Mirror, mirror, on the wall, how do we make you reflect us all? : a case study on ethnic diversity and out-group inclusion within the Dutch police force : researching the attitude toward Moroccan employees

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Mirror, mirror, on the wall, how do we make you reflect us all?

A case study on ethnic diversity and out-group inclusion within the Dutch police

force: researching the attitude toward Moroccan employees

Elissa de Jong 10616047

Masters Thesis

Graduate School of Communication

Masters programme Communication Science Supervisor: Barbara Schouten

Word count: 10236

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Abstract

The following thesis concerns a case study of the ethnic diversity within the Dutch police force. Ideally, a nation’s police force is a reflection of the society it safeguards, to retain its legitimateness and ability to do its job. However, attempts to increase the body of ethnic minorities within the police force have not yielded successful results. The problem seems to be not the influx, but rather the efflux of ethnic minorities. Underlying reasons and theories for this phenomenon are discussed, in order to explain why communication strategies have thus far failed. Research on the attitude of ethnic majorities toward ethnic minority employees lacks in this case study. Thereby, also a gap can be found in the academic field of in-group/out-group communication theories, namely when, like in this case study, the out-group may need to be re-divided along lines of out-group members and internal outsiders. Thus, the current research investigates how attitude is distributed in the police force, and whether existing frameworks on in-group/out-group communication apply in this case. The research narrows its scope to the attitude toward Moroccan employees, since earlier research suggests this ethnic minority group experiences the most tension. Results reveal that attitude toward Moroccan employees is normally distributed among the sample group. No significant results were found. However, remarkable findings are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.

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1. Introduction

1.1. Reflecting me, reflecting you

During a festival in The Hague, The Netherlands, on June 27, 2015, the Aruban Mitch Henriquez told the police officers on site that he had a weapon, as he gestured toward his genitals. In hindsight, it seems he did not mean it in a serious way, but at that time not all police officers agreed, since a couple felt deeply threatened. An attempt to arrest Henriquez was made, but Henriquez resisted and a violent struggle followed. Ultimately, a neck restraint was used on him, and he died. Henriquez had a fractured larynx and haemorrhages on his temple, his nose and his genitals. He also had two broken ribs, but these may have been due to CPR, and not due to the violence. However, lawyer Gerald Roethof claims that he can see no reason in why the fatal event had to unfold in this way. As well, Roethof argues that as the police force has a monopoly on the use of force, it is even more crucial that police violence is not abused and such events are dealt with a feeling of immense responsibility. However, the five police officers that are being indicted for the tragedy of Henriquez’s passing can await the verdict of the Court in freedom, thus being treated differently than the average citizen (“Mitch Henriquez ‘gigantisch mishandeld’”, 2015). Societal outrage, riots in a neighbourhood in The Hague, claims of the police force being guilty of racial profiling followed. Chief police officer Gerard Bouman exclaims more diversity is needed within the police force (“Korpschef Bouman: meer diversiteit”, 2015).

Cases such as Mitch Henriquez have not only taken place in The Netherlands, but also in many other Western countries, like North America where the Ferguson case in 2014 followed the killing of unarmed, black American Michael Brown by a Caucasian police officer. The event triggered riots and a discussion on racial bias and distrust in the nation’s police force (“Racial bias in Ferguson”, 2015). These cases represent the consequence of the problem that lies at the core of the police force. Namely, the police force should ideally mirror the society. With many different cultural groups living alongside each other in the Netherlands, many cultural minority groups are relatively underrepresented within the police force. The effect of this flawed mirror is that the police force’s legitimateness, credibility, and integrity are undermined. Its ‘brand’ characteristic ‘to look out for, and serve everyone’ does not

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maintain its legitimateness when the forces do not adequately represent the society. Thereby, knowledge that minority groups possess of different cultures and languages can assist the police force in their tasks, by expanding their knowledge spectrum. Thus, the need for more diversity within the police force is essential for both the society, as for the force itself (de Graaff & van der Wal, 2011; Broekhuizen, Raven & Driessen, 2007).

Research and reports, concerning the previously mentioned matter, mention that the need for more ethnic diversity in the organization has changed into a business issue, rather than the initial social issue it was a few decades back. Initially, the diversity policy was a social issue, as it was mainly geared towards political correctness and focussed on percentages of recruiting minority groups as proposed by policy. However, recently, ethnic diversity has turned into a business issue, which means that the effectiveness, or in heavier terms “the survival”, of the police force is now dependent on the incorporation of ethnic diversity (Poelert, 2006).

However, various strategies have been implemented ever since the essence of a diverse police population was acknowledged, none all too successful on the long-term. Today, the amount of cultural diversity within the police force is lower than the amount that the force has strived for almost a decade (de Vries et al., 2010). Gathering from multiple data and articles on the aforementioned problem, it seems that ethnic minority groups do in fact apply for, and join, the police force. Yet, though there is reasonable influx, there is a relatively large outflow of ethnic minority police members too (de Vries, Kwee & Waldring, 1998). One factor that influences this outflow mainly, as can be concluded from research, is the hierarchical, Caucasian-dominant structure of the force. Unfortunately, this often results in a bad, and even an

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unsafe, work environment for the minority groups. In particular, the problem resulting from this structure is discrimination (Çankaya, 2015; Hart-Kemper & Nas, 1998).

Thus, even though the police have so far invested time, money and effort in campaigns targeting the minority groups to join the force, reaching this goal, to a certain extent, has not been accepted well from within the organization. Therefore, it seems that a change of culture is applicable. Attempts have been made to make the work environment more open to cultural minority groups, yet to no avail. Seemingly, employees within the police force express resistant behaviour towards cultural change, according to interviews with, and rapports about, ethnic minorities (Çankaya, 2015). However, little research has been done that places emphasis on the attitude and experiences of the ethnic majority within the police force. Thus, it seems a shift in focus toward investigating the attitude of ethnic majorities, instead of investigating the ethnic minorities, may help understanding and addressing the problem better.

Aside from the societal relevance, the research is important academically, since research remains ambiguous on effective communication tools to have in-groups and out-in-groups cooperate within one organization (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007). In particular, ethnic diversity as characteristic for group distinction comes with severe challenges regarding combating out-group bias, as opposed to, per example, gender diversity (Milliken & Martins, 1996). Earlier research, regarding framing messages for ethnocultural inclusion, focussed mostly on two leading frameworks, namely the colour-blindness theory and the multiculturalism framework. The colour-blindness theory suggests emphasizing the idea that each person is equal. Au contraire, the multiculturalism theory argues one must accentuate the differences between people. Whilst the two theories definitely take into account the cornerstones of the problem of out-group acceptance, the message framing of both has not led to

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adequate enough results and researchers are vouching for an integrated theory that combines the two (Wolsko et al., 2000).

However, another body of research suggests that the implementation of a superordinate goal, which means that both the in-group and out-group share the goal, can assist in “muting” the differences. Consequently, this is suggested to lead to effective cooperation to reach the goal together (Sherif, 1958). In addition, a study done by Moghaddam argues that in addition to forming a superordinate goal, it is also necessary to emphasize how different ethnicities can attain such a goal (Moghaddam, 2009). These theories can be related back, in turn, to the theory of intergroup-contact, which suggests out-group bias is reduced by interacting with out-group members. The underlying thought is that, if the in-group accepts an group member, the out-group bias will be reduced for the entire out-group, as all members are regarded as similar (Allport, 1954).

Yet, prior to applying a theory to a communication strategy that may assist in promoting inclusion of ethnic minorities within the Dutch police force, it is essential to know which attitude is the target of the message. As well, the police force seems a unique case, both from a societal -, as from an academic - point of view. It is the job of the police to define out-groups in society in order to distinguish between victims and perpetrators, those that are to be safeguarded and those that are to be caught for criminal behaviour. Due to the nature of the job, it may be impossible in this case to project reduction in out-group bias toward the entire out-group. Hence, the minority police officers related to those out-groups that are associated with criminal behaviour may be internal outsiders in the organization (Çankaya, 2015).

Therefore, this thesis attempts to find out what the attitude is of ethnic majorities of the police force towards ethnic minority employees within the police

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force. In particular, the current research narrows down the research question to the attitude of ethnic majorities toward Moroccan employees, as conducted research has found that this group differs most from the ethnic majority and experiences the most tension within the organisation (Broekhuizen, Raven & Driessen, 2007). As well, in line with the theory of intergroup contact itself, and with the theories that are based on this theory, the research looks at whether a relationship exists between the amount of contact a person has with people with a Moroccan ethnicity in daily life and the attitude the person has towards Moroccan employees.

Based on this research, directions for future research are provided, such as how a message, and what kind of message, could assist in influencing the way of thinking and the behaviour of the ethnic majority within the police force. Step by step, with adequate research, hopefully the police force can then turn into a more inviting place where cultural minority groups are likely to stay.

2. Theoretical framework

2.1. Defining the term ‘ethnic minority’

In this thesis the term ‘ethnic minority’ is used to describe citizens of the Netherlands with a non-Western background, which is in concordance with the definition, originating from 1999, of the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS). Hence, these people are citizens of whom at least one parent is born in one of the countries of the continents Africa, Latin America and Asia (excluding Indonesia and Japan) or in Turkey. The CBS maintains a further distinction between first-generation ethnic minorities; meaning people themselves were born in one of these countries, or second-generation ethnic minorities; the group of people whom themselves were born

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in the Netherlands (CBS, 2016). This distinction between generations is solely applied in this thesis for the purpose of defining the ethnicity of the participants.

2.2. The tango of the police force and the changing partner named ‘society’ – a case study

As was mentioned in the introduction, the police force of the Netherlands has attempted implementation and succession of their diversity policy for a while now. It began when, back in the early eighties, the first policy document on minorities appeared. In this brief, which is dated back to 1983, a paragraph was dedicated to the police force, which stated that the police had too little knowledge of, and to few contacts with, minority groups. The brief expressed the wishes of the government for the police force to increase their knowledge of ethnic minorities, to evaluate if practices such as stereotyping, stigmatising and discrimination were succumbed to, and to increase the population of ethnic minorities within the population. At the time that this brief was released, less than 1% of the organization had a foreign background (de Vries et al., 2010). Though, this low percentage can be explained by the fact that the immigration history of the Netherlands does not date far back, the government realized the police force needed to grow along with its society. Hence, a goal was formulated which entailed increasing the body of ethnic minority police employees (de Graaff & van der Wal, 2011).

As a result of the minority groups brief, the police departments of the larger cities in the Netherlands brought to attention the recruitment of ethnic minorities. In particular, their focus was initially zoomed in on recruiting people of Surinam, Antillean and Moluccan descent. Later, in congruence with immigration patterns, the scope was also broadened to people with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds (de

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Vries, 1999). The local police force of the capital, Amsterdam, gained the most success in recruiting ethnic minorities. However, other data from the evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations of the 1983 brief revealed that, within the organisation resistance towards ethnic minority recruitment was very much intact. Too, with the process of recruiting more people with foreign backgrounds it became clear that many potential candidates of the targeted group lacked the necessary educational skills to grow within the organisation (Çankaya, 2011). Therefore, in 1989, a plan, Positieve Actie Plan Politie en Allochtonen (PAPPA), was designed in order to diminish the obstacles that accompanied the recruitment, selection and education of candidates from ethnic minority groups. However, whilst this plan was well intended, it caused much damage, as it soon appeared that many of the selected candidates did not possess the required skills and, hence, suspicions were generated that these candidates had been accepted only due to their ethnicity (Janssen, 2012). In addition, the amount of employees of non-Western ethnicity did not reach its target then, as it has never yet reached it up until today.

The topic of increasing ethnic diversity within the police force was initially regarded as a social issue. The objective to increase ethnic diversity within the organization seemed mainly a politically correct move, an idea that stemmed from politics and labour unions (Poelert, 2006). Per example, the law ‘wet van SAMEN’ (Stimulering Arbeidsdeelname Etnisch Minderheden) was implemented in 1998 in order to stimulate a more even participation of ethnic minorities in the labour market, by carrying out a multicultural personnel policy. This law was then again abolished at the end of 2013, since it had yielded the necessary attention, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. As well, the abolishment would mean less administrative pressure for the employers (Zandvliet et al., 2000; Broekhuizen, Raven

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& Driessen, 2007). Among others, this example displays that the nature of the issue resulted in viewing an improved amount of diversity as reaching percentages that had been laid down in various policy documents. However, diversity was not valued for all its worth, but rather seen as an aspect that one must include in policy, because minority groups have difficulty in getting a job and because it is the correct way to go about immigration (de Vries et al., 2010).

Then, about a decade ago, the nature of the diversity issue changed from being regarded as a social problem to it being a business problem for the police force. Diversity as a business entails that the force actually needs diversity in order to survive as an organization. In such a case, diversity is essential in order to continue being able to do the job as is expected of them, and to execute that job with a certain amount of quality (Çankaya, 2015). Though the arguments had been mentioned already during the time that diversity was a social issue, the (top of the) police force began to truly realize now that diversity among their employees was necessary to retain their legitimateness and effectiveness (Poelert, 2006).

The underlying reasons for striving for diversity include the principle of equality, the idea that it is proposed to improve communication with citizens, with everyone and everywhere, to increase the trust of the citizen, and to strengthen integration of ethnic minorities (Broekhuizen, Raven & Driessen, 2007). The latter notion of immigration lies in line with the fact that labour participation of ethnic minorities, quite obviously, reduces unemployment rates among those groups, which in turn strengthens integration again. As well, the police force is expected to set an example for society. But, it is argued that in order for society to accept the exemplary function and the law enforcing capability, society needs to identify with the police force (Broekhuizen, Raven & Driessen, 2007). In other words, as stated in the

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introduction, a police force should ideally reflect the society in order to represent everyone within that society.

As mentioned earlier, over the past decades effort has been made to increase representation of minority groups including female recruits, gay- and lesbian recruits, and ethnic minority recruits in order to mirror the diversity of the society more. Per example, in the earlier days, the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) founded an institute, named ‘Projectgroep Personeelsvoorziening Politie’ (PPP), which launched a campaign based on the slogan “Die pet past ons allemaal” (“that cap fits us all”). The campaign was aimed to enthuse females and ethnic minorities to apply for the police force. Another campaign of the PPP with the slogan “Als je mond

je beste wapen is” (“if your mouth is your best weapon”) was designed to place

emphasis on the social skills that are valued when selecting recruits for the police force. In line with emphasizing skills, was the campaign launched by the

Politieacademie, which featured banners with the text “de Politie zoekt ook jou” (“the

Police is looking for you too”). This line, too, focused on letting potential recruits know that the police force was looking for people with certain skills, namely those whom are psychologically strong, empathetic, and possess adequate verbal skills (de Vries et al., 2010). A last example of such a campaign is the banner, which features chef-cop Youssef stating, “Ik reanimeer je vriend als hij zwaargewond is” (“I will carry out CPR if your friend is severely wounded”). However, this campaign had an unfortunate timing as it was launched in 2015, around the time that the incident concerning Mitch Henriquez happened. Thus, not all targets of the message received the campaign as intended (“Ik reanimeer je vriend”, 2015).

As can be deduced from the selection of recruiting campaigns is that quite a bit of time and money has been invested in trying to tempt minorities to join the force.

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Whilst the percentage of females and LGBT people has been growing significantly, however little, the percentage of ethnic minorities represented within the police force remains dramatically low (LECD, 2009). Kennisbank Directoraat-generaal Bestuur

en Koninkrijksrelaties released a new edition of trends and numbers in 2015, which

includes an overview of numbers pertaining to diversity within the police force. The data of the rapport reveals that in 2004 the percentage of ethnic minorities within the police force was 4.5%, and that it was 5.4% in 2014 (“Thema ‘Samenstelling personeel’”, 2014). Data in a rapport released by the Politieacademie further display ethnic minority representation in between these years; measured end of 2009, the percentage of ethnic minorities working for the police force was 6.8% on average. Of these 6.8%, a meagre 5.9% worked as member of the executive staff, and 9.1% was administrative worker. As well, it becomes clear that most ethnic minorities work in the lower wage scales. Further, in this rapport is then concluded that the target of an ethnic minority representation of 8.5% in 2010 was not reached (de Vries et al., 2010). Different target numbers have been set over time and, as we now know, non have ever been reached, despite the various mass media campaigns that have been released.

However, the campaigns, including those from the previous paragraph, are all aimed at informing the public that skills are the ultimate selection criteria, not race, nor gender or sexual preference. In line with that thought, the messages imply that everyone from the society, namely every common citizen of the Netherlands, can join the police force. In this way, the mass media campaigns were thought to solve the problem of the low number of applicants, of the various minority groups, for joining the police force. But, there are countless rapports, policy documents, essays filled with strategies formulated by the organization itself, and many other documents on

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this topic, that all unambiguously mention the failure of gaining more body of ethnic minorities working at the police force. Time and again similar ideas are put forward, the strategies adjusted a little, only to not reach the target once more.

Part of the explanation may be that the campaigns fail to reach and affect their audience, such as by advertising that the police force is for every common Dutch citizen, but immigration blurring the definition of the common Dutch citizen (Janssen, 2012; de Vries, 2009). However, surely contributing to the campaigns’ inability to increase the percentage of ethnic minorities is the found high percentage of ethnic minorities that quit the police force (IOOV, 2009). During the period 1994 – 1998 the influx of ethnic minorities was lower than the efflux. In addition, it appeared that the efflux of ethnic minorities was 1.5 to 2.0 times the size of the efflux of the ethnic majorities during 2001-2009 (de Vries et al., 2010). In 2014 the influx was almost equal to the efflux, both hovering around 5% of the total influx and efflux, according to Kennisbank Directoraat-generaal Bestuur en Koninkrijksrelaties (“Thema ‘Samenstelling personeel’”, 2014).

However, ethnic minorities remain heavily underrepresented in relation to the representation within society and, drawing from ethnographic research and the media, the problems of integration within the organization itself, and towards society, are yet to be solved. Per example, it is argued that the reorganisation of the police force in 2013, which reformed it into a single national police force, caused the diversity policy of the organization to disappear. Apparently, Witvliet and Sitalsing state, minister Ivo Opstelten did not care much for the policy. The result, according to Witvliet and Sitalsing, is a horizontal police force that loses touch on a local level, and will be more regarded as an occupying force that the government steers, instead of a friend in whom the citizen can confide (Çankaya, 2011; Witvliet & Sitalsing, 2015).

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2.3. Inside OUT, the way you’re turning me

As mentioned in the introduction, ethnic minorities are applying to join the police force, but, as we have learned, these minorities either do not get through the selection procedure due to language and/or other educational deficiencies, or the chances are high that they leave the police force again prematurely. This effect of leaving the organization earlier than intended has been dubbed the ‘draaideureffect’, translated to the ‘revolving door-effect’. This term depicts the phenomenon of the difficulty of enlarging the influx of ethnic minorities and stagnating the large efflux of ethnic minorities. Consequently, it explains the reason for the low percentage of ethnic minorities represented among higher positions within the police force (Hart-Kemper & Nas, 1998).

Though research has been conducted on investigating reasons for exiting the police force earlier than expected, it is hard to draw conclusions for two reasons. To begin, not all corps’ of the police force have been consistent in executing exit interviews with their staff, a finding uncovered by the Inspectie Openbare Orde en

Veiligheid (IOOV) (Dutch Public Order and Safety Inspectorate). Out of 28 corps, 18

corps had a proper policy for exit interviews, 12 corps reported the results of these exit interviews to the management and 7 corps devoured extra attention to reasons for leaving with females and ethnic minorities. Though the 10 corps that did not have formal policy regarding exit interviews do hold exit interviews, the process is unstructured. Additionally, an exit interview is usually administered with a form, not a conversation. In this way, it is difficult for the corps to learn anything from the reasons the staff provide for leaving (IOOV, 2009). Aside from missing, or unstructured information, another reason for the difficulty of drawing conclusions is

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the fact that the main body of existing research is of qualitative nature, consisting of interviews. Hence, whilst important, to date there is only an indication for the factors that contribute to ethnic minorities leaving the police force.

The underlying explanations for leaving the force as an ethnic minority, which qualitative research and inspections mainly draw attention to, include discrimination in favour of ethnic minorities on the one hand, and the organizational culture on the other hand (leading to discrimination in disfavour of ethnic minorities) (Çankaya, 2011). The former, discriminating in favour of ethnic minorities, stems from the time when diversity was a social issue. Diversity was seen then as a percentage of representation of ethnic minorities, and not as a concept that should be integrated within the culture. Since the attempt was to reach quotas, the common assumption rose that ethnic minorities were solely hired, frequently, in order to fulfil a certain percentage. Though plans, such as PAPPA, were devised to diminish lack of educational skills among ethnic minorities and to avoid the lack of skills obstructing promotion within the organization, it did not work out that way. A number of ethnic minorities did/does not end up possessing and/or acquiring the necessary skills to work in the force (de Vries et al., 2010). Consequently, the other proportion of ethnic minorities, whom do possess and/or acquire the skills to continue work at the police force, are, or feel they are, frowned upon by the majorities, due to the aforementioned common assumption (Janssen, 2012).

The other, much-mentioned phenomenon, from which reasons stem of ethnic minorities leaving the police force, is the organizational culture that is deeply rooted in the ways of the police force. The so-named cop culture has been demonstrated to contribute heavily to the discrimination in disfavour of ethnic minorities within the police force. The notion of cop culture encompasses a range of shared norms, values

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and thoughts about the perceived reality of the world, which are shared by its group members (i.e. the cops) (Loftus, 2010).

A large body of research has busied itself with studying the police culture, a unique organizational culture. Though research, at times, is geared only towards confirming or criticizing the clichés and those clichés are not always supported in research (all cops like donuts), vast research agrees with the existence of a cop culture. Reiner, a well-known researcher on the topic, has typified seven core characteristics that can be associated with members engaged in the policing world. He suggested that the notion of masculinity, the willingness to use force, the informal working practices, the social isolation, the defensive solidarity towards colleagues, the conservative political and moral ideas and the culture filled with cynicism and pessimism are themes that encompass the cop culture (Reiner, 2010). Combined, these themes could result in cops being framed as being racially prejudiced and incomprehensive towards the public that they are supposed to safeguard (Foster, 2003; Paoline, 2003).

Amnesty International has suggested the Dutch national police force to be guilty of just such racial profiling. The outcome of the research executed in 2013 of the organisation expressed concern that the proactive policing, together with new measures like preventive frisking, induce racial profiling which detracts from the police its legitimateness and ability to do the job (Amnesty International, 2013). However, claims of racial profiling by the police force are not fully supported across a larger body of research. A possible explanation can be found in papers such as those conducted by Fielding (1994), in which Fielding, though in implicit manner, states that the police culture is in fact a canteen culture. With this is meant that the culture lives within the organisation, but does not necessarily influence the actual job.

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However, it may be this ‘canteen culture’, the banter that is part of the environment within the organisation, which contributes to the efflux of ethnic minorities.

Çankaya has conducted anthropological research on racial profiling of, and within, the Dutch police force, specifically deriving quantitative data from the police corps Amsterdam-Amstelland. As is noted by Çankaya, testimonials of victims of racial profiling and/or racial banter by or within the police organisation have surfaced of the past decades, but solid quantitative evidence remains absent. Yet, the testimonials hint at the troubles surrounding diversity within the police force, such as “I do not only need to prove I’m a decent cop, but I also need to prove I’m a decent Moroccan, you know what I mean? Thus, that I am decent enough as Moroccan. That I’m not like the rest”, which is a translated quote from a Moroccan-Dutch police officer (Çankaya, 2015). Aside from police discrimination in the form of banter, testimonials of ethnic minority police officers also rapport the lack of offer of career-growth opportunities within the organisation, in comparison to career-career-growth opportunities offered to ethnic majorities (Haarr, 1997). In addition, the knowledge on reasons ethnic minorities leaving the force includes the tension that ethnic minorities can experience regarding their ethnic identification. Since the cop culture is a very dominant and specific one, as has been mentioned earlier, an ethnic minority police officer can feel pressure from his/her work environment or personal environment to adjust, or, to not change (when family and/or friends elicit the pressure) (de Vries et al., 2010). The end result of these factors are that ethnic minorities can feel unaccepted and uncomfortable within the police organisation, due to the for long existing cop culture that has been formed by the initial heterogeneous, Caucasian, male group (de Vries, Kwee & Waldring, 1998).

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2.4. If that kind of blue ain’t the same as you, what is it that you are likely to do? As explained earlier, over time, due to immigration among others, the makeup of the society in the Netherlands has changed significantly. As the police force aims to mirror the society in order to maintain legitimacy and the ability to do the job, the organization has attempted to adjust the personnel and the policing accordingly. As we known, the adjustments have not entirely succeeded. However, the attempts at change within the organization have had effect on its employees. The effect on ethnic minorities due to the changes is a subject already touched upon, yet the impact of the changes on the ethnic majorities remains to be discussed.

Ever since diversity among its personnel turned into a business issue, rather than a solely social one, the concept of “multicultureel vakmanschap” (multicultural workmanship) gradually developed into the ultimate goal of ethnic diversity. This term means that the management and employees within the police force can professionally deal with the many cultures and lifestyles within the organization and within society. However, multicultureel vakmanschap is not a direct result of more ethnic diversity. Multicultureel vakmanschap is more than diversity; it is successful integration of diversity (Flentrop & de Vries, 2010). This, as Janssen argues, implies that not only ethnic minority police officers should be assigned to problem areas, or areas where the majority of the population consists of ethnic minorities. Every police officer, regardless of their culture or individual being, should acquire the multicultural competencies to deal with those areas and people too (Janssen, 2012). Thus, the knowledge of cultures should be shared among colleagues in order to generate a police force that is truly competent in dealing with ethnic diversity.

It seems though, that resistant behaviour is expressed regarding the (few) courses that have been geared towards teaching employees multicultural competency.

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Police officers find the content of the courses about other cultures and those norms and values irrelevant, or not part of the practically applicable knowledge that is of more value on the job. As well, resistant behaviour unfolded, because police force employees found it not their task to learn about other cultures. Their argument was built on the fact that it is the Netherlands, so everyone should adapt to Dutch culture with its norms and values (Kleijer, 2013).

Though not all police officers will share the previously described criticism on the manner in which learning multicultural competencies is applied, resistance to the essence of a multicultural environment is also apparent on other levels of the organization, namely the cultural one. As Loftus explains, the police force personnel gradually experiences a shift away from the traditional, which dilutes the established culture (Loftus, 2010). Also, the implementation of community policing, with which the police officers are better embedded in the society they serve, poses challenges to the traditional view of ‘the police officer’. Communication skills as a trait on doing the job challenges the aspects of danger and a masculine feel of the job, as the job is/was regarded traditionally (Foster, 2003; Loftus, 2008). Regardless of whether the culture and its views are out-dated, it can be difficult for people to adjust to change.

In turn, adapting to, and dealing with ethnic diversity has been extensively researched, also as a niche of its own within the field of change management. Multiple theories have surfaced that attempt to explain as to what reason people of different ethnicities, cultures, socio-economic classes, etcetera, may find it hard to live and/or work together. To begin, there are grounding human drives that motivate our behaviour, namely the need for people to belong, the need to feel fine about themselves, and the need to be accurate (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). These drives, however, cannot be satisfied without other human beings. This, as self-reflection and

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the normative conformity of an individual are based on comparisons to other individuals, whom each have their own thoughts, feelings and opinions (Cialdini & Trost, 1998). Hence, other people can be suggested as a mirror for how we regard ourselves, and how we form and adjust ourselves in, and to, our environment. In addition, it seems that the bonds with others, which we generate in order to belong, have survival en reproduction benefits that also cannot be gained by operating as a loner individual (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). In the police force, the informal practices and the defensive solidarity and trust employees have for, and in, one another could be related to this notion of survival beneficence.

To continue, in an organization, such as the police force, the individual is part of a larger group. Group formation, be it through a social network, a shared work environment, or any other network, can assist in feeding the previously mentioned needs of an individual. Groups are built on formations of shared opinions, thoughts, appearance, behaviour and norms, with which individuals can relate to and find safety in (Haslam, 2001). This theory of group-formation explains the existence of the sub-culture that houses within the police force.

Intergroup conflict may arise due to confrontation with the grounding human drives, but then on a group level. Like on an individual level, a mirror is used too on a group level, which allows reflection of the group itself against other groups, in order to gain social identity. As a group, too, there is a need to belong, retain accuracy and feel satisfied. In this way, the police force has identified itself as a group separate from groups that are not the police force (per example, society). Confrontations, through intergroup and intragroup contact, challenge the strength of both groups’ socially formed norms and stir the human defensive mechanism of fighting, verbally and physically, in order to protect the values of the motives (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

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In addition, intergroup or intragroup conflict triggered by change has been suggested to unfold as expressed resistance to change. Resistant behaviour to change may develop as attempts to keep the group’s norms and values intact (Waddell & Sohal, 1998).

Thus, the unease with which ethnic diversity is dealt with within the police force could be explained as a result of inter- and intragroup conflict, and the consequent resistant behaviour that it triggers. Research in the fields of psychology and communication sciences explains inter- and intragroup in the main through the notions of in-group favouritism and the alien conspiracy theory. The studies concerning the relations between in-groups and out-groups have gradually tested the grounding mechanisms on which the behaviour supposedly rests. Initially, the theory that was widely accepted held that in-group favouritism was reciprocally related to out-group hate. However, with time and research, an alternative view was put forward too, which suggests that in-group favouritism is “motivated [mainly] by preferential treatment of in-group members rather than direct hostility toward out-group members”, thus meaning that in-group favouritism is independent of attitude toward out-groups (Brewer, 1999). Whilst the relationship between in-group favouritism and out-group hate remains ambiguously defined in research, it is widely accepted that in-group favouritism means that human beings express in-in-group bias and in-in-group discrimination (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

Then, taking into account again that human beings need others to survive, a phenomenon dubbed ‘obligatory interdependence’, it is more favourable to form bonds with people that secure the grounding human needs, and bonds through which one can depend on people to share information and resources (Brewer, 1999). In-group members tend to have the highest regard for its own In-group’s norms, thoughts,

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values and behaviour. In-group members also understand their group’s mechanics and members best, because it is (partially) how they themselves view the world (Elias, 1994). Adding to that the thought that familiarity is a feeling humans take profound liking to due to its feeling of safeness, bonds with in-group members secure a relationship built on mutual trust (Myers, 2003; Brewer, 1981). Brewer even argues that mutual trust is made possible entirely by depersonalizing it. Hence, mutual trust in forming bonds with others is then extended to every in-group member. In these relationships an individual is interdependent, through reciprocation of trust, on the other in-group members, which in turn maximizes potential advantages and minimizes potential disadvantages (Brewer, 1981). This obligatory interdependence thus adds to the understanding of in-group favouritism, as in-group membership makes the formation of efficient bonds possible.

Further, the concept of in-group favouritism is related to the theory of social identity. Due to our need to belong, we form social groups or categories, as has been explained. Any group or category consists of members that feel similar to the other group members. As well, people that are not part of the in-group are regarded as different, thus belonging to a different group (an out-group) with different group characteristics (Blok, 2001). “Two consequences of this social identification process are that similarities between in-group members are more accentuated, as are the differences with out-group members. This ultimately enhances our self-esteem, since we evaluate in-group norms, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours as “right”, and out-group’s as “wrong””(Elias, 1994). Thereby, we also tend to view an out-group as a group that is similar in its differences, rather than as individuals with their own characteristics (Elias, 1994).

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The alien conspiracy theory builds on this assumption that out-groups are, per definition, more “wrong” than the in-group is. The term is derived from when organized crime took its toll in North America after World War II and people took to belief that ‘the other’, the foreigner, had brought crime with them with migration (Hobbs & Antonopoulos, 2013). Though it is nowhere said that this applies to the Dutch police force, employees do tend to differentiate in society between those that need protection, and those that do harm (which, ultimately is their job) (Reiner, 2010). Hand in hand with social categorization, as we have learned, comes in-group favouritism and out-group bias.

2.5. It’s not you, it’s me – shifting focus to researching the ethnic majorities

Among the large body of research in the niche of ethnic diversity and communication sciences two leading theoretical frameworks attempt to solve the tendencies that trigger resistant behaviour to change due to inter- and intragroup conflict, in turn due to in-group and out-group relations. These frameworks are the colour-blindness theory and the multiculturalism framework. As was already explained, in a nutshell, in the introduction, the colour-blindness theory suggests that tension, deriving from ethnic diversity group conflict, can be diminished when one emphasizes the idea that each person is equal, and no one is different from the other. On the other hand, the multiculturalism theory argues that for ethnic diversity to be accepted, one must accentuate the differences between people (Wolsko et al., 2000).

Even though the principles on which the theories are based narrowly touch upon the mechanisms for dealing with ethnic diversity, messages that were designed incorporating these framing elements did not yield successful enough results (Wolsko et al., 2000). A possible explanation for these framing elements to lack succession

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may be that integration of ethnic diversity may not depend mainly on whether people acknowledge the differences, and consequently nor on how the differences are thus approached. Hence, it seems that in order for ethnic diversity to be an integrated part of an organisation, other types of models for communicating ethnic diversity need to be applied.

Another framework, within intercultural communication, deals more with the core principle of integration of diversity and is based on the fear of the unknown. As noted earlier, humans are beings of habit and familiarity, since it feels safer (Myers, 2003). The inevitable flip side of preferring familiarity is to reject the unknown, which is how in-group favouritism and out-group bias ultimately come about. Within the police force, the offered courses on other cultural practices are an example of how it is attempted to make the unknown known, and consequently less fearful. Such an example partially touches upon the building blocks of the intergroup contact theory. The theory, developed initially by Allport, supposes that negative attitudes toward out-groups and out-group bias will be reduced when intergroup contact takes place. Allport further argued that reduction of out-group biases would be maximal if “the groups share similar status, interests, and tasks and when the situation fosters personal, intimate intergroup contact” (Allport, 1954; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Though the meta-analysis conducted by Pettigrew and Tropp found that reduction of out-group biases were indeed higher in those studies that took Allport’s optimum conditions into account, it is not a requirement for intergroup contact to have an effect (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006).

In line with the theory of intergroup contact, the principle of superordinate goals, too, has been suggested to bolster the inclusion of the out-group. Superordinate goals can be defined as “goals which are compelling and highly appealing to members

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of two or more groups in conflict but which cannot be attained by the resources and energies of the groups separately” (Sherif, 1958). Hence, the groups are forced to work together in order to achieve the goals, such as was demonstrated in the well-known Robbers Cave experiment. In this experiment, the in-groups were experimentally produced, as was the rivalry between them. This means that no prior relationship ties existed between the participants. In various situations the groups had to work together. Since the groups shared interest in attaining the goals, it was argued that superordinate goals assist in reducing the tension, which causes out-group bias, hostile behaviour toward the out-group and other consequent by-products (Harvey et al., 1961).

Finally, recently a paper by Moghaddam introduces the concept of omniculturalism as a manner to enable ethnic diversity to succeed. Moghaddam suggests that the implementation of superordinate goals should be combined with the notion of emphasizing how different ethnicities can fulfil that goal. It is described as a two-stage process, in which step one involves defining commonalities between people that do not relate to individual- or group differences. This is the aspect that falls in line with the concept of superordinate goals. Then, the second step of the socialization process is accentuating the differences that can contribute to the group’s task at hand (Moghaddam, 2009). This integrative theory has found solid results for its effectiveness, as well in comparison to the colour-blindness theory as in comparison with the multiculturalism theory (Pelfrey Jr, 2014).

Though these are sensible frameworks for developing communication strategies, it is of the utmost essence to investigate attitudes prior to designing any type of strategy. As can be concluded from the history of campaigns the police force has released, in order to improve the representation of ethnic minorities within the

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organization, the messages did not suit the problem. Namely, the problem lies not in attracting ethnic minorities, but rather in including ethnic minorities once hired. In order to further improve the striven for concept of multicultureel vakmanschap it makes sense to shift focus to researching the attitude of ethnic majorities, where the problem seemingly lies. Thereby, though research has been done concerning the ethnic minorities within the police force, data and information on the ethnic majorities concerning this topic is close to none.

Additionally, since the case study in question may be considered an anomaly within the research that has been conducted on in-group and out-group relations, it is particularly interesting to investigate the attitude of the groups. As was mentioned in the introduction, ethnic diversity within the police force may prove to be especially hard, since distinguishing among groups is part of the occupation. Since the out-group is not only regarded as different and “wrong” in its entity, but also as similar in exactly those differences and “wrongness”, it may be considered a challenge to redefine the out-group along in-group members from the out-group and out-group members (Elias, 1994). As was mentioned, among the different ethnic minorities, Moroccans experience the most tension within the organization (Broekhuizen, Raven & Driessen, 2007). Hence, in this particular situation, Moroccan colleagues within the police force may be associated with criminal behaviour, only for the fact that within Dutch society the police officer experiences Moroccans as a group likely to exhibit criminal behaviour. As well, as Reiner explained, the policing culture specifically includes social isolation, as a group from society, which may further complicate the acceptance of out-group members in the existing group with its distinctive culture (Reiner, 2010).

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Combining the societal problem with the lack of knowledge on the academic aspect of the topic, the current research thus explored the question as to what the attitude is of ethnic majorities within the police force of The Netherlands, towards ethnic minority employees of the police force. Since it has been demonstrated that employees with a Moroccan ethnicity experience the most difficulty, the study has narrowed the target population to this particular ethnic minority. Hence, the research question is what the attitude of ethnic majorities within the police force of The Netherlands is towards Moroccan employees of the police force. As to the researcher’s knowledge there are no previous publications on this topic, no direction for the findings can be hypothesized. Hence, this research question is of exploratory nature. In addition, the study has also investigated whether the aspect of intergroup contact theory is of influence concerning this attitude. Not only has the theory itself proved to be effective, but the theories based on it, too, seem promising. Thus, the study looked into whether a correlation exists between the attitude toward Moroccan employees and the amount of contact an individual has in daily life with people with Moroccan ethnicity. Based on earlier mentioned findings of previous research, it was thus expected that intergroup contact be correlated to an enhanced attitude.

3. Methods

This study used a cross-sectional survey design in order to assess the attitude toward, and the amount of time an individual has contact in daily life with, Moroccan colleagues, of the ethnic majorities working for the Dutch police force. A survey instrument was used to gather the data. The purpose of the study was to correlate attitude scores with demographic variables and its subscales, and to correlate attitude scores with intergroup contact scores.

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3.1. Participants

In this study a sample was taken from the population of people working for the Dutch police force. Hence, the participants consisted of employees of the Dutch police force only. Of the 73 participants whom began the survey, 21 participants did not complete the questions: 1 participant did not agree with the conditions of the informed consent, and the other 20 participants stopped the survey after the demographic variables. Thus, these participants were excluded from all further analyses.

Thus, the participant group ultimately consisted of 52 participants (41 male, 11 female), ranging in age from 25 to 62 years (M = 45.9 years, SD = 11.24). 78.8% (n = 41) of the participants were born in The Netherlands, as were both parents. The remaining 21.2% (n = 11) of the participants was born abroad, as were one or both of their parents. Thus, no second-generation ethnic minorities took part in this study. Neither was any participant of Moroccan ethnicity, or had a parent of Moroccan ethnicity. Then, after distinguishing between Western countries and non-Western countries, adhering to the definitions of CBS, only 2 participants fit the description of first-generation ethnic minorities. 88.5% of the participants work for the regional unit ‘Den Haag’, whilst the rest works for ‘Noord-Nederland’ (3.8%), ‘Oost-Nederland’ (3.8%) and ‘Landelijke Eenheid’ (3.8%). The average time that participants were employed at the police force at the time of the study was 4.02 years (SD = 1.50). Finally, 14 participants have supervisory/executive duties.

3.2. Procedure

The survey was administered to employees of the Dutch police force. The participants were selected using the snowball sampling technique. Namely, the

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researcher mailed and telephoned contacts, through social networks and the websites of the police force, and provided them with the link to the survey. The contacts, in turn, distributed the survey among colleagues. The participants took part in the study voluntarily and online informed consent was obtained from all participants, after the purpose of the study was briefly explained (see Appendix I). Contact details of the researcher were provided in case a participant wished to provide the researcher with a question and/or comment.

3.3. Materials

Alongside questions measuring demographic variables, the survey contained the Attitude toward Diversity Scale (ATDS) in order to measure the attitude toward Moroccan employees. Montei and Eggers (1996) developed the ATDS, in order to measure the construct of attitudes toward diversity with regard to the workforce. The scale is contains three subscales, each consisting of 10 items. The subscales are diversity attitudes with regard to co-workers, diversity attitudes with regard to supervisors, and diversity attitudes with regard to hiring and promoting decisions. The ATDS has been validated through confirmatory factor analysis, which indicated that the scale indeed is three-dimensional. Further, the scale has high internal consistency (α = .90) and it has been checked against social desirability bias responses, which proved insignificant, hence it is unaffected (r = -.09) (Montei & Eggers, 1996).

Since the original scale is in English, backward translation was done. The researcher translated the scale from English to Dutch and the translator translated the Dutch version back to English. The translation was then adjusted and a second backward translation was conducted, in order to ensure a validated translation. Additionally, alterations were made to the minority phrases. In the original scale, a

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diverse range of minority groups was mentioned (females, blacks, Hispanics). However, in order to fit the purpose of the current research, all mentioning of minority groups were replaced with the term ‘Moroccan’.

3.4. Operationalization of variables

Adding the scores of all 30 items operationalized ‘attitude toward Moroccan employees’. Each of the 30 items was accompanied with a 5-point Likert-type scale with which the participant could answer with strongly agree, agree, neither agree/nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Consecutively, the scoring ranged from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). Items 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 22, 23, 26, and 29 were reverse scored, as the phrasing of these items is reversed. Lower scores on the variable ‘attitude’ indicate a negative attitude toward Moroccan employees, whereas higher scores indicate a favourable attitude toward Moroccan employees.

Adding scores from item 1-10 operationalized the subscale of attitude toward Moroccan employees as co-worker. In similar fashion, adding scores from item 11-20 operationalized the subscale of attitude toward Moroccan employees as supervisor, and adding scores from item 21-30 operationalized the subscale of attitude toward hiring and promoting Moroccan employees. Again, lower scores on these subscales are consistent with a negative attitude toward Moroccan employees, and higher scores represent a favourable attitude toward Moroccan employees.

The final variable that was used in this research, ‘intergroup contact’, was operationalized using the question: “Which percentage, on average, represents best the amount of time you spent, in daily life, with people with Moroccan ethnicity?”. Participants could answer this question by choosing between the options: 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, or 75-100%.

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3.5. Analyses

The analyses that were executed in order to answer the research questions included descriptive, correlational and regression analyses. Descriptive analyses were conducted on the variable ‘attitude’ in order to gain insight into how the attitude toward Moroccan employees is distributed among the participants. Correlational analyses were conducted to test whether the variable ‘attitude’ and its subscales were correlated with either of the demographic variables, the subscales, and with the variable ‘intergroup contact’. Finally, regression analysis was done to test if the variable ‘intergroup contact’ predicts ‘attitude’ or its subscales.

4. Results

Descriptive analyses conducted on the scores of the variable ‘attitude’ found that attitude toward Moroccan employees ranged from 77 to 118 with skewness of -0.79 (SE = 0.33) and kurtosis of -0.12 (SE = 0.65). Since the values of skewness and kurtosis both lie in the range of -1 and 1, and since the standard error of skewness and kurtosis multiplied by 3 are higher than the values to which it refers, no significant issues with skewness and kurtosis exist within this dataset. Hence, though the histogram (see figure 1) shows a slightly left-skewed distribution, the variable ‘attitude’ can be described as a normal bell-shaped distribution on the base of statistical calculations.

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Figure 1. Distribution ‘attitude’. Figure 2. Distribution subscale ‘coworker’.

Descriptive analyses of the three subscales of attitude toward Moroccan employees shows that scores of the co-worker subscale range from 25 to 48 with skewness of -1.03 (SE = 0.33) and kurtosis of 0.56 (SE = 0.65). Based on calculations like described for the variable ‘attitude’, skewness on this subscale is an issue of significance, resulting in a left-skewed distribution instead of a normal bell-shaped distribution (see figure 2). The supervisor subscale scores range from 22 to 42 with skewness of -0.63 (SE = 0.33) and kurtosis of -0.05 (SE = 0.65). The supervisor subscale is thus normally distributed in this dataset (see figure 3). Finally, the hiring and promoting subscale of ‘attitude’ ranges from 20 to 38 with skewness of -0.30 (SE = 0.33) and kurtosis of 0.23 (SE = 0.65), resulting, too, in a normal distribution (see figure 4).

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Next, correlational analyses were conducted, to see whether the variable ‘attitude’ is related to its subscales. Results can be viewed in table 1. Correlational analyses were also carried out to test whether the variable ‘attitude’ and/or its subscales are related to the demographic variables gender, age, ethnicity, regional unit, duration of employment, and whether the participant has supervisory/executive duties on the job. Results find only significant results for the correlation between the supervisor subscale and the variables ‘regional unit’ and ‘participant has supervisory/executive duties’. The correlation between the supervisor scale and ‘regional unit’ was moderately positive, r = .598, p < .000. After squaring the Pearson’s correlation coefficient, it was determined that the correlation explained a large percentage of the variance, with R2 = .358. The supervisor scale was moderately, and positively correlated with the variable ‘participant has supervisory/executive duties’, r = .320, p < .021. Again squaring the Pearson’s correlation coefficient, it is revealed that the correlation explained for a medium percentage of the variance, with R2 = .102.

Correlations

Attitude Coworker Supervisor Hiring

Attitude - 0.860** 0.729** 0.588**

Coworker 0.860** - 0.454** 0.334*

Supervisor 0.729** 0.454** - 0.107

Hiring 0.588** 0.334* 0.107 -

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 1. Correlations between ‘attitude’ and its three subscales.

Lastly, correlational analyses done to investigate whether ‘attitude’ or its subscales was related to the variable ‘intergroup contact’ unfortunately yielded no significant results. The variable ‘intergroup contact’ was also not related to any of the

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demographic variables. Hence, conducting regression analyses with these constructs was refrained from.

5. Conclusion & Discussion

As the results reveal, the distribution of scores of attitude towards Moroccan employees of employees of the Dutch police force was normally distributed. Too, were normally distributed the subscales ‘supervisor’ and ‘hiring and promoting decisions’, whilst the subscale ‘co-worker’ was slightly left-skewed distributed. With ‘attitude’ scores ranging from 77 to 118, it seems that the attitude of the participants lies around the middle of the average a person can score on the ATDS (which is 90). As well, since both the variable ‘attitude’ as well as all three subscales are slightly left-skewed, it seems that the tendency toward a favourable attitude toward Moroccan employees may exist.

Thereby, with the subscales all being, moderately to highly, positively correlated with the variable ‘attitude’ it seems that the scale measures the constructs of attitude diversity as it is meant to measure it. Though no further conclusions can be drawn from the results, the data gives insight as to how attitude toward Moroccan employees is distributed among ethnic majorities in the Dutch police force, which can be used as a base for further research.

The significant correlations between the variable ‘supervisor’ subscale and ‘regional unit’ may be explained due to the fact that 88.5% of the participants worked at the regional unit ‘Den Haag’. Hence, no significant conclusion can be drawn from the difference among regional units. In particular, since after accounting for underrepresentation of the other regional units in the correlational analysis, the

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variable ‘regional unit’ no longer had a significant correlation with the ‘supervisor’ subscale.

However, the moderate, positive correlation between the ‘supervisor’ subscale and the variable ‘participant has supervisory/executive duties’ is an interesting finding. Apparently, participants that carry out supervisory/executive duties on the job, score higher on the attitude toward having supervisors that are of Moroccan ethnicity. This finding may be explained by the fact that participants with supervisory tasks are more educated on the concept of ethnic diversity inclusion. It may also be that these participants in general possess characteristics that cause a more favourable attitude toward having Moroccan employees as supervisors, which made them be promoted to supervisor. Hence, it would be interesting to see whether any differences in traits and/or skills exist between non-supervisors and supervisors within the Dutch police force. Lastly, this finding may be explained, because supervisors experience less concurrence with Moroccan employees than do employees that are not supervisors. However, neither was the ‘supervisor’ subscale significantly correlated to the ‘hiring and promoting decisions’ subscale (which measures the attitude a person has toward hiring and promoting Moroccan employees), or was the ‘hiring and promoting decisions’ subscale significantly correlated with the variable ‘participant has supervisory/executive duties’.

Unfortunately, no other significant correlations were found in the current study. The hypothesis that the variable ‘intergroup contact’ may be positively correlated, or even explains, the variable ‘attitude’ or its subscales was thus not confirmed. This insignificant finding may be explained by the fact that the variable ‘intergroup contact’ was not operationalized in the best manner, or that the sample size was not representative for the population. The former reason could be

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reconstructed in future research; in order to test whether intergroup contact does have an effect on attitude towards diversity within the police force, when it is differently assessed.

Yet, the latter possible explanation of the previous paragraph depicts the challenge of this research, and consequently its results, best. Though, through telephoning and mailing many different contacts that are employed at the Dutch police force, and sending many follow-up emails, agreement rates to participate in the survey was excruciatingly low. Whilst a couple of contacts responded saying there was simply no time for them to pay attention to the survey and distribution thereof, other contacts claimed the research was of too tentative a nature to be distributed within the police force. A contact explained that these sorts of surveys are mainly distributed internally and that it is highly uncommon for outsiders to be allowed to distribute a survey of a topic like the current. Another contact that did agree to fill in the survey and distribute it among colleagues, received a telephone call the next morning from his/her supervisor, ordering not to distribute such a survey within their police department in the future. The distribution of the survey was also closed down.

The difficulty with which information was thus gathered may be regarded even as a result by itself. The reactions to the nature of the topic, together with hesitance of filling in the survey, represent the much possible existence of the intense difficulty concerning how ethnic diversity is dealt with, and regarded, within the Dutch police force. The pressure the police force experiences may explain this finding concerning the topic of ethnic diversity, according to Foster (2003). Over the last decades, increased media scrutiny and pressure from government policies have made ethnic diversity within the police force, as well in The Netherlands, a tentative subject (Foster, 2003).

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, how do we make you reflect us all? : a case study on ethnic diversity and out-group inclusion within the Dutch police force : researching the attitude toward Moroccan employees