Since the Ferguson, Mo., shooting, there have been renewed calls for police departments to hire more minority officers, but it turns out it's not that simple.
Police in the U.S. are more diverse than they were a generation ago. In the 1980s, 1 in 6 officers belonged to an ethnic or racial minority. Now it's about 1 in 4. The challenge these days is finding enough recruits to keep that trend going.
The most stubborn diversity problem seems to be in the inner-ring suburbs — places where the population has shifted to majority minority, but that are still served mainly by white police.
White police such as St. Louis County officer Erich Von Almen.
In the days after the August protests in Ferguson, he and his white colleagues were on patrol in Jennings — a neighboring suburb that's also mostly African-American. He says he understood the outcry for more black officers in communities such as this but that it's easier said than done.
"We can't get more black officers. We recruit predominantly at black schools, the military, and for the life of me I don't know why. It's not the best-paying job; they'd probably do better in the private sector. That's all I can think of. But I know it's not for the lack of trying," he says.
You hear that a lot in America's inner-ring suburbs: Departments say they just can't attract enough minority applicants.
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If the total Black population is the US is approx. 15-16%.....how can 1 in 4 not be a correct representation of the black community?
ReplyDeleteIf blacks dont take the test why are they complaining, they have Zero to complain about.
Deletein ALL of the cities that have high crime rates, whites are the minority, so id say all is good. having more minority officers is not going to change WHO is committing the crimes, but if having more minority officers changes how crimes are dealt with, then there is going to be a bigger problem. do people complaining think that a black officer is going to look the other way if the criminal is black?
ReplyDeleteHispanic or black, if they don't want to solve the problem, then that is the loudest voice in the room!
ReplyDeleteHow bout being told that we are not interested in someone with your background and credentials. I have a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice and I've worked with troubled youth. I guess all you really need is a high school diploma or GED to work in Law Enforcement...
ReplyDelete