Evaluating Local Demographics
This report will look at the local demographics of the people in Arizona state in the United States of America. The state has different people coming from different backgrounds and culture. Arizona is comprised of the Latinos, Asians, Indians, whites and blacks. The Latinos and whites are the major people in the state. The growing numbers of people have caused the shifting of the racial and the ethnic composition. The reason for this is because of the growing immigrant population. It is a fact that Arizona is along the border between the United States of America and Mexico (Condon, 2010). This is causing the rise of the Latino immigrants from Mexico to be higher. According to most researches done, the population growth in Arizona has increased over the recent years. It has been estimated that about 33 percent of population growth increment in 2008.
According to the recent demographic changes in Arizona, it shows that there is a shift in the population growth from 2000 to 2010 by twenty five percent. These changes are what have brought about the change in the political electorate and the economy of the region. According to most researches that have been conducted, 42.2 percent of the population in Arizona are not from the white community. The minorities are becoming the majority in the region. The Hispanic community make up 30 percent of the citizens in the region (Nill, 2011, p.40). When looking at the children in the area it has been claimed that the majority of them are children of colour. This means that the children are from American Indian descent, Asian, Latino and black ethnicity.
According to a survey that was conducted in 2010 showed that 4.1 percent of the population came from the black community. 4.6 percent of the population are from an Indian descent. 2.8 percent came from the Asian ethnicity and 3.4 percent of the people’s population in the region are claimed to be of mixed race. Fifty seven percent of the population were white. According to the findings, it has been observed that Arizona is one of the states in America to have the highest generation gaps. This is because it has been claimed that among the senior citizens 80 percent of them are whites. In looking at the youth, only 54 percent of them are whites. In looking at the employment rates, the whites are the ones who are more employed compared to the people of colour.
According to the statistics, 9.3 percent of the Hispanic population were not employed while 10.4 percent of the black community were not employed. It has been claimed that the electorate in Arizona has changed in that 18 percent of the Hispanic population were eligible to vote. The fact that the population from the people of colour rising may soon be reflected in the political arena thus may bring about many changes.
Promoting Positive Relationships between Law Enforcement Officers and the Community
Cultural Diversity training at the police department
There are four questions that the police department should be able to address at the end of the training of this program. These questions are about the instructors, the audience, the accomplishments and the how they will be able to get to the accomplishments. When these topics can be answered then the police officers should be able to integrate with other people regardless of their race, culture or ethnicity. This program is very important for all law enforcements to have in Arizona because the people come from different ethnicity and race thus they need to be partial and not favour one race. It is a fact that in looking at the population the number of the minorities is high thus requires the police department to be able to communicate with them. The truth is that in order for the law enforcement to work effectively they need to interact and communicate with the citizens. It is very difficult for one to communicate with another if they come from different ethnic community and culture (Hennessy et al., 2001, p.16). The main purpose of the program for the police officers is so that they can be able to be aware of the people’s culture and have an understanding of why they do certain things. This shows that they are taught on the awareness of the different cultures that might exist in the region. This program has been implemented since the 1960s but there are some changes that need to made in order for it to work effectively. In looking at the demographic of Arizona, it has been estimated that the white population are about 57 percent while the rest come from different ethnicity and culture. This therefore, requires for a training where the people will be taught the different languages that are been used in the area. The Hispanic population is claimed to be the highest and growing steadily as years pass. In the recent researches, conducted 30 percent of the population in the area are Hispanic. This shows that the police department should be taught on how to be bilingual in that they can speak both Spanish and English.
The program will introduce the awareness of racial profiling by the police department so that they can be able to have the real culprits of a crime rather than apprehending individuals because of their race. Racial profiling has existed since the time of slavery but mostly in the 1980s. In the 1980s, there was a law that was passed that promoted racial profiling due to the rise of drugs and weapon in the country. This has therefore, become a major challenge for the police officers who have been taught on the targets of people who are believed to have a high rate of committing a crime. Most of these people who are been racially profiled are the Latinos and the black and most recently, the Asians after September 11 attacks. The state of Arizona has a large population of people who are known to be targets of racial profiling. Through the use of this program the police department will be able to be aware when they are racially profiling individuals. This skill should be implemented in the academy in order for the individuals to have the right mind of not racially profiling others unless there is a reasonable doubt or evidence (Williams, 2011, p.271).
The program should implement a team building exercise. The main purpose for this exercise is so that the police will be able to learn on how to rely on others who might have come from different cultural background and ethnicity. This will come in handy for the people of Arizona who are from different ethnic and cultural background. The team building exercise is also very useful because it helps the individual to have trust on others. It will come in handy when dealing with some of the eyewitnesses the police officers encounter in the community (Price, 2000).
The program should also encourage the police officers to turn the knowledge and skills they had acquired from the program. The main reason for doing this is that it will help the police officers from Arizona to serve the people from that area coming from diverse community. This tactic can be implemented into the force when the individuals continue to practice what they have learned while still in training. The knowledge and skill will help them when they start their jobs of serving the people in Arizona (Hennessy et al., 2001, p.18).
Reference
Anti-Bias Training for Law Enforcement Professionals. (2014). Anti-Defamation League .
Condon, S. (2010). "Arizona Immigration Law Fight Far From Over". CBS News.
Hennessy, S. M. et al (2001). Cultural Awareness and Communication Training: What Works and What Doesn't. Police Chief Volume:68, 15 to 19.
Nill, A. (2011). Latinos and S.B. 1070: Demonization, Dehumanization, and Disenfranchisement. Harvard Latino Law Review, 35-66.
Price, B. (2000). Diversity Training at the Bakersfield Police Department. The united states conference for mayors.
Williams, I. (2011). Arizona Senate Bill 1070: State Sanctioned Racial Profiling? Journal of the Legal Profession, 269–284.
