Discussing the elephant in the room - Addressing Ethnic Profiling with Virtual Reality in Police Training
Bas Böing is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety. (Co)Promotors are prof.dr. E. Giebels and dr.ir. P.W. de Vries from the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences.
In recent decades, law enforcement strategies have evolved from a reactive model, responding to crime after it occurs, to a proactive approach aimed at preventing crime before it happens. While this shift has led to innovations in policing, it has also increased the risk of ethnic profiling: the practice of targeting individuals based on their ethnicity or perceived group membership. Such profiling not only harms individuals and communities but also undermines public trust and reduces cooperation with law enforcement.
To address the issue of ethnic profiling, police departments around the world have launched reform initiatives such as anti-bias training and cultural competency programmes. Across Europe and the United States, however, efforts to change entrenched practices and organisational cultures have shown only limited positive effects or even proven ineffective. This is unfortunate because the need for legally sound, culturally sensitive, and psychologically safe policing grows increasingly urgent.
This dissertation examines how behavioural and cultural change within police organisations can be effectively supported, particularly in the context of preventing ethnic profiling. It fills a critical gap by identifying the psychological drivers that shape officers’ willingness and ability to participate in reform, and by developing and testing a novel training intervention grounded in these insights.
Chapter 1 outlines the causes, consequences, and impact of ethnic profiling, identifying police resistance as a key obstacle to successful reform. Understanding the roots of this resistance is crucial for developing strategies to enhance participation in reform initiatives. The chapter concludes with an overview of the dissertation’s structure, comprising three empirical chapters (based on four separate studies) followed by a general discussion.
Chapter 2 identified the individual and organisational dynamics that both facilitated and hindered reform participation. Two studies, an exploratory interview study with 13 police officers who took on leadership roles in reform implementation, and a survey among 263 police officers, highlighted key predictors. Officers who were male, identified more with a warrior (rather than guardian) mindset, leaned more towards the political right, or expressed more general job dissatisfaction, were less likely to support ethnic profiling reform. In addition, this chapter identified four types of resistance: opposition to reform and training due to ignorance (“don’t know”), indifference (“don’t care”), moral objections (“don’t want”), and fear of social repercussions from colleagues with differing views within the team (“don’t dare”). These barriers highlight the importance of learning environments that are not only informative and motivating but also provide psychological safety.
Chapter 3 described the foundations for the development of a training programme for enhancing ethnic profiling reform participation. Combining experiential and social learning principles, it introduces immersive 360° film VR simulations of real-world police stops to promote self-awareness and critical reflection. These experiences are followed by peer-led group dialogues grounded in the Constructive Controversy methodology (Johnson, 2015), which encourages respectful disagreement and collective learning. Two pilot studies showed that the training has the potential to increase both knowledge and self-awareness about preventing ethnic profiling.
Chapter 4 evaluates the training’s impact through a longitudinal experimental study comparing three conditions: repetitive training, one-time training, and no training. Unlike most prior research, which focuses only on immediate effects, this study examined both short- and long-term outcomes. Participants were assessed over time on several reform-relevant indicators: attitudes toward ethnic profiling, knowledge of correct grounds for police stops, perceived self- and group efficacy in preventing bias, and psychological safety in discussing sensitive issues. The results showed that while a single training session yielded immediate improvements, sustained engagement (three sessions over three months) was necessary for deeper and more lasting change. Interestingly, measures like self-efficacy initially dipped, likely due to the discomfort of addressing sensitive content. However, these effects rebounded, suggesting that such discomfort may be a necessary and constructive part of the learning process. Ultimately, repetitive training helped to overcome resistance and build more robust support for reform.
Chapter 5 summarises the main contributions of the dissertation and outlines directions for future research. It shows that meaningful reform is possible when training addresses not only knowledge but also acknowledges the complex psychological and social realities of police work. The combination of immersive VR and peer-led dialogue proved effective in improving police officers’ willingness and ability to prevent ethnic profiling, particularly when done repeatedly. However, the chapter also highlights the need to test this model in more diverse samples and with behavioural outcomes to supplement self-reported measures, and in other (non-policing) context.
