Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Peter K. Mills
Committee Member
Barbara Gerard
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
african american citizens, African American community, attitudes, barriers, civilians, citizen engagement, citizens, collaboration, collective data, community leadership program, community relations, complaints, controversial issues, criminal justice system, detained citizens, development methodology, diversity, Driving While Black, engagement, evaluation, Fair and Friendly Police/Community Leadership Program, historical bases, informal interventions, interviews, intervention evaluation, law enforcement, leadership support, literature review, local citizens, Miami-Dade, Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade County Commission, Miami-Dade Police Department, minorities, MDPD, opinion leaders, police officers, police supervisors, police-community relations, policymakers, racial profiling, race relations, reduction of tension, resolution, structured engagement, structured environment, support-based program, survey instruments, surveys, town hall meetings, unequal treatment, workshops
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to focus on the problem that African American citizens are complaining about being stopped and detained unnecessarily by police officers and treated unfairly for no apparent reason in Miami-Dade County. National police organizations, special interest groups, and local citizens have defined this action as Racial Profiling or Driving While Black (DWB). The Miami-Dade County Commission adopted a resolution prohibiting racial profiling; however this problem continues to exist. Minorities have argued in town hall meetings and filed complaints, indicating that the criminal justice system has been insensitive to what appears to be a system that supports unequal treatment of people of color.
The purpose of this study is to do the following (a) identify and implement a support-based program that could contribute to the reduction of tension between law enforcement and the African American community in Miami-Dade, (b) determine if there could be changes of opinion and attitude via structured engagement between police officers and citizens, and (c) identify an effective means to implement and evaluate an intervention designed to decrease tension between police and the African American community. The research questions sought to determine what factors as identified by the literature, comprise the historical bases of racial profiling, its evolution to today’s usage, and how the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) could effectively address this issue through formal and informal means.
The research described in this study employed the development methodology that included surveys and interviews with opinion leaders from the Miami-Dade community, active police officers and supervisors from MDPD, and a seven-week (21 hour) series of workshops that included police supervisors and citizens.
From an analysis of the collective data from this project, the findings of this research concluded that there is evidence of some attitude change by both civilians and law enforcement officers after working closely together in a structured environment. The model used for this research is the Firm, Fair and Friendly Police/Community Leadership Program. The findings further suggested that the constitution of a valid program to combat racial profiling be one that has the physical show of support from the top administrative staff of the MDPD. Further, the studies suggested that an intervention designed to decrease tension and complaints from racial profiling should be implemented by eliminating barriers between the department and the community. The evaluation of this intervention should be that of several survey instruments which are outlined in this study.