Should Police Officers Be Able To Join Racist Organizations?

Originally posted by Dark-Jaxx
Legally, no, but logically, racist beliefs can induce unfair bias into their work, thus hindering their actual occupation's goal, to enforce the Law.

Logically letting them join racist organizations won't make them any more or less racist.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Logically letting them join racist organizations won't make them any more or less racist.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I don't know how true that is.

I assume the average member of a racist organization is a racist to begin with, joining the organization doesn't make you into a racist and there's no reason I can think of it would.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I don't know how true that is.

Perhaps the people will be racist whether they are members of the BNP or not - however it could be true that membership of such an organisation would actually encourage the person to become more racist...if they see it as being socially acceptable they are more likely to embrace the idea more fully...

Possible?

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
Perhaps the people will be racist whether they are members of the BNP or not - however it could be true that membership of such an organisation would actually encourage the person to become more racist...if they see it as being socially acceptable they are more likely to embrace the idea more fully...

Possible?

Originally posted by Bardock42
Why shouldn't that be the employers decision, though?

You could be a part of PETA but not terrorise animal testing labs and kill animals in freezers.

I don't condone joining racist organizations, but theoretically what one chooses to do based off their own personal opinions should not automatically designate career options. As long as the officer can remain 100% objective when making decisions and policing, then "technically" it shouldn't matter. Thing is, with police officers, everything is up to their discretion (i.e. pardoning minor citations for example based on certain circumstances). When you have officers making subjective decisions, then being a member of such an organization automatically should be a red flag. Just my thoughts.

no because it could lead to them being biased when they do their jobs

Originally posted by BetrayedUnicorn
no because it could lead to them being biased when they do their jobs

So every racist who doesn't join an organization is totally unbiased?

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
Perhaps the people will be racist whether they are members of the BNP or not - however it could be true that membership of such an organisation would actually encourage the person to become more racist...if they see it as being socially acceptable they are more likely to embrace the idea more fully...

Possible?

social psychology would agree with you

people might be racist, but belonging to a group (self-identification) brings many other things with it. The fact that people who have similar beliefs tend to make each other more extreme (as you pointed out) is one. That people in a group are automatically more skeptical and less trusting of "out-group" individuals is another.

My thoughts are, however, that whether it is condoned or not, racist individuals are probably going to congregate together and share their ideas. They probably already suffer from out-group paranoia and vicarious feelings of oppression (if you belong to a group, and a member of that group is oppressed, but you have never been, you personalize that oppression), so like, the question of whether the racist officer would be more or less biased in the job is probably really tricky.

As anti-freedom as it sounds, I'd be willing to say that any bias, be it racial, gender, ANYTHING, should be more than solid grounds to dismiss a police officer for. Ideally, I feel a community should be allowed to come together and make such standards or to deal with such complaints as they arise, but that is dreaming.