CITP Exam 1 Questions & Answers 2023/2024
Define "culture" and its major components. - ANSWER-Culture, for law enforcement purposes, can very generally be defined as learned behavior associated with: a. The collective way of life of the people in a particular group. b. The standards, perspectives and the physical objects that constitute our everyday lives. c. The shared sets of "understandings" and expectations about how to think, feel and act. d. The sum total of ways of living built by a group of human beings. e. Learned and transmitted from generation to generation.
Demonstrate and/or identify principal barriers to effective cross cultural communications - ANSWER-
There are four primary barriers to cross cultural communications that will be discussed: Language, Ignorance of Cultural Norms, Prejudice, and Ethnocentrism.
Identify racial profiling (to include race, color and perceived ethnic background) and the potential negative impacts that it may have on effective law enforcement. - ANSWER-Racial profiling is the use, by law enforcement officers, of race or ethnicity as the sole factor to justify initiating a stop, conducting a search or focusing an investigation on a particular individual or individuals.
Identify skills for improving cross-cultural communication. - ANSWER-It is virtually impossible to learn every aspect and characteristic of the many cultures a law enforcement professional will come in contact
with. But it is possible and it is expected to: a) Treat all as individuals with respect, while remaining safe. b) Understand and avoid confirmation bias. Instead, seek valid information and corroboration on a case by case bases or individual by individual, in search of the truth. c) Understand and avoid bias by not dismissing information that challenges an already established opinion or belief (belief perseverance). Seek all information. d) Understand and avoid illusory correlations perceptions of associations that do not exist (instead of assuming that a person is a criminal because they live in a high crime neighborhood): Hear their story. Demonstrate and/or identify interpersonal and communication skills required to generate rapport and obtain reliable information. - ANSWER-Self-concept, active listening, listening is a gift, mimicry/mirroring,
self-disclosure, establishing common ground, and motivational interviewing (MI).
Motivational Interviewing (MI) - ANSWER-a. Autonomy - Allowing the interviewee to cognitively or emotionally process the situation in light of the evidence, and elect to be truthful and cooperative. Create in your interviewees the perception that they have some control in their interview (that they're making autonomous decisions). You're actually in control, allowing the interviewee to cognitively and/or emotionally process the situation, and to come to the conclusion of cooperation and truthfulness on his/her own. By allowing the interviewee to guide the conversation or by setting up your interview room so that he/she feels comfortable and in control are examples of how you might afford an interviewee autonomy. b. Acceptance - Listen without judgment. When we listen, actively in particular, without conveying judgment through either our actions or our words, we communicate acceptance to the speaker, which encourages him/her to continue talking. You needn't disingenuously support or condone what he/she did to communicate acceptance; just listen without judgment. c. Adaptation - Appropriately meeting resistance and adapting to the interviewee's behavior meet resistance with reflection instead of confrontation. Meet resistance and adapt to the interviewee's behavior. What does your interviewee want to talk about? If he/she wants to tell you about who he/she is and what he/she stands for, let him/her (adapt to him/her) rather than insisting that he/she tell you right now about everything that happened. Adaptation can also refer to mirroring; you can mirror or adapt to an interviewee's speech or behavior to build rapport and facilitate better communication. Adaptation goes handinhand with Autonomy. d. Empathy - the attempt of a selfaware person to comprehend, without making judgments, both the positive and negative experiences of another (Inzunza, 2014). Demonstrate to your interviewee that you're interested in what he/she has to say. Put yourself mentally in his/her shoes, and if you feel, see, or
hear something that leads you to conclude that he/she is experiencing a particular feeling, label it, but do that only using what you felt, saw, or heard, e.g., "You look as if...", "You sound as if...", and "It feels as
if you..." Don't make pronouncements about his/her emotional state, e.g., "You're ", because if you're wrong, you can make him/her angry—at you—and create the impression that you really don't understand. At its core, empathy is about understanding things from others' perspectives. Some psychologists theorize that there are two forms of empathy "hot" or emotional, and "cold" or cognitive (this is different from the "hotcold empathy gap," for those familiar with it)and that "hot" (emotional) empathy generally refers to the ability to feel what others are feeling, and "cold" (cognitive) empathy generally refers to the ability to know what others are thinking and feeling. (Breithaupt, 2012) e. Evocation - involves eliciting information. You allow the interviewee to discover and explain the discrepancies. Get your interviewee to talk. Employ reflective listening, take turns in speaking, and make a conscious effort not to interrupt. Your interviewee should perceive you to be patient and interested in him/her as an individual. Allow him/her to discover discrepancies. It is critical for the criminal investigator to be selfaware and to understand the impact he/she has on motivating the interviewee. If necessary, the criminal investigator must be willing to alter his/her behavior to influence how he/she is being perceived by those he/she intends to motivate. (Allison et al., 2013).
Psychology of Persuasion - ANSWER-1) RECIPROCITY . We inherently want to return favors. This occurs in all societies. In the context of obligation, people say "yes" or feel obligated to reciprocate what is given to them. Caution must be given when considering this principle in law enforcement settings. Tangible or nontangible things must remain an element of social (not procedural or judicial) exchange, and the criminal investigator should be the first to give.
2) LIKING (which involves similarity and flattery). We're more easily persuaded by those we like and feel good about or to whom we're similar, so highlighting whatever similarities you can find between yourself
and your interviewee will leverage this. Just because your interviewee is 60 and you're 30 doesn't mean you're hopelessly dissimilar. Maybe your father is the same age as your interviewee and there are other similarities between the two of them, or you're the same age as his/her children and similar to them. These associations can also suffice. Of course, the closer the similarity between you and your interviewee, the better. Giving compliments (flattery) is another part of LIKING (you like or admire something about or related to the interviewee and express this "liking"). If we perceive that someone is being sincere in complimenting us, we tend to feel good about that person and grateful to him/her for what was said. 3) COMMITMENT AND CONSISTENCY . We strive to do and think what we profess to do and think. Align your behaviors with your values.
4) SOCIAL PROOF/CONSENSUS. We tend to have more trust in things that are popular, what others perceive as appropriate, or that have been endorsed by people that we trust.
5) AUTHORITY/CREDIBILITY . When the criminal investigator appears to be an expert, he/she leverages this principle. Without authority, there is chaos, and most people respond to authority. How well we demonstrate that we know what we're doing and create in the interviewee a perception of professionalism, knowledge, and credibility will have a role in just how persuasive we're able to be with the interviewee. Think about the immaculately dressed and coiffed Secret Service agent vs. the agent who is unkempt and disheveled. Consider the respect and deference you likely feel for the man or woman in hospital scrubs from whose neck hangs a stethoscope. Conversely, if you know that your interviewee has a problem with authority, you may want to avoid dressing yourself in a way that
