Ethnopsychology of professional relations in law enforcement teams

Introduction. In law enforcement and public order maintenance there are situations when officers have ethnic conflicts with each other. Summarized theoretical and analyzed empirical data enables the authors to clarify the nature of the interpersonal relations and interactions within microgroups in professional collectives of law enforcement agencies. Materials and Methods. The methods employed include polyfactor analysis of scientific literature on specifics of interethnic relations in professional groups. The empirical basis included the results of the questionnaire conducted in August, 2018 among law enforcement officers in the Republic of Buryatia (100 respondents), officers of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Stavropol region (100 respondents) and officers of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Republic of Tatarstan (100 respondents). Results and Discussion. Under consideration is the nature of interpersonal relations in ethnic collectives of law enforcement agencies. The researchers study various ways and means of preventing interethnic tension in police units. The results of questioning police officers from three multinational regions of the Southern and Siberian Federal Districts of the Russian Federation make it possible to examine the practice of contradictory relations and conflicts among the fellow-officers of different nationalities and ethnics. According to the authors, professional relations of policemen from Stavropol region, the Republic of Buryatia and the Republic of Tatarstan are based on tolerant manifestations of their individual and collective consciousness. Conclusions. It is proved that the dominant majority of officers questioned who are in the centre of interethnic confrontation concern not about the situational interests of the ethnical microgroups or their concrete representative but about the professional interests. When preventing and resolving interethnic conflicts in the police profession it is important to consider cultural historical peculiarities of certain nations. It is necessary to take into account microgroup and individually-psychological internal collective distinctions such as language, age, gender, family domestic, character distinctions etc., and create the conditions for national self-identity and effective professional cooperation.