Diversity in Law Enforcement Agency

This paper is based on an interview with a junior police officer, John, who is employed at Miami Beach Police Department for the last two years.

Answering a question on the inclusion of diversified personnel in the force, he said, “There are numerous reasons why police agencies in Miami may benefit from hiring officers who are members of groups that are underrepresented in the department”. Evidence suggests that members of certain groups have unique skills that can enhance police services. For example, some studies contend that women are less likely to use excessive force, or that language barriers within the community can be broken by hiring members of newly arrived immigrant groups, according to the Miami Beach Police Department.

There are also legal reasons why police agencies in Miami may choose to embrace diversity (Shusta, 39). The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 prohibits bias in hiring based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Furthermore, the Act allows individuals to sue employers who are engaging in discriminatory behavior. Prior to 1972, employment discrimination was already illegal, but this law provided individuals with an avenue to challenge unfair practices. The new legislation also pushed law enforcement agencies to reevaluate their own recruitment, hiring, and evaluation procedures. Legal challenges could be both financially and psychologically costly to police agencies and communities, and enhancing diversity served as a potential deterrent to future legal challenges (Miller, 78).

Sharing his views on the issue of blacks being arrested in large numbers, he candidly opined, “There is no doubt that African Americans are much more likely to be arrested, prosecuted, convicted, sent to jail, and sentenced to the death penalty than their white counterparts”. Researchers have concluded that much of the race difference in arrests for violence is due to greater involvement in offending on the part of blacks.

Research no longer supports the allegation of pervasive and systematic discriminatory treatment by police and the courts on the basis of race. The most obvious racial inequalities in the criminal justice system have been eliminated; however, it is not correct to claim that there is no racism in the system (Himelfarb, 53). After all, how could one expect a completely bias-free criminal justice system in a society that remains racist in many other areas? The relationship between the police and black citizens has always been wrought with conflict and accusations of racism. “Many minority communities in America feel both over policed and under-protected”. Things are improving, however. Early studies concluded that police officers at Miami were more likely to shoot and use excessive force when dealing with blacks; more recent research indicates that the racial disparity in people shot and killed by police has declined. Police forces now take citizens' complaints about racial discrimination much more seriously than in the past (Coderoni, 16).

While the police have historically ignored or downplayed such complaints, recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice and several lawsuits filed by aggrieved citizens have led to greater police attention to these ...