Springboard 4: Bias Opinion
How do things like race, gender, age, social bracket, etc change a case? What will make you handle a case differently than normal? Is there anything you're particularly sensitive to? Why?
I work in one of the hardest units there is in policing, the Special Victims Unit. I deal with sexual assaults, rapes, and often murders with sexual overtones. Men, women, children, every one of them has been a victim I've encountered over the years. The majority of the victims I deal with are alive.
The struggle to remain objective when a five year old child is telling you about what their uncle/father/mother/teacher/coach/brother/sister/stranger did to them, watching innocence die right before your eyes, is constant. The members of my squad all handle it in different ways, but I don't care what any of you claim about everyone being equal in the eyes of the law and law enforcement. Working these cases, I have hundreds of biases that are acting on me. I do not let them control me, however, and I base my actions on the evidence before me. That is often the most frustrating part.
My job is ugly, my biases even uglier, and the evidence can turn against me. When that happens, I'm left with a deep sense of dissatisfaction and the biases get worse.
I work in one of the hardest units there is in policing, the Special Victims Unit. I deal with sexual assaults, rapes, and often murders with sexual overtones. Men, women, children, every one of them has been a victim I've encountered over the years. The majority of the victims I deal with are alive.
The struggle to remain objective when a five year old child is telling you about what their uncle/father/mother/teacher/coach/brother/sister/stranger did to them, watching innocence die right before your eyes, is constant. The members of my squad all handle it in different ways, but I don't care what any of you claim about everyone being equal in the eyes of the law and law enforcement. Working these cases, I have hundreds of biases that are acting on me. I do not let them control me, however, and I base my actions on the evidence before me. That is often the most frustrating part.
My job is ugly, my biases even uglier, and the evidence can turn against me. When that happens, I'm left with a deep sense of dissatisfaction and the biases get worse.