POLICE ATTEND DIVERSITY CLASS

Awareness of what makes blacks, whites and other groups diverse is not something police forget, but underscoring the point now and then doesn't hurt, say Cape Girardeau police.

"It's something that I'm conscious of, but training like this helps bring it to the front of my mind again," said Barry Hovis, one of 14 police officers attending a two-day seminar on race relations and sexual harassment that ended Friday.

The training in diversity, led by Michael Kernan, executive director of the Eastern Missouri Police Academy in St. Peters, touched on themes such as differences in family relations, emotional expressions and cultural mores.

It's important for a police officer to be aware that traditional Asian culture places the eldest male in charge of a household, Sgt. Carl Kinnison said. When responding to a domestic disturbance, ignoring this can make police less successful in handling a call, he said.

"Dealing with Diversity Issues in Police Service," a training manual developed by Kernan, gives practical examples of situations in which police need to use greater tact. The manual was given to Cape Girardeau police attending Kernan's training Thursday.

In the manual, Kernan states that blacks will "gather around an incident when the police are arresting an individual to find out what is going on with a member of their race or extended family ('Brother'). Their demands for information are not quiet and measured, but loud and emotional."

In many Hispanic countries, the legal system takes an opposite view than in the United States, Kernan states. A person is guilty until proven innocent, and many Latinos refuse to identify an assailant, because they desire to handle the problem personally.

Police training that emphasizes diversity has been taught much longer than over the last 10 years when it has been in vogue, said Ivan Schraeder, an attorney who teaches for the Eastern Missouri Police Academy.

"If you're not approaching law enforcement with the attitude that every individual is different, you're not living in reality," Schraeder said.

In his instruction, which focuses on sexual harassment issues, Schraeder emphasizes understanding the victim's perspective.