Diversity in the Police Force

There’s no denying the majority of white cops making up the police force. Racism in the police community is a serious issue, one that can be difficult to target and fix. Whether it’s far-right officers using facebook to share their hateful opinions on minorities or just straight violence against unarmed black individuals, there’s copious evidence of prejudice in our police system.
With news of violent white cops running headlines, there’s a certain pressure on city police administration to diversify the police force. For the New Jersey state police, the solution seemed to be relaxing their background checks. They were faced with accusations of selecting primarily white recruits. Jiras, a background investigator, claimed she had been reassigned and denied a promotion because she didn’t support the relaxing of background checks. Her superiors told her she was “too good at her job”. While the criminal justice chairman claimed to the public that they weren’t trying to lower the standards, Jira had different thoughts on how they should increase diversity. She said that the police were taking shortcuts instead of doing what would really fix the problem: “mentorship programs [and] forming partnerships with local police departments”. The police department wasn’t fixing their diversity levels in order to improve their police force, they were doing it to lessen the pressure on themselves.



Instead of hitting the root of the issue, the New Jersey Police Department took a shortcut to make it seem like their diversity was improving. The U.S. police force has far too many faults for the power they have in our communities and the important decisions they have to make on a daily basis. It’s absolutely critical that they are prepared and the most qualified for their job. It’s easy to see all the mistakes made by the police force, but it’s even easier to ignore that the solutions are out there, and have been presented by educated individuals with first-hand experience. Various cities around the world are testing new methods, such as changing the way they're advertising recruitment to better represent minority groups, keeping in touch with applicants, and offering training programs (particularly for women) so that the physical fitness test doesn't become a barrier. These problems aren't permanent, and hopefully these cities will inspire others across the country to take action.


Sources:
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/07/police-social-media-facebook-racism-islamophobia-bias/593131/
https://eji.org/history-racial-injustice-no-accountability-for-police-shootings
https://medium.com/@BloombergCities/6-strategies-to-recruit-a-stronger-and-more-diverse-police-force-51f434b2b01f
https://www.nj.com/mercer/2016/02/nj_police_ignored_applicants_criminal_backgrounds.html