diversity in the police force simulation manual 2014 · by humanity in action during an...

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Diversity in the Police Force

Simulation for Use in Youth and Adult Education

Complete Manual with Role Cards and Guidelines for Facilitators

by Emmanuella Asabor, Moritz Decker, Eva Degler, Tamara Demydenko,

Alissa Escarce and Amanda Shelton

- last updated 2014 -

Developed by: In cooperation with: Supported by: This simulation is a collaborative work in progress. It was developed and by Humanity in Action during an international workshop in 2012 and has been tested and reviewed several time since then.

Are you interested in using the simulation? Feel free to contact us. Contact: Humanity in Action Deutschland e. V. Kollwitzstr. 94-96, 10435 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0)30 443082-71 E-Mail: [email protected] For most recent updates and other simulation manuals please check: www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/list/article_type-teaching_tool

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Diversity in the Police Force Simulation for Use in Youth and Adult Education

Table of contents

1. Guidelines for Simulation Facilitators 3

1.1 Introduction 3

1.2 Learning Objectives 4

1.2.1 Knowledge 4

1.2.2 Soft Skills 4

1.3 Material 4

1.4 List of Stakeholders 5

1.5 Procedure / Timeline 6

2. Information for All Participants 8

2.1 Scenario 8

2.2 Background Information 9

2.2.1 International Human Rights Law 9

2.2.2 Methods of Addressing Diversity in the Workplace 10

3. Information for Individual Participants (Role Cards) 12

3.1 Moderator/City Council 12

3.2 Cinnamon City Police Headquarters 15

3.3 Police Union 17

3.4 Minority Police Officers Association 19

3.5 Organization for Minority Rights 21

3.6 Citizens for Safe Communities 23

3.7 Collective Against Police Brutality 25

4. Debriefing 27

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1. Guidelines for Simulation Facilitators

1.1 Introduction

This is a negotiation-based game that addresses a fictitious scenario. Cinnamon

City is located in Zamarand Country. The town has been facing problems with

racial discrimination. This was highlighted by the release of two recent studies

pointing to racial profiling by police officers and discriminatory hiring practices

towards visible minorities within the police department. Six months ago, the

situation became even heated when a non-minority police officer in Cinnamon

City was videofilmed beating a minority youth after arresting him for vandalizing

a store. While all of the relevant legal and disciplinary issues have been

addressed, the city council is ready to consider long-term reform to avoid similar

problems in the future.

Although the setting is fictitious, the game contains information regarding the

very real problems of racial profiling in law enforcement, and of unequal access to

employment. It prompts participants to think about different approaches

communities might choose to increase diversity and promote intercultural

understanding amongst public servants. The game also refers to the international

human rights framework that prohibits racial discrimination and calls on states to

promote understanding between the majority populations and minority groups.

Please note that the term “minority” is intentionally left undefined, in order to

maximize adaptability to different contexts. We encourage game facilitators to

use some time during the debriefing to discuss how the game applies to the

demographic situation in the players’ respective communities.

The scenario contains footnotes with references to additional sources. These

sources are not mandatory. However, if participants review the scenario

individually and with internet access prior to playing the game, these sources

might be helpful.

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1.2 Learning Objectives

1.2.1 Knowledge

● Develop an understanding of different perspectives on the value of diversity to

the public sector and employment;

● Explore approaches to promoting diversity, including cultural competence in

the workplace, so called “blind applications”, minority recruitment, and

enforcement of quotas.

1.2.2 Soft Skills

● Develop negotiation skills;

● Demonstrate the complexity of the political decision-making process,

● Build coalitions through compromise;

● Promote the ability to empathize with positions that may differ from one’s own

point of view;

● Provide an introduction to various methods of legitimizing an argument,

including the use of rhetoric, anecdotal proof, and statistical evidence.

1.3 Material

This manual consists of four components:

1. Guidelines for simulation facilitators;

2. General information for all participants, i. e. the simulation scenario and

background information;

3. Information for individual participants (role cards);

4. Guidelines for a debriefing session.

It is important to distinguish between three different roles of participants, only

two of which are involved in actually playing the game:

• Facilitators

The facilitators act as game instructors (ideally, 2 people). They do not receive

role cards, do not represent an interest group and have no stake in the

activities involved. The facilitators take a leading role in the introduction and

the debriefing phase.

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• Stakeholders

The material for the stakeholders consists of 7 role cards for up to 27

participants. One could play with fewer participants (minimum of 8). However,

discussing arguments and strategies in a number of small teams (representing

the stakeholder groups) considerably improves the quality of the simulation

game.

• Moderator(s) in the Game

One of the stakeholder groups acts as moderator of the negotiations. In the

case of this game, the moderators are representing the City Council. The

material for the moderator consists of one role card for a group of up to 3

participants.

However, this moderating role should not be confused with that of the

simulation facilitators. The moderators are part of the game.

Since this position is crucial to maintaining a fruitful discussion and an orderly

voting process, the moderators should behave proactively and be quick

decision-makers. Because of these requirements, this is the only role card for

which the facilitator should ask for volunteers or assign the role card to

participants they deem apt for the task.

1.4 List of Stakeholders

The participants of the simulation game will be assigned to play a member of one

of the following groups:

1. Moderator(s): City Council (1 to 3 characters)

2. Police Department Headquarters (1 to 4 characters)

3. Citizens for Safe Communities (1 to 4 characters)

4. Collective Against Police Brutality (1 to 4 characters)

5. Police Officers Union (2 to 4 characters)

6. Minority Police Officers’ Association (1 to 4 characters)

7. Organization for Minority Rights (1 to 4 characters)

Note: Each role card includes 1 to 4 defined character descriptions. Several

characters can be doubled, and some can be discarded if a small group is playing

the game. If characters are discarded, it should be the ones towards the end of

the lists in each role profile. Extra players can also play nameless members of

their organization.

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1.5 Procedure / Timeline

The overall duration of the game is between 2h 50 min and 3h 45 min. If you need to shorten the game, try to cut back at each level of the game equally. Resist the temptation to cut back on the debriefing as it is an important part of the whole experience.

1. Introduction to the game: 10 min. Facilitators will briefly introduce the game, the expectations and the ground

rules. Facilitators will also distribute role cards at this time. These roles should be assigned randomly (except for the moderator role card), as by drawing slips of paper from a hat, so that people sitting next to each other are not consistently in the same group.

2. Reading and planning within each group: 20 min. Here, all of the stakeholder groups represented will have time to read the

descriptions of their role and begin strategizing amongst themselves. Each group needs to agree on a position they can share in the plenary.

3. The game starts: First plenary round and Q&A: 25 min Here, all stakeholder groups will present their positions and priorities in a

plenary session moderated by the City Council. The moderators will devise a mechanism to allow each group to speak in turn to briefly share its position, with time reserved at the end for clarifying questions from groups about other groups' core positions.

4. Informal negotiations and drafting proposals: 35 min. During this time, the groups will craft policy proposals based on their

respective positions, or sets of groups may form coalitions based on shared interests and devise a policy proposal together. At the end of this part of the game, each group must be represented in one of the proposals that the moderators collect.

5. Second plenary round and presentation of proposals: 15 - 25 min. During this time, individual groups or coalitions of groups present and explain

their proposed solutions to the entire assembled plenary. The City Council will moderate the presentations.

6. Informal negotiations: 25 – 30 min. During this period, groups and/or coalitions will meet informally again to edit

proposals or to combine proposals. This is the stage when groups negotiate in order to have the best chance of seeing a proposal passed that represents their interests.

7. Voting: 10 – 20 min. The City Council will chair the voting period, and it is their responsibility to

allocate time accordingly. A 2/3 voting majority of groups is necessary for a proposal to pass.

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8. Debriefing: 30 - 60 min. During this period, participants will discuss their experiences playing the

game and what they learned. Sample questions are provided in this packet to help the facilitator guide the discussion. Time allotted for the debriefing session can vary depending on how much time the group has left to commit to the game, and can be completed in as little as 30 (not ideal) to 60 minutes.

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2. Information for all Participants

2.1 Scenario

The fictional community of Cinnamon City has seen changes in the past few

years. The number of minority residents living in Cinnamon City has increased

significantly in the last decade, making race and ethnicity a hot topic of

conversation among concerned citizens. Focusing on this topic, a major

independent research institution released a report last month containing statistics

showing that the Cinnamon City police are 69% more likely to stop a minority

driver than a non-minority driver, and that the police search minority residents

approximately twice as often as they search non-minority Cinnamon City

residents.1 A second report indicated that the number of minority police officers in

the Cinnamon City police department is at an all-time low despite the fact that

diversity in the general city population has been steadily increasing.

Despite an initial series of news stories aired about minority issues in Cinnamon

City after the two reports were released, the issue seemed to die down until six

months ago, when a non-minority police officer was videofilmed beating a

minority youth and insulting him verbally after the youth was caught vandalizing

a store. The video went viral in social media, with hundreds of thousands of hits.

Multiple citizens assert that if long-term reform had been seriously entertained

when the results of those studies were released, the incident may have been

avoided. Some feel that getting more minority police officers on the force could

help address this problem. Other community members, concerned with rising

crime in the city, are wary of change during such a precarious time.

The local City Council hopes to counteract the negative media coverage that the

beating incident has received over the past six months in an effort to draw new

residents and businesses to the city. The City Council has consulted with the

police force about different ways to address the problem while preserving the

quality of policing and resident safety. Now, it is convening a town hall meeting

for different community groups to come together. The aim is to decide what long-

term reforms the police department should implement.

1 These statistics are based on real figures from 2010, for the state of Missouri in the United States. The first statistic showed that black motorists were 69% more likely to be stopped than white motorists. To obtain our second statistic, reflecting the search rate, we averaged two statistics contained in the Missouri report: that black motorists were 1.86 times more likely to be searched than white motorists, and that Hispanic motorists were 2.13 times more likely to be searched than white motorists. See Executive Summary for 2010 Missouri Vehicle Stops, available at the Office of the Missouri Attorney General website at http://ago.mo.gov/VehicleStops/2010/

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One group of participants will act as the City Council. They will moderate the town

hall meeting. The other stakeholder groups will create proposals to address the

problem, which will be voted upon to select one proposal at the end of the game.

To be adopted, a proposal must garner 2/3 of the votes, with each group getting

one vote. The City Council, as Moderator, does not vote but ensures a fair

dialogue and voting procedure.

2.2 Background Information

2.2.1 International Human Rights Law

This game incorporates two distinct but related subjects:

1) Racial profiling as a form of racial discrimination, and

2) Promotion of diversity in public employment.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination is a United Nations convention which was enforced in 1969. The

convention addresses these issues head-on, defining racial discrimination as “any

distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or

national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing

the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and

fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, or any other

field of public life.”2

Article 2 of the Convention requires that state parties “condemn racial

discrimination” and commit to taking action to end the phenomenon, as well as

“promoting understanding among all races.”3 Specifically, it requires that “each

state party undertake to encourage, where appropriate, integrationist multiracial

organizations and movements and other means of eliminating barriers between

races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen racial division.”4

Article 5 notes that state parties are to ensure that individuals are free of

discrimination from authorities in enjoying their rights to personal security and

safety, as well as employment.5 Finally, state parties to the Convention can—but

do not have to—submit a declaration under Article 14 allowing individuals or 2 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature Mar. 7, 1966, 660 U.N.T.S. page 212 (No 9464), available at http://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/UNTS/Volume%20660/v660.pdf. 3 see above 4 see above 5 see above

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groups within its borders to file claims against the state for violations, which are

submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.6

2.2.2 Methods of Addressing Diversity in the Workplace

Institutions concerned with diversity and equal opportunity for minorities have

spent decades debating the most appropriate methods for correcting minority

under-representation in diverse settings. Universities, workplaces, and

governments have formulated a range of solutions.7

AWARENESS RAISING AND TRAINING

One solution revolves around education and specific training. Such measures can

include providing interviewers with explicit instructions not to discriminate against

minority applicants. Such “cultural competence” training encourages the ability to

understand and effectively interact with members of different cultural

communities, by creating awareness of one’s own cultural position, attitude and

knowledge towards other cultures, and developing intercultural communication

skills.8

BLIND APPLICATIONS

So called blind applications represent another potential solution. These vary

greatly in their scope and rigorousness. Here, only a few possibilities will be

presented. The application process may consist of removing specific personal

information (address, birth date, photograph, social or religious affiliations, etc.)

from application materials during the first round of reviews. As most

discrimination occurs during this early phase, that measure alone can remove

obstacles for minority applicants.9

In later stages, person-to-person interactions between applicant and interviewer,

such as telephone interviews, can be avoided. Studies have shown that blind

6 see above 7 This debate has been very active in the United States since the 1960s. http://www.oeod.uci.edu/aa.html; see also the more recent debate in Brazil. http://chronicle.com/article/At-Brazils-Universities/123720/ 8 An example of one organization doing this kind of work: http://lunajimenezseminars.com/about-us/how-we-can-help/ 9 In 2010, a study by the University of Konstanz in Germany found that applicants with a Turkish surname had a significantly lower likelihood of a callback for a job interview thank those with a German sounding surname 8all other qualifications being equal): http://ftp.iza.org/dp4741.pdf

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applications result in new hires that are both more highly qualified, and more

likely to be from a minority group.10

QUOTAS

Quotas are yet another potential solution. Advocates for a quota system argue

that equality for minorities cannot be achieved simply by allowing them to

compete without discrimination. Their logic is that, given the history of injustices

against minorities, application processes cannot be made truly fair by eliminating

employers’ prejudices alone.11 Rather, institutions must give preference to

minorities, who often lack the resources and social capital necessary to develop

competitive applicant profiles. Some advocates suggest that institutions reserve a

few spots specifically for minorities each time they hire, while others believe that

a workplace will only truly be just when majority-minority ratios in the workplace

mirror those in the community at large (i.e., if 20% of the larger community is

from a specific minority group, 20% of the employer’s workforce should be from

that minority group).12

RECRUITMENT

Actively encouraging minorities to apply for positions within the public sector is

another way to promote diversity. This can involve placing posters in

neighborhoods where many minorities live, establishing recruitment offices

especially for minorities, or calling for applications in different languages.

Note: These options are not mutually exclusive, which means that they can be

adapted and/or combined. Other solutions not discussed here may exist as well.13

10 Based on research by Germany’s Anti-Discrimination Agency. http://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/EN/Projects/AnonymApplication/DepersonalisedApplication_node.html. Additionally, an example regarding the benefits of blind orchestra auditions for female musicians: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/A94/90/73G00/ 11 A real-world example: quotas for university admissions in Brazil. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/29/brazils-racial-identity-challenge/quotas-are-working-in-brazil 12 The debate on women’s quota also offers interesting insights. For the state of affairs in Germany, please see: http://www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/jobs-career/article/women-in-leadership-positions-womens-quota.html 13 For a comprehensive manual on how to combat police injustice and promote reform, see American Civil Liberties Union, Fighting Police Abuse (1997), available at http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_prisoners-rights_drug-law-reform_immigrants-rights/fighting-police-abuse-community-ac - gather

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3. Information for Individual Participants (Role Cards)

3.1 Moderator/City Council

City Council Members:

Major and up to 2 additional characters

Who are you?

The City Council is the lawmaking body that governs Cinnamon City. It is

comprised of elected officials, who represent the interests of the people of the city

through democratic decision-making. The Council consists of the Mayor, who is

the chairperson, and up to 2 additional elected representatives.

What is your task?

Complete Impartiality

You serve as the chairperson of the City Council. Your priority is the continuous

safety and prosperity of Cinnamon City. You are 100% impartial and neutral

towards the stakeholder groups, which is why the Council is interested in hearing

all positions. Your job is to make sure all voices are heard so that the final

proposal represents the best solution for Cinnamon City. You are truly interested

in learning from all your community members.

Maintaining Order

The goal of the meeting is to produce a proposal that will be implemented by the

police department. You are responsible for developing a mechanism to ensure

that the stakeholders speak in turn, in a regulated fashion. It is your job to make

sure the discussions, especially those of the entire plenary, are neither derailed

by irrelevant issues nor dominated by outspoken individuals. You will drive the

discussion toward a solution created by the various groups.

Time Management

Your responsibilities include keeping time. Depending on how much time is

dedicated to the whole play, you need to adjust the playing time in each of the

sections specified below. You will have discretion over how much time to allocate

for people’s speeches, voting, Q&A, etc., so it is important for you to remain

attuned to the changing dynamics of the discussion.

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Voting procedure

Here, your role as a supervisor and facilitator becomes highly important. You

must come up with a procedure that gives every group enough time to present

their proposal. Also, you must make sure that groups vote unanimously, as there

is only one vote per group.

A general piece of advice

It is at your discretion to decide when discussions and informal negotiations are

reaching an impasse. Be flexible, and allocate remaining time to other parts of

the game if necessary.

Your Schedule for Town Hall Meeting

Please adjust the time to your schedule for the day and the total time allocated

for the simulation.

Your role starts with calling people into the first plenary round. At all stages of the

meeting, you need to keep track of time.

Please note that you might want to determine the seating arrangement around

the table. It might influence the dynamics of the meeting.

1. First plenary round and Q&A: 25 min

Here, all of the groups will present their positions and priorities in a plenary

session. You moderate the meeting. You will propose a mechanism to allow

each group to speak in its turn to briefly share its position, with time

reserved at the end for clarifying questions from groups about other groups'

core positions.

2. Informal negotiations and drafting proposals: 35 min.

During this time, the groups will craft policy proposals based on their

respective position, or sets of groups may form coalitions based on shared

interest and devise a policy proposal together. At the end of this part of the

game, every group must be represented in one of the proposals that the

moderators collect. You need to remind the groups of the time and call them

back into session.

3. Second plenary round and presentation of proposals: 15 - 25 min.

During this time, individual groups or coalitions of groups present and explain

their proposed solutions to the entire assembled plenary. You moderate the

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presentations and keep track of the time. Please monitor the interactions

around the table, sometimes discussants need to be called to order to retain

a favorable atmosphere for dialogue.

4. Informal negotiations: 25 – 30 min.

During this period, groups and/or coalitions will meet informally again to edit

or combine proposals. This is the stage when groups negotiate in order to

have the best chance of seeing a proposal passed that will represent their

interests.

5. Voting: 10 - 20 min.

By now, the groups should come forward with concrete proposals. You

monitor the voting procedure. A 2/3 voting majority of groups is necessary

for a proposal to pass.

You need to remind the groups of the time and call them back into session. You ask all groups to present the final proposals, and you chair the voting rocedure. You need to allocate time accordingly.

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3.2 Cinnamon City Police Headquarters

Who are you?

Founded in 1885, the police department of Cinnamon City is one of the nation’s

oldest police forces. Its mission is to protect the safety and security of the city in

accordance with the constitution of Zamarand. It seeks to promote peace and

civility amongst the citizens of Cinnamon City through diligent law enforcement.

What is your position?

The police headquarters’ answer to the recent studies suggesting problems with

Cinnamon City’s response to increasing diversity is a broad set of responses. The

department’s primary concern is the peace and security of the city. Its priority is

to maintain the strongest and best qualified police force possible. Of course, this

force should also be responsive to the needs of a diverse community, but not at

the expense of the objective quality of the police officers. With the increasing

crime statistics over the past 10 years, quality officers are of critical importance.

● Education and increased on-the-job training about diversity issues is the most

natural response. It is also a good faith measure, which demonstrates to the

community that the force is making sure all officers can respond to a diverse

community. This type of sensitivity is not just the responsibility of minority

police officers; Cinnamon City officers are police for all citizens.

● More active recruitment of minorities is a top priority for the police

headquarters. The police department hopes that minority-specific

advertisements will increase the pool of minority applicants without

compromising admission standards.

● The headquarters are open to the idea of blind applications, particularly blind

CVs, since studies suggest they actually increase the quality of the recruitment

with simple, easy-to-implement steps.

● The police department is weary of a hiring system based upon a strict quota.

Such a quota risks compromising the quality of the police force, and would

make diversity the most important outcome rather than effectiveness and

safety.

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Individual characters

Chief of Police: You are an established non-minority male professional in your

mid 40s. You are very open-minded and non-discriminatory in your day-to-day

life. However, you are skeptical of strict quotas and artificial attempts at creating

diversity, having been disappointed with the quality of individuals recruited in

such a way in the past. You see potential in blind CVs, but insist that in-person

interviews are crucial to recruitment of fully-qualified police officers. You have a

soft spot for the work of the Organization of Minority Rights, and really appreciate

their efforts.

Deputy Chief of Police: You are a woman in your late 30s, and belong to an

ethnic minority. You come from a low-income family background, and worked

very hard to develop your career. You do not see merit in a quota system. You

developed a successful career without taking advantage of any special slots

reserved for minorities. You feel that good officers can be successful without such

measures. You are, however, very excited about blind CVs and their potential to

remove racial/ethnic bias from the application system. You are even open to

considering measures to remove bias from other parts of that process, including

the interview.

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3.3 Police Union

Who are you?

The Union consists of working police who fight for the interests of police

personnel in government and public debates. Its charter outlines its mission as

“instilling loyalty and allegiance to the City; enforcing law and order; encouraging

fraternal, educational, charitable and social activities among officers; advocating

for uniform application of a merit system; improving the working conditions of the

law enforcement profession; creating and maintaining a tradition of esprit de

corps; and cultivating a spirit of helpfulness and confidence among members and

the people we serve.”

As ethical and responsible public servants, you were upset by the wide circulation

of the video depicting a white policeman beating a minority youth. You were also

bothered by the buzz created by the two studies, which seemed to suggest that

the city police force is a racist institution. You believe that the left-wing

establishment—professors, journalists, lawyers—look for occasional irresponsible

actions by rare unethical policemen and blow them way out of proportion,

creating sensations that will promote their own cushy careers. You see the

incident depicted in the video as an anomaly, and believe that the police

department’s traditional system of discipline would have been more than

adequate to deal with the policeman in question. You are a little annoyed that this

video might cause a major disruption in the department’s respectable, traditional

way of doing things.


● You are strongly against quotas. You believe that the police force’s traditional

system for hiring and promotion, which is purely merit-based, is the fairest

option available. In your opinion, quotas will not end discrimination, they are

discrimination. Quota systems are racist measures against hard-working,

honest people who happen to be white. The police force is not a racist

institution. Indeed, the union has several minorities who are valued members

of the policing community.

● You might be willing to compromise in the direction of blind applications, as

long as it only represents the first stage in the application process. Face-to-

face, personal interviews that probe applicants’ backgrounds and values are

essential, as is the ability to hire members of old policing families, who have

innate knowledge of the challenges and values of the job. Good policing is all

about character and integrity, and the police force risks hiring more errant

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policemen (like the one in the video) if they eliminate the personal aspects of

the hiring process.

● Leftist activists and professors assume that hiring more minority police would

lead to less abuse, but this is far from the case. A study you read recently

confirmed a trend that you already knew from experience: in the United

States, black officers shoot just as often as white officers when they are placed

in the same situation. Giving minorities preference in the hiring process would

hurt non-minority applicants, and benefit no one in the community.


The two specific characters for this group are a father and son, members of a

large non-minority family in which many of the men have worked as city police.

You are both leaders in the city’s Police Union.

● You are Anthony M., a non-minority, 60-year-old career policeman. In your

forty years on the city police force, you have seen the importance of traditional

policing values for maintaining order in a rapidly changing city. You believe

that fair hiring practices and an emphasis on character are crucial, and that

policies which favor certain ethnic groups are deeply unfair to young white

policemen like your son, Mark M., and his younger brothers, all young men of

deep integrity. You believe that discriminating against such men would do

harm to the police force’s effectiveness, and reduce safety in the community.

● You are Mark M., Anthony B.’s 30-year-old son. You have been a policeman

for a decade, and plan to make a career in the Cinnamon City Police

Department. Like your father, you value tradition, character, and color-blind

hiring policies that give preference to no one just because of their race.

However, as someone who grew up in the city as it was becoming more

diverse, you have more minority friends than your father, and you have seen

that discrimination has sometimes made it difficult for these friends to find

good jobs. You are interested in considering options that would ensure your

employer’s hiring practices are truly color-blind, including blind applications

and cultural sensitivity training. You are strongly opposed, though, to any plan

that might compromise the quality of and opportunities available to your co-

workers.

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3.4 Minority Police Officers Association

Who are you? The Minority Police Officers Association is a group of police officers from various

minority groups that have come together to fight discrimination in the workplace

and promote active recruitment of minority officers. They are in favor of a quota.


● The currently released studies show that racial profiling and police violence are

a problem in their community. More often than non-minority citizens,

minorities are victims of ill-founded arrests, harassment and police violence,

which is why many minority members do not trust the police.

● Without trust, people will not cooperate with the police. As a result, the police

force cannot work efficiently and will face hostilities when on patrol. You are

convinced that crime cannot be fought successfully by an almost exclusively

non-minority police force. A more diverse force will have better relationships

with the community, since they will more greatly reflect the composition of the

community they serve. You think that a diverse team of police officers is better

at solving problems, due to a variety of different approaches that can

challenge traditional ways of thinking.

● Throughout your career, you have witnessed discrimination against minority

policemen and policewomen at the hands of non-minority police. Indeed, as a

minority, you have experienced discrimination from well-meaning colleagues

on a regular basis. Such discrimination is hard to talk about when there are

hardly any minorities on the force to begin with. If it hopes to create a

welcoming environment for its minority employees, the police force must take

explicit steps to increase the proportion of policemen from minority

backgrounds.

● Officers that are members of a minority are underrepresented in the police

force. You think that a “do nothing” approach will not change this situation,

because minorities are discriminated against in the application process

(recruitment officers will favor non-minority applicants).

● The blind application procedure is not sufficient, because you cannot (and

should not have to) hide your identity throughout the entire application

process (i.e. in a job interview). Increasing the number of minority police is a

very urgent priority, and the police force should not merely eliminate

discrimination against minority applicants, but treat such a background as an

asset in the application process.

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● You are Maria K., a police officer representing an ethnic minority. You have

been in the police force for ten years now, and have regularly experienced

discrimination and even harassment at the hands of non-minority policemen

because of both your ethnicity and your gender. You are worried that in the

discussion about diversifying the police force, women´s issues are left out. In

addition to your group’s arguments, you want to see more women employed

on the police force, and advocate for a gender-based quota. You think that

female victims tend to trust female officers more, and that these officers are

better equipped to work with such victims.

● You are a Yusuf A., a 40 year old police officer. You are both an ethnic and

religious minority. You have experienced discrimination yourself in the police

force (inappropriate jokes), and think that the current admission policies are

not fair (your brother has been rejected, even though the person who got the

job instead has lower qualifications). When patrolling, many minorities find it

easy to trust you, and you feel that you are more sensitive than your non-

minority colleagues to these community members’ circumstances and needs.

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3.5 Organization for Minority Rights

Who are you?

Your group, the Organization for Minority Rights (OMR), has been a strong,

respected voice for disadvantaged minorities for over fifty years. Group

leadership consists of many prominent professors, lawyers, and other concerned

advocates from both the minority and non-minority communities, and its general

membership encompasses thousands of minority people. The organization is

known for its ability to build coalitions to get things done, and for choosing its

battles wisely to ensure continued success.


Your group is very interested in getting more minority officers on the police force,

and would like to advocate for an option that achieves this to the greatest degree

possible. The group is concerned by statistics showing that minority members still

face discrimination in the workplace and in encounters with the police:

● Salary: Minority men in the community make only 71% of what non-minority

men make , and work in racially segregated environments.14

● Unemployment: Minority unemployment is roughly twice as high as non-

minority unemployment.15

● Harassing Practices: Minority members are more likely to be stopped, frisked,

and searched by the police — but are actually less likely to be found with a

weapon or drugs upon search.16

● Decreased disparity: When minority police officers are on patrol, the disparity

between the number of minority and non-minority residents stopped is

decreased, likely due to decreased racial bias.17

In addition, the Organization for Minority Rights continues to emphasize that the

country of Zamarand, where Cinnamon City is located, has ratified the

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

European Convention on Human Rights Protocol No. 12. The organization believes

14 Based on American statistics from The Black and White Labor Gap in America by Christian E. Weller and Jaryn Fields of the Center for American Progress, July 2011. 15 see above 16 Based on Los Angeles, USA statistics from the Executive Summary of Racial Profiling & the LAPD by Ian Ayres, for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Oct. 2008 (based on LAPD data from 2006). 17 see above

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that local governments within the country should engage in affirmative action18 to

ensure that minority members of the public are not treated unequally by police

officers, and that they will have access to jobs in the police department just like

non-minority applicants. Action should also be taken to promote minority

employment in government services to increase diversity and help remove

barriers. Options like quotas, blind applications, diversity training for police, and

data collection on racial profiling are only a few ideas offered to help the city

address this pressing issue.


● You are Angela E., a prominent member of Organization for Minority Rights.

You believe that this is an issue that OMR should really get behind by pushing

for a progressive set of solutions involving quotas for the police department,

which would ensure the largest possible number of jobs for minority

applicants. You are an elderly non-minority professor at a very prestigious

university in a neighboring town, and have been involved in a good deal of

the research and discussion that OMR and other like-minded organizations

refer to in these debates over diversity and discrimination.

● You are Thomas A., President of Organization for Minority Rights. You are a

lawyer who has worked both with OMR and with minority police and

firefighter associations for over twenty years, to help minorities gain access

to equal opportunities in employment, education, and voting. You are 55

years old. You believe that getting more minority police officers on the force

is a vital step toward addressing the discrimination problems in the city, and

you acknowledge that quotas would likely be the approach most certain to

produce that result. At the same time, you know that OMR has many

different campaigns that it is working on at the moment to help minorities,

and that it does not want to alienate any potential allies. As such, you think

that blind applications may be one of the better ways of increasing

opportunities for diversity on the force, although it is not a perfect solution to

the challenge of creating understanding.

18 See Article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (footnote 2).

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3.6 Citizens for Safe Communities

Who are you?

The group of Citizens for Safe Communities unites citizens who live in Cinnamon

City and participate in community affairs. You are concerned about the dramatic

increase in the number of minority residents in the neighborhood, along with

growing crime rates. Your group is comprised of many senior citizens, a few local

business owners, and a popular author who is publicly critical of diversity.


● You know that the police force is traditionally a non-minority profession, and

you value tradition. Members of your group have had negative experiences

with individual minority police officers, whom you see as troublingly lenient

towards minority criminals.

● While you personally know only very few members of minority groups, you

have seen many of them on television. They strike you as people with little

respect for the laws, values and traditions of Cinnamon City.

● According to you, there is no such thing as a ‘blind application’. If you want

to become a policeman you need to have an interview. You cannot hide your

identity. You perceive this debate to be very artificial.

● You are convinced that if you introduced quotas, it would create a forced

policy of employing minorities even if they are not needed, and some

talented non-minority people would be shut out.

● You believe that minorities live in strongly loyal communities; therefore,

minority police may not want to fine/penalize their compatriots, or they may

collaborate with minority criminals. Because of this, the rest of the population

cannot expect help from the police.

● You are concerned that the employment of minority persons may create

tensions within the police force and between officers. Minorities are in a

difficult social situation: they are poor. You think that if these minorities join

the police, the rate of corruption within the force will increase.

● You hold the opinion that the social and moral values held by minorities, as

well as their culture, are different from yours. Therefore, you foresee

problems if they have to enforce laws that are foreign to them.

● You feel that not all the other groups immediately understand your concerns.

This is why you are in favor of a study investigating the correlation between

increasing crime rates and increased minority presence.

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● You also agree that incidents of police brutality should not happen in the

future, as this sheds a negative light on the non-minority police force. Your

goal is to keep the police force—and community—the way it has always been.


● You are Lilly V., an active member of Citizens for Safe Communities. You are

worried about the changing demographics of Cinnamon City, and see a

correlation between the increasing crime in the city and the influx of

minorities. You believe that security and tradition go hand-in-hand, and you

fear what will become of the city when traditional values are lost.

● You are Phil N., a popular author and public intellectual. Recently you

published a bestselling book, in which you developed your theory that

communities’ problems arise due to increasing ethnic diversification. You

have personal experience of police misconduct, and have heard similar stories

from many others. Citizens rely upon you as an intelligent person with

serious scientific arguments. Your radical position of no quotas or blind

applications is widely welcomed by the majority of citizens of Cinnamon City.

● You are Christopher M., the owner of an antique shop. Your store was

vandalized multiple times over the past month. The minority officer who

patrols your neighborhood seemed helpless, and you suspect that he had no

interest in helping you (as a non-minority person) at all. The only thing he

suggested was to install cameras. You installed the cameras, and later on

recorded videos saw faces of young minority boys. In your opinion, minority

police will lead to mass disorder in the neighborhoods of Cinnamon City.

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3.7 Collective Against Police Brutality

Who are you?

Your group assembles young, highly intelligent activists, all under 35, who fight

against police brutality. The majority of your group members have non-minority

backgrounds and are radically progressive. You work in solidarity with minorities

who have been victims of police brutality and racial profiling. You founded the

Collective as a student association only a year ago, which is why both financially

and organizationally your group operates on a grassroots level. However, you are

motivated to build a strong network for your young organization. You are

intellectuals influenced by Critical Theory,19 which asserts, “There is no right life

in the wrong one.” The “wrong” system has to be changed first; only then is there

the chance of a “right” action.


You are strongly in favor of a quota system for the police force. You believe that

discriminatory hiring practices have caused the racial profiling and police

brutalities that are tearing Cinnamon City apart. This is why you really hope that

at some point in the future, there will be a lawsuit in front the national

Constitutional Court that makes explicit reference to the UN Anti-Discrimination

Convention. You view the police force as a conservative and sometimes

repressive organ of state power, which makes no checks on police misconduct in

the city, and believe that as a conservative body it will be slow to implement

progressive ideas.

● You think you need the quota system if you really want to change the status

quo characterized by discrimination against minorities in the police force.

● Blind applications would merely be a well-meaning action carried out within a

broken system. There is still structural discrimination against minorities in

education, for example, and in other parts of the application process.

● You are convinced that the local government and police force have to

implement a quota, because this system of discrimination will only improve if

there is some proactive force to spark change.

19 Critical Theory: Invented by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. Key books: ”Negative

Dialectic“ and the ”Minima Moralia“ - Critical Theory states that only holistic methods and strong critics can change a society. In this case, a quota represents a much stronger criticism of the police structure than the method of blind applications, so quotas are, in the end, better for change. Many students (especially the ones who founded a community like the Collective Against Police Brutality) quote or use the content of Critical Theory without having deeper knowledge about it.

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● In addition, you believe the institution of a quota will encourage minorities to

apply to the police force.


● You are Agatha B., a very active member of the Collective, an ethnic

minority, and a social worker who councils victims of police brutality. You

have felt repeatedly insulted by non-minority police officers, who have

treated you like a criminal. They regularly ask you for identification for no

reason, and have become aggressive when you were unable to find it

immediately. You are upset by the police force’s oversimplified discourse on

diversity, and especially by the way that leaders in the department have

dismissed your complaints in the past. You are open to compromise and

negotiation, but are angry about the conservative wing which seems

dominant in the force, and which favors the status quo.

● You are William P.D., a highly intelligent student at the city university. You

like reading complicated books about critiques of capitalism, society and

repressive state power. In all your ideas, you are quite idealistic and a bit of

a utopian. Negotiation, to you, seems always to result in the minimum

degree of compromise. For this reason you prefer to take a strong position,

because you feel that many, many people do not understand that they are

still living under control of the insane and repressive system of capitalism and

state power, which leads them to compromise in everything.

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4. Debriefing

4.1. Procedure and Questions

Once the moderators have formally closed the meeting, time should be called and

participants directed to return to their original seats by the facilitators. Now it is

important to pause for a moment and to actively step away from the

roles formerly assumed. While the direction of the discussion can be tailored

by the facilitator in whatever way he or she feels is valuable for the group, below

are a few questions to help get things started:

● Were you surprised by the outcome that was reached after voting? Why or

why not?

● Was there anything about your role that made it difficult to play?

● How does your real-life social position (race, gender, class, etc.) affect your

views on these issues? How might group members’ real identities have

impacted the ways that they played their roles? How might your own role or

other roles have played out differently, if the people playing them had been

from different social positions?

● Did you feel that your group’s concerns were heard in the discussions?

● Do you think the outcome addresses the problems faced by minorities? How?

What do you think would help more?

● The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

which is discussed in the background materials given to everyone, also

mentions something called “special measures.” Article 2 of the Convention

says that states will take special measures, or affirmative action, to make

sure that everyone enjoys these rights on an equal basis, and that such

measures will not constitute reverse discrimination. Quotas are a common

example of this type of measure. What do you think of this idea?

● What additional information that was not in the packet would have helped

you make this decision?

● Do you see any similarities between this situation and a similar situation of

discrimination in your own community or country?

● Did the discussion in today’s game remain focused on human rights, and on

the needs and rights of disadvantaged individuals? Or, did the focus shift to

the political desires of special interest groups? If this were a real community

making this decision, what would help to prevent this if it happened?

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