Police brass diversity lagging

[Forkboy]

Minorities hired but not advanced

The police departments in the state’s 10 most populous cities have added 168 minority officers since late 2007, but the number of minority supervisors has remained stagnant, according to figures provided by the departments.

Law enforcement officials from those cities attribute the increase in the number of minority officers to recruitment efforts, and they offer a variety of reasons for why more rank-and-file minority officers have not been promoted to supervisory positions such as sergeant, lieutenant, or captain. In October 2007 there were 1,064 minority police officers, 103 of whom were supervisors. Now, there are 1,232 minority police officers (up about 16 percent), 106 of whom are supervisors (up about 3 percent).

Sergeant Thomas Mauretti, a spokesman for the Fall River Police Department, said officials have “been very proactive in recruiting minorities to join the department, and have put up many, many billboards around the city seeking minority applicants.’’

The department has one minority supervisor.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/27/police_brass_diversity_lagging/

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Could it be the tests used to determine who should be promoted and who shouldn't? n/t

[imdjh]

4. In a manner of speaking, perhaps.

You're dealing with a small pool. Blacks are 25% of the Boston population. Pull out folks who are ineligible due to age, disability, personal or criminal history, and you are left with the eligible pool. You would expect those people to fall into normal ranges of intelligence, but you are still dealing with a small pool, and one in which those with exceptional intelligence are often sought out and directed to higher education and other careers. So maybe the function of the small pool is that there actually is a lower percentage of people in that pool which can take tests well. Perhaps there is a sort of micro-cultural brain drain going on.

I thought of this, because I am ineligible to serve on the police force unless I am willing to lie about my experiences and opinions about drug laws. They make you take a lie detector test. I have no criminal convictions, but I would have to lie about my experiences and opinions. I'm not sure that the opinions part is even legal, but it's listed on the local PD hiring website.

[aikoaiko]

2. I thought this might be about Remington versus Winchester

;)

[Tim01]

5. Sorting by headstamp again?

When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

[TheKentuckian]

3. Black cops are no better (maybe worse), they are creatures of the same machine.

I'm not arguing against diversity but the problem is a lot more entrenched than changing the faces. We need to change the mentality and outlook of law enforcement and until that happens we are just changing actors on the soap opera. Same show, same characters, new look.