Diversity Among Police Department Employees
description
Transcript of Diversity Among Police Department Employees
THIS MAGAZINE WAS PUBLISHED TO SHARE INFORMATION ON STUDIES AND ISSUES REGARDING DIVERSITY AMONGPOLICE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES
Volume 1/Issue 1 - Spring 2015
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CONTRIBUTORS
Mitchell Wells Kiara RansomCriminal Justice, May 2015 Criminal Justice, May 2015Bachelor's Degree Candidate Bachelor's Degree Candidate
Kiatah Blalock Shanae WhiteCriminal Justice/Psychology Criminal Justice, SeniorMay 2015 Bachelor’s Degree CandidateBachelor’s Degree Candidate
Christopher Pressley Valeretta RobertsCriminal Justice, December 2015 Criminal Justice, SeniorBachelor’s Degree Candidate Bachelor’s Degree Candidate
Antionette CoxCriminal Justice, SeniorBachelor’s Degree Candidate
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract………………………………………………..……………3
Introduction………………………………………………………...3
Literature Review………………………………………………..3-5
Editorial…………………………………………………………….6
A Professional Interview…………………………………………7-8
Emerging Technology……………………………………………….9
Info-graphic…………………………………………………………10
Policy Analysis……………………………………………………11-13
Reference Page……………………………………………………14-15
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ABSTRACTBy Shanae White
The purpose of this study is to examine the
diversity among police department employees.
More specifically focusing on the difference
between race, ethnicity, and gender. In past history
there has been a strain on diversifying police
agencies. Females have been known to not qualify
for the position because of the male standards.
Genders has not been the only factor that is affected
by this problem, ethnicity and race also is affected.
This study shows how race among police
department employees are interpreted into police
agencies’.
INTRODUCTIONBy: Shanae White
According to Alderden, Farrell, &
Rosenbaum (2011) in the last few decades there has
been a particular emphasis on diversifying the
police workforce. Much of these efforts have
resulted in a significant increase in proportion of
police officers that are female or racial and ethnic
minorities. Archbold, Hassell, & Stichman (2010)
found the occupational culture of policing is so
entrenched that policing remains a very masculine
profession, although some argue that increased
diversification and contemporary policing
philosophies have begun to erode many of the
values that typify traditional police culture (Chan,
1996, 2001, 2007).
Why do diversity matters? Well according to
the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights
Division Office of Justice Programs & the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(2015) diversity can be a crucial element in
establishing and expanding trust between law
enforcement and the community. Workforce
diversity may also have positive effects on law
enforcement agencies; making them less insular and
more receptive to change. Also diversity is
considered a key ingredient for the successful
implementation of community-based policing, in
which law enforcement agencies collaborate with
citizens’ groups to address public safety issues
(Keller, Lim, & Matthies, 2012 ).
Image courtesy of diversityinc.com
LITERATURE REVIEWBy: Shanae White
According to U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division Office of Justice Programs &
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(2015), recent events have placed a spotlight on the
lack of diversity within police departments and
other law enforcement agencies across the nation.
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Now more than ever agencies are looking to fill
their ranks with a diverse officer corps that reflects
the populations they serve. This includes
women and those from a variety of racial and ethnic
backgrounds as well as other minority groups
(Discovering Policing, 2015).
Theories on women in the workplace
suggest that women may experience more discord,
and less harmony, in departments where they
represent a smaller proportion of the workforce
(Archbold, Stichman, & Hassell, 2010). In 1987,
females accounted for almost 8 percent of police
officers while racial and ethnic minorities accounted
for nearly 15 percent of police officers. By 2003,
these figures had increased to 11 percent and 24
percent, respectively. Large agencies in particular
have been successful in recruiting both female and
racial and ethnic minorities (Alderden, Farrell,
Skogan, & Rosenbaum, (2011).
Kentucky Commission on Human Rights
(2006) found that it was not until 1968 that the first
female officers were given patrol duties just as their
male counterparts had. A few years later, women
were finally protected from discrimination in the
public sector, and therefore police departments, as
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was
expanded. The breakdown of gender roles has made
it possible for women to enter into traditionally
male-dominated fields.Women who account for
one-half of the work force, make up only 9% of the
law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky. Also they found interpretation of the race
and ethnicity results is more complicated than other
characteristics. When tabulated as a whole, it
appears the percentage of African American or
Black officers accurately match the population.
African American or Black officers make up 7.30%
of the force statewide.
Image courtesy of reportingtexas.com
Research Questions and Results
According to a survey conducted by
Alderden, M., et.al (2011) there were various
perspectives that were conducted for each diversity
perspective by agency size. The first perspective
found officers from small agencies report more fair
treatment than officers from large agencies. The
average scores for police officers from small
agencies were significantly higher than those from
large agencies for the fair treatment and learning
indexes. This indicates that officers from small
agencies rated their agencies more positively in
terms of fair treatment, being supportive, and
valuing officer input and experiences.
The second perspective were that officers
from small agencies report more socializing
between officers regardless of race, ethnicity, or
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gender and hearing fewer derogatory comments.
Officers from small agencies had lower average
scores for the socializing and workplace
environment variables. This indicates that officers
from smaller agencies were less likely than those
from large agencies to believe officers only
socialized with individuals of their same race,
ethnicity, or gender and or report hearing jokes or
other derogatory comments about officers of Image courtesy of vcstar.com
different races and ethnicities, females, or
homosexuals.
The third perspective differences in
perceptions of officers working in small and large
agencies may be due to actual experiences with
workforce diversification. Although officers from
small police agencies report more positive
perceptions of diversity these agencies were also
less diverse racially, ethnically, and by gender.
Thus, officers in small agencies may have less
experience dealing with diversity issues. For
instance, white male officers may perceive their
agencies as both fair and valuing their input because
they are members of the dominate work culture.
The last perspective found that officers
from small agencies are more satisfied with their
job and department overall. A significantly higher
percentage of officers from small agencies than
large agencies reported being satisfied with their job
and the department overall. Figure 1.4 also indicates
that officers, regardless of agency size, report being
satisfied with their job more so than the departments
where they work.
Summary
The results of the survey conducted by
Gauthier, F.J. and Sousa, W. (2008) state
additionally, some women believe that their
colleagues have lower expectations of them, and
that some officers have not wanted to partner with
them because of their gender. Also it indicates that
female officers believe they have less respect within
the organization. These findings suggest that many
female officers perceive unfair treatment based on
gender perhaps a reflection of a historically male-
dominated culture within policing.
Even though there is still strain between
gender among police department employees, things
are trying to improve for female employees. Based
on Kentucky Commission on Human Rights (2006)
across the country, law enforcement agencies like
those in Kentucky are working to diversify their
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sworn officers. Many locales are using a two-
pronged approach to fast-track minority recruitment
and retention: a mixture of training and policy or
legislative reform. Communities and law
enforcement departments must develop curriculum
or policy change appropriate for the unique and
demanding aspects of policing. Recent analysis has
suggested that traditional diversity programs,
designed for the general public or private industry,
do not work well for police audiences.
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights
Division Office of Justice Programs & the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(2015) found a diverse police department is also
less likely to be insular, and therefore can be more
receptive to change.
EditorialBy Kiatah Black
Women Police Officers….Where?
For many years women where not allowed
to be police officers, even if they met all of the
qualifications besides being a man. Law
enforcement is a male dominated work field and
women were to able to consider working in law
enforcement until 1972 when a US Constitutional
Amendment to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act was established (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007).
Even after this amendment there is still a
large difference between the number of men and
women in law enforcement positions. Current
statistics state that women only comprise about
12.7% of all sworn law enforcement officers
(Lonsway, Carrington, Aguirre, Wood, Moore,
Harrington, Smeal & Spillar, 2002). There is
overwhelming evidence that woman and men are
both equally capable of completing police duties but
there is widespread bias in the hiring process,
selection process, and recruitment policies keep the
number of women in law enforcement low. If
women do purse and law enforcement and make it
through recruitment they still faces things such as
discrimination, harassment, and intimidation,
especially as they move up the ranks (Lonsway et
al., 2002).
Research has shown that women police
officers contribute significantly in reducing the
widespread excessive force and corruption scandals
that are currently plaguing law enforcement today.
This same research states that women use a style of
policing that relies on less physical force and more
communication skills, which results in them being
better t defusing potentially violent confrontations
(Lonsway et al., 2002)
Knowing that women are fully capable of
completing the duties of a police officer just as well
as a man, if not better in some situations, means that
they need to be given more opportunities in being
able to move up in rank without being discriminated
against, talked about, or bullied just because they
are a woman. Having more women out in the field
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will help reduce the stigma of police officers being
confrontational and argumentative.
More women may choose to enter the field
of law enforcement if they feel welcome and
depending on if the police department that they are
interested in is large or small they may not feel
welcome. Discrimination against women becoming
police officers has to stop as it is against the law
that is stated in the constitution. Police departments
find loop holes like making individuals take extra
performance test and things such a that, that will
eliminate many women out of the pool of officers to
recruit even though they are very capable of the job
(Lonsway et al., 2002)
Something has to change and what that change
needs to be, we are not sure but surly something has
to be done so that women are looked at being
equally qualified for the job. Once this happens we
will be able to see more diversity in police
departments and communities prospering as a result
of it.
Image courtesy of sanduskyregister.com
InterviewBy Valeretta Roberts
Interview with Patrol Officer Nikei Fields Wyattof the Town of Chapel Hill Police Department
VR: Could you describe one of yourtypical workdays?
NW: A typical workday for me would be, myshift starts at 6:00 am, and we have our shiftbriefing in which we discuss any events thatare going on within the Town, any important
calls that happened overnight or since lastworked, gather my car. I am generallyassigned to Area 4 so I ride around in themornings through different neighborhoodsin this area, checking bus stops also makingsure that people are stopping for buses, thenride around all day and respond to calls aspeople call me.
VR: How long have you been with thePolice Department and what skills arerequired in your positions, and what isyour education background?
NW: I have been with the Town of ChapelHill Police Department for 9 years. Skillthat are required for my position is you haveto have people skills, you have to know howto talk to people, you have to have writingskills generally that’s a lot of what we dotalking and writing, writing reports prettymuch on everything that you go to, have tobe able to be able to pass the Police OfficerPhysical Abilities test, which is just aphysical test doing obstacles, and pass thestate exam. I have a Bachelor’s degree inForensic Science, a Master’s degree inAdministrative Justice and security and I amworking on my PhD in Criminal Justice.
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VR: Are there many females and/orminority people applying for lawenforcement positions?
NW: If not why do you feel they are notapplying. As far Law enforcement in generalI really don’t know but I do know in theTown of Chapel Hill we have approximately120 sworn and of that 120 sworn only about25 are females. Sworn Black females wehave 3.
VR: What experiences have you hadworking with others with differentbackground than your own?
NW: In addition to being a Black femaleofficer I am a Muslim police and the onlyMuslim police officer in the Chapel Hill, Iwas not a Muslim when I got hired here andI recently reverted to Islam and it’s been anadjustment for everyone pretty muchespecially after being a Muslim post 9/11 inAmerica it’s a little different some peoplehave a hard time dealing with it and somejust don’t deal with it as far
as the community the Muslim communitylike to see me around others particularlywhy I am covered even when it is hot outsidefor the most part it’s been okay.
VR: In working in law enforcement, whatareas cause diversity among lawenforcement officers?
NW: We have a pretty good workingrelationship with the CHPD we do have afew Hispanics and we tend to get along wellbecause it is a small town and everyone getalong pretty well.
VR: What does it mean to you to have acommitment to diversity? How would youdevelop and apply your commitment.
NW: Having a commitment to Diversity tome means being committed to working withother people and working with otherreligions, ethnicities, culture background todevelop that I would talk to anyone who willlisten if they have questions as far why Idress the way I dress and why I do some ofthe things I do I will talk with them about itand explain it the best way I know how.
Image courtesy of richmondstandard.com
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGYBy Antionette Cox
Image courtesy of wkyc.com
The Law Enforcement Recruitment Toolkit
This emerging technology was created by
the International Association of Chiefs of Police, in
collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice
and the Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS). The purpose of the Law
Enforcement Recruitment Toolkit is to "assist
agencies with their recruitment efforts. The Law
Enforcement Recruitment Toolkit comprises four
reports, each focusing on a different area of
recruitment:
1. Police Recruitment: Foundation
Concepts- Provides an overview of the current state
of police staffing and a summary of common
recruitment obstacles and how to overcome them.
2. Recruiting for Diversity- Outlines the
importance of diversity in law enforcement and
strategies for effective minority recruitment.
3. Agency Collaboration in Police Officer
Recruitment and Selection - Contains case studies
of successful regional and intra-agency recruitment
collaboratives across the country.
4. Community Partnerships in Police
Recruitment - Discusses why and how to engage the
community and civic organizations in the
recruitment and selection process."
This technology will help to advance the
field of criminal justice and the diversity among
police department employees because it goes to the
root of the problem: recruitment. If you recruit a
diverse staff then that automatically improves the
problems with the diversity among police
department employees.
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INFOGRAPHICSBy Kiara Ransom
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POLICY ANALYSISBy Chris Pressley and Mitchell Wells
Background
Police departments have had little success in
getting a more diverse police force. Diversity in
your police force can lead to many things, such as
increase in community policing relatable ethnic
groups, and it allows for citizens to feel represented
by their own people. Ferguson is a perfect example
of a community who has a population that has a
different majority ethnic group from their police
force. In Ferguson there are only 3 black police
officers, yet the population there is only 60%. It is
difficult to know whether officers will help with the
tension, but the experience of police departments all
over the country suggest that a diverse police force
is better able to serve its community than a non
diverse one.
Image courtesy of policeone.com
Extent of Problems
San Francisco has revived an amazing
program to help in the fight to diversities their
police force. The police force will recruit high
school students from violent neighborhoods in the
area. Thanks to Sales force CEO Marc Benioff who
is willingly donating 1.5 million over the next three
years to the program, the city will also match his
offer, and he has other CEO’s for another match of
1.5 million.
The program will pay around 20,000 a year
to 30 recent high school graduates from violent
neighborhoods and low income homes. The
students will in exchange have to dedicate 20 hours
a week to work with the Police Department, while
taking 12 units of college courses a semester. Once
21 the students have the choice to attend the police
academy to become an officer.
Alternatives
There are several policy alternatives that
resonate as possibilities in regards to the San
Francisco program that offers $20,000 annually for
three years to young adults in exchange for meeting
educational requirements and working 12 hours a
week in the department. However, we have
concluded that this policy is an excellent start to
combatting an increasingly complex issue involving
police departments across the country failing to hire
officers that represent the community in which the
department resides. Therefore, one possible must be
to do nothing and let this program run its course in
order to determine what type of sustainable change
may come about. However, there are certainly
various other alternatives that can be implemented
either as additions to or as completely separate
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options to the aforementioned San Francisco
program.
All possible additions or replacements to the
program that is the subject of this discussion would
most likely require an increased amount of man-
hours to legislate and taxpayer money to fund. This
is because this San Francisco program is revived
from a previous program (so it does not require
many man hours to create and legislate), and it is
predominantly funded via a 1.5 million dollar
partnership with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff (so
it comes at a drastically reduced cost to the
taxpayer.) However, for the sake of the discussion,
our research does provide several alternatives that
also diversify police departments that are currently
unrepresentative of their respective communities.
One particular alternative that we discovered
during our research is actually a proposed policy
that was postulated by James Knowles, the current
mayor of Ferguson, Missouri. Knowles proposed
increasing the stipends from $100 to $300 to
officers who reside within the city limit. This
proposition would theoretically increase the
likelihood that officers in the police department
actually begin to represent the neighborhoods in
which they serve to protect. Ideally, with a more
representative police department, citizens will relate
to their officers to a greater extent and community
policing can swing into full effect. As discussed
previously, all of the solutions that we can discuss
will have both benefits and downfalls. In terms of
this Ferguson proposition, a benefit would be that it
would increase the possibility of having a more
representative, and thus more effective, city police
department. On the contrary, a downfall of this
proposition is that the increased financial
contributions will ultimately lessen the police
department’s financial budget and likely increase
taxpayers contributions down the line.
Another alternative that was relatively
prevalent in our research was the opportunity for
police departments across the country to make their
application process more user friendly to “non-
traditional” applicants, often described as women
and minorities. Ways to operationalize this concept
include posing application questions in a positive
manner and even waving some of the automatic
disqualifications that may cause certain members of
the community to abstain from applying. Benefits of
this alternative, similarly to the previous option,
would be increasing the likelihood of creating a
more representative and inclusive police
department. Drawbacks to this concept do not
necessarily include increased financial
commitments, but do include the possibility of
completely revamping application policies (requires
increased man hours) as well as the possibility of
not actually creating a more inclusive department.
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Image courtesy of improvingpolice.wordpress.com
Recommendation
After careful consideration and impactful
research, we have decided that the more effective
and efficient option would be to maintain status-quo
with the San Francisco program discussed in the
beginning of this policy analysis. Because of the
fact that this program, although revamped, is
relatively untested in modern day America, it seems
that allowing this program to continue with the
allotted 1.5 million dollars is the best option at this
time. After utilizing the 1.5 million dollar initial
investment, we should have an acceptable view of
the programs effectiveness and efficiency. If the
opportunity arises for the program to be modified
(or even implementing other alternatives into this
program) then we would theoretically be able to do
so after an initial test run. Conclusively, due to the
lack of substantial risk combined with the relatively
high chance of influence and success, we believe
that implementing this San Francisco program is the
correct recommendation at this time.
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