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Roscoe Scarborough<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Coastal Georgia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roscoe Scarborough, College of Coastal Georgia Freddie Gray. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. The deaths of black youth and men at the hands of police have sparked a nationwide conversation on discriminatory policing practices. Media and the public often look to psychological explanations for discriminatory behavior, such as obvious prejudices and implicit biases. However, in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2763,2103,4905,6935,965,1896,2342,2086],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17904"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17913,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904\/revisions\/17913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}