Discuss some reasons why many minorities do not aspire to become police officers and what approaches might be taken to successfully recruit minorities and women – and thus diversify policing

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Probably the single most difficult barrier to recruiting racial minorities is the image that police officers have among these groups. Unfortunately, for many African Americans and Latinos/Hispanics, police officers are symbols of oppression. Furthermore, recruiters must overcome the perception by many women that policing is a male-dominated occupation. Some successful methods being used by law enforcement agencies to recruit women and minorities include having an informative and easily navigable website; officers visiting all the minority communities and such organizations as the Latino Organization; minorities being offered a tour of the police academy to view the training; working with local television and radio stations and newspapers to develop videos and publicity spots; recruiting information being disseminated nationally to colleges, universities, community agencies, churches, health clubs, libraries, female- and minority-owned businesses, special-interest groups, and community leaders; recruiters visiting community and college job fairs, military installations, community meetings, religious organizations, and neighborhood organizations, both in and out of state. (The Law Enforcement Recruitment Toolkit, discussed in this chapter, might also be employed.)