The discourse of diversity and inclusion within police recruit teaching materials

Police recruit training in dealing with diverse groups is vital for ensuring that officers can secure public trust and co-operation. This study contributes to an understanding of the ways in which recruits are trained in the area of diversity and inclusion, including the related aspects of hate crimes, youth offending, and stop and search policy. Police Scotland’s recruit teaching materials are analysed from a discourse analytic perspective in order to reveal discursive dilemmas within the lessons. On the one hand there is an affirmation of diversity and inclusion, while on the other prejudiced views are located ‘down’ at the level of individual attitudes. Overall, the teaching material presents criminal actions where diversity and inclusion are challenged as being ascertainable through suspects’ discourse, often presented in the teaching material through declaratives that indicate prejudiced motives. In a similar vein, the operational nature of policing, for example in relation to dealing with youth crime or stop and search, is pitched in terms of a dilemma of duty of care versus due investigative process. This places officers in the position of operationalising codified rules and procedures which are presented in terms somewhat abstract and static terms.