Switching Roles

What if the people that live in low income neighborhoods and the police officers that patrol those neighborhoods had the opportunity to switch roles with each other? Many times the focus of strain is always looked at from the residents of these neighborhoods, but never from the police officers that patrol these neighborhoods. Police officers are faced with strain when assigned to these neighborhoods too. No, not by economics, but by the stress of trying to have a community oriented attitude in a dangerous neighborhood, while at the same time fearing to be shot and wondering if they will make home to their families. I must admit that I can understand an officer having a different attitude, while patrolling low income neighborhoods than the suburbs. It’s hard having community oriented policing in such communities, when a officer knows that the majority of the residents label them as the enemy or pig, rather than hard working men and women trying to serve and protect them. While both feel like their issues are more important than one another, each must try to look at it from the opposite side.

Low income neighborhoods should examine the pressure that officers are under and officers should look at the amount of strain low income residents are trying to cope with. Then, maybe they might be able to understand both situations. For example, there is a program called Walk a Mile. This program “Walk a Mile is a national educational program that pairs policymakers with constituents who are either low-income parents or youth living in foster care. The pairs spend a month together learning about each other's lives, gaining new perspectives and "walking a mile" in each other shoes” (Walk a Mile). They should have the same program for officers that patrol these type of Low income neighborhoods.

Strain

Everybody is chasing the mighty dollar, the “American Dream“. It is amazing what people will go through to get the dollar bill. Some,although, not rich, are content with what they have. Others are not content with their situation. Many residents of low income neighborhoods suffer from strain. Residents in these neighborhoods are upset because of their economic status and their dilapidated neighborhoods. Some feel that the reason for their low income situation is because they dont have the same access to needed things as those in suburban neighborhoods have. As a result, many residents in these neighborhoods go by the philosophy, “by any means necessary.” According to International Encyclopedia of Justice studies, “Strain is the pressure on disadvantaged minority groups and the lower urban populous to take advantage of any effective available means to income and success that they can find even if these means are illegal.” Some illegal means might include theft, selling drugs, and prostitution. Does the end justify the means?
http://www.iejs.com/

Code of Silence

The Code of Silence 9/15/08
The term “code of silence” is usually connected to the police force as a short way of saying do not tell on each other. However, in this context the code of silence is something that is also used in impoverished neighborhoods. In these particular neighborhoods, most people see the police as the enemy. Therefore, when criminal activity happens, they do not call the police. They are eitherto afraid of the police or the consequences of someone finding out that they talked to the police.

For example, I witnessed someone being robbed in one of the low income neighborhoods in Richmond,CA. I wanted to call the police so bad, but my friend stopped me and said, “You know what will happen if you snitch”. As a result, when police had asked me about the incident, I told them that I did not see anything. In low income neighborhoods, one of the worst things to be known as is a “snitch”. A consequence of snitching is that one's family could be terrorized or murdered.