The Importance of Cultural Awareness Essay

Tags: communications cultural competency education health hmong leaders murder stereotypes

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Total Length: 879 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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Introduction



Police officers interact with the public on a daily basis, requiring cross-cultural competency and communications skills. Whereas lack of awareness of cross-cultural differences may lead to conflicts and misunderstandings, cultural competency can foster harmonious relationships among multiple community stakeholders. Misunderstandings can also lead to inefficiencies in inter-agency communication, potentially complicating cases by unnecessarily diverting a case to child protective services or the courts. For police officers, cross-cultural competencies impact interactions with citizens, victims, suspects, and coworkers. Cross-cultural competency directly affects the quality of service delivery. Both police officers and civilian employees in multiple sectors need to enhance cross-cultural knowledge as part of their organization’s mission, vision, and ethical practice.



Scenario One



Scenario One shows how even a little police officer knowledge about traditional medicine in Asian communities could have prevented the problems in this case. Officers jumped to conclusions about the marks on the children’s bodies. While it is understandable that child safety is to be taken seriously and is a top priority, it only would have taken a visit to the family’s home to inquire about the marks and to learn about coining/cupping. As Chan (2016) points out, misconceptions about traditional medicine do lead to cases like these in which child abuse is mistakenly suspected.

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The school, the police department, and child protective services all had a role to play in improving their cross-cultural understanding of what is likely a relatively large immigrant community. Because of cases like these, the Hmong in particular have become one of the prime examples of how police and the civilian sectors can work together to improve cross-cultural competencies (Beghtol, 1988). The entire system became unnecessarily involved in the family’s life, a waste of resources and an infringement on the privacy rights of the family.

Before taking children from their homes, the officers could have consulted with a Hmong community liaison, or with community leaders. Even educators at the child’s school have a responsibility to become more culturally aware. In the future, a translator might help to prevent the case being diverted through criminal justice and child protective services. If a translator is unavailable, the officer needs to consult with the medical practitioner prior to forcibly removing the child from the home and referring the case to child protective services. This case also shows that police leaders need to continually improve their cross-cultural communications skills, improving knowledge about all members of their….....

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References

Beghtol, M.J. (1988). Hmong refugees and the US health system. Cultural Survival. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/hmong-refugees-and-us-health-system

Chan, K. (2016). America’s reaction to cupping reveals cultural health bias. The Establishment. https://theestablishment.co/americas-reaction-to-cupping-reveals-cultural-health-bias-c6d4ad277255

Orrick, D. (2017). “Tree Stand Murders” recounts St. Paul man’s Wisconsin deer hunter killings. Twin Cities Pioneer Press. https://www.twincities.com/2015/03/21/tree-stand-murders-recounts-st-paul-mans-wisconsin-deer-hunter-killings/

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