Conflict and Power- Exploring Perceptions and Resolution in Community-Law Enforcement Dynamics

Conflict and Power- Exploring Perceptions and Resolution in Community-Law Enforcement Dynamics

Law enforcement officers play a vital role in maintaining order in society and guaranteeing the peaceful coexistence of people from different backgrounds. Law enforcement officers also ensure that people’s rights are respected and that justice is served for individuals whose rights are violated. However, law enforcement officers require the support of community members to complete their assigned tasks. The collaboration between law enforcement officers may sometimes cause conflict between the community and law enforcement officers, thus impacting their ability to complete assigned tasks. Another factor that impacts the collaboration between law enforcement officers is perceptions of the power of individualized citizens and the police. This report will discuss the conditions or factors that contribute to conflict situations between law enforcement and citizens, the impact of perceptions of power on conflict situations between community members and law enforcement, and the strategies that might effectively reduce or resolve conflict between police and communities. The report will also apply the relational theory to explain how perceptions of power impact the ability to solve police-community conflict.

Factors that Contribute to Conflict Situations Between Law Enforcement and Citizens

Conflicts are common in interpersonal relationships because of differences in ideas, viewpoints, and opinions. Conflicts between law enforcement and citizens may arise when citizens feel that law enforcement officers are not helpful. According to Coleman et al. (2014), a lack of helpfulness results in mutual negative attitudes, suspicion, and distrust of each other’s intentions. Sometimes, citizens may distrust law enforcement officers when they misuse their power to protect criminals. Such a situation can create conflict between the citizens and law enforcement officers because the citizens contribute to providing the resources that law enforcement officers should use to protect them. Therefore, when law enforcement officers use the resources to protect criminals, citizens may feel disrespected and unite to directly or indirectly attack the law enforcement officers protecting the criminals. Conflicts between law enforcement and citizens may also arise from the misuse of the resources that law enforcement officers are given to complete assigned tasks. For instance, when law enforcement officers use resources such as patrol cars for personal gains, such as helping criminals transport illegal items, the public may raise concerns and protest against such actions, leading to conflict.

Conflicts between law enforcement and citizens may also result from corruption, which is also linked to misuse of power. Singh (2022) argues that corruption includes corruption of authority, protection of illegal activities, kickbacks, turning a blind eye, opportunistic theft, direct criminal activity, planting or adding evidence, and internal payoffs. Corruption of authority arises when law enforcement officers acquire perks without applying the law. This may create conflict between law enforcement and citizens if the citizens are forced to provide the perks without their consent. For instance, if a business owner is forced to offer free services to a law enforcement officer, a conflict may arise because they aim to make profits. Opportunities for theft arise during arrests where some law enforcement officers may steal from the arrest victims, leading to conflict when the victims realize that their items are missing.

How Perceptions of Power May Contribute to Conflict Situations Between Law Enforcement and Members of a Community

Law enforcement officers have power that gives them authority over citizens. According to Hocker et al. (2022), power is defined as the ability to generate intended effects and the ability to influence another person’s behavior and resist attempts to be influenced by others. People develop various perceptions of power based on their interactions with the people in authority. Perceptions of power may contribute to conflict between law enforcement and community members. For example, community members may perceive the law enforcement officers’ power as the authority to influence them to do whatever the officers want them to do because they can determine their fate by accusing them of a crime they have not committed. Such perceptions create conflict between law enforcement officers and members of the community because the members of the community develop distrust and view police officers as inhuman individuals who use their position to benefit themselves. For instance, if a community member gives in to offering a bribe to a police officer for a crime they did not commit because of the perception that the police officer can plant evidence and claim that the person committed the crime, the individual may develop negative attitudes towards law enforcement and become defiant. On the other hand, law enforcement officers may perceive that they have the authority to control everybody. This perception may create conflict between law enforcement and community members when the police officers use this perception to intimidate community members and gain favors such as bribes from them.

How Perceptions of Power Affect the Ability to Resolve Police-Community Conflict Based on the Relational Theory

The relational theory suggests that conflicts are caused by people’s interests and cultural differences influenced by past experiences (Jordan, 2017). Based on this theory, the perceptions of power may influence the ability to resolve police-community conflict because of the community members’ past encounters with law enforcement officers and their cultural interests. For example, it may be hard to resolve conflicts between police officers and African Americans because of the African Americans’ perceptions of power that law enforcement officers discriminate against African Americans. African Americans also have the assumption that law enforcement officers assume that they are criminals. Past experiences that have been publicized, which include incidents where African Americans have been victims of police brutality and unlawful arrests, also promote the negative perceptions of power that African Americans have when describing law enforcement officers.

Strategies that Might Effectively Reduce or Resolve Conflicts Between Police and Communities

Conflicts between communities and police can be resolved using various strategies. One of the strategies is community partnerships. According to Li (2017), a partnership between the police and community promotes information sharing and reporting of law-breaking cases in the neighborhood, which can foster a good relationship between the community and law enforcement officers. Community partnerships include working with community organizations such as faith-based organizations and other community groups to identify issues between the community members and police and develop the most effective solution to the problem. Community groups can also act as mediators in resolving conflicts between communities and law enforcement officers and prevent the escalation of the conflict. Community partnerships can also be used to create programs that promote safety, such as youth mentoring programs and clean-up events, and watch programs to limit law enforcement intervention in community security issues since their intervention could create conflict if it is not handled lawfully. The second strategy is community policing. Paez & Dierenfeldt (2019) argue that community policing effectively creates a good relationship between police and the youth because it strengthens the welfare of the young people in the community. Therefore, community policing can help reduce conflict between the community and the police by reducing crimes and encouraging young individuals to report criminal activities to law enforcement officers. Community policing can include community-oriented and problem-oriented policing. Community-oriented policing includes close collaboration between police officers and community members to identify and address community problems. Problem-oriented policing, on the other hand, focuses on identifying and eliminating the root cause of disorder or a crime.

Likely Outcome of Community Policing

Community policing can effectively resolve the conflict between law enforcement and community members. The likely outcome of community policing is fostering collaboration between community members and law enforcement officers by creating and sustaining trust between law enforcement and community members. For example, community policing can help community members understand how to enforce the law and maintain transparency in communication, thus eliminating negative attitudes toward law enforcement. Community policing can also promote trust between community members and law enforcement by enabling community members and law enforcement to share resources to identify and address community problems. Community policing can reduce crimes and other issues that prompt the intervention of law enforcement officers because the issues can be addressed before they impact other community members, thus limiting the involvement of law enforcement officers in resolving community issues. For instance, community policing can reduce issues such as robbery and drug sales, which are among the issues that require police intervention to address.

References

Coleman, P. T., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, E. C. (2014). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice. Josser-Bass.

Hocker, J. L., Berry, K., & Wilmot, W. W. (2022). Interpersonal conflict. McGraw-Hill.

Jordan, J. V. (2017). Relational–cultural theory: The power of connection to transform our lives. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 56(3), 228–243. https://doi.org/10.1002/johc.12055

Singh, D. (2022). The causes of police corruption and working towards prevention in conflict-stricken states. Laws, 11(5), 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/

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Write a 3-5 page paper titled “Conflict and Power” that explains how individual perceptions of power can create conflict situations between law enforcement and members of a community. Use the relational theory of power to explain how perceptions affect the ability to resolve conflict. Then, identify a conflict resolution strategy and predict the outcome.

Conflict and Power- Exploring Perceptions and Resolution in Community-Law Enforcement Dynamics

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Introduction
Power plays a role in most conflicts. According to Coleman, Deutsch, and Marcus (2014), power can be understood by looking at its relationship to a situation and how that power is used. It is important to consider the role that each person in a conflict situation plays and that person’s place in the power hierarchy. Also, consider culture, as it can influence the way people react to power inequalities. Understanding these differences is key when trying to understand the dynamics of conflict and formulate strategies for conflict resolution.

Reference
Coleman, P., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, C. (Eds.). (2014). The Handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Wiley.

Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Identify variables within an organizational structure that can promote conflict.
Describe the factors that contribute to conflict between law enforcement and members of a community.
Competency 2: Apply theoretical perspectives on conflict.
Use the relational theory of power to explain how perceptions of power interfere with the ability to resolve conflict.
Competency 3: Apply appropriate strategies to reduce or resolve conflicts.
Identify conflict resolution strategies for law enforcement community conflicts.
Competency 4: Analyze the impact of conflict on relationship building in face-to-face, virtual, cyber, and group communication.
Explain how perceptions of power contribute to conflict situations.
Competency 5: Evaluate the outcome of proposed strategies of conflict resolution.
Determine the outcome of a conflict resolution strategy.
Competency 6: Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.