Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Keith Burton

Second Advisor

Trevor O'Reggio

Third Advisor

Errol McLean

Abstract

Problem

Disproportionate police shootings of unarmed Black men have been a controversial topic of discussion in recent years. While Black men are 6% of the United States population, they make up almost half of the fatal police shootings each year. These figures indicate that policing tactics are depriving certain citizens of their right to live in peaceful societies where everyone experiences justice.

Method

The focus of this study was to develop, test and employ a training intervention model that facilitated a community of trust between law enforcement officers and Black American youth. This was done through the development of an intervention manual that focused on facilitating restorative justice and initiating community policing tactics with participants. This project brought 24 young Black men and 14 police officers together for a three-week, four-part intervention. A pre- and post-survey was administered to the participants to measure significant changes in perception.

Result

The data revealed that the young Black men did show significant changes in perceptions of trust towards police. The police mostly shared positive initial and final perceptions of the young men. Thus, the police officers’, pre- and post-data, did not show significant changes in perception towards the youth. However, their written and verbal comments indicated increased concern for the young men and enthusiasm for implementing continued community policing.

Conclusions

Perhaps if a group of police officers who initially admitted to having negative perceptions towards young Black males participated in this project, more significant changes would have been revealed in their perceptions post-survey. More research could have been done in this area. Implementing the intervention for a longer period of time would have rendered even better results.

Subject Area

Police--Attitudes; Police--Complaints against; Police-community relations; African Americans men; African American youth; Community policing

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/675/

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