Locally, Police Chief Chad Kasmar is invested in creating a partnership with the community. Hiring more local officers can reduce fear and increase communication, particularly with the Spanish-speaking population.
Seattle has lost more than a quarter of its police force in the past 2.5 years. The Fairfax County police chief in Virginia declared a personnel emergency on July 28, instituting mandatory overtime. Three small towns – Kenly, North Carolina, Melbourne Village, Florida, and Springfield, Colorado – experienced mass resignations this summer: The entire department in each community called it quits.
Recruiters face a myriad of challenges: the great resignation, COVID-19, a cultural divide between baby boomer leadership and Gen Z recruiting base. Some law enforcement leaders see this exodus as an opportunity. Some departments aren’t doing much to change the dynamic in terms of who they hire, but others are trying harder to change the process and attract candidates who better reflect the communities they serve, with a concentrated effort on hiring more women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
And they’re ready to fight for what they believe in to change and innovate, Cherry said, adding that she’d rather see her department short staffed than filled with officers who harm the profession. “When they get past polygraph into background, something always comes up,” Ramos said. “It’s like, ‘Well, you didn’t tell us about this.’”
“I officially start next Monday,” Graham said at the event, adding that the department plans to invest more money on travel for recruiting, including trips out of state. Law enforcement officials across the country have deployed other strategies: Arizona relaxed its standards for prior marijuana usage and prior use of Adderall without a prescription. The Arlington Police Department changed its policy to allow employees to display “approved tattoos” while in uniform. The Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky dropped its college credit requirement and now only requires a high school diploma or equivalent.
Numerous academic journals have published articles examining the effects of department hiring practices. A study published in 2021 in the journal Science indicated diversity in officer demographics can make a difference. Researchers used Chicago as a case study and found Black and Hispanic officers made far fewer stops and arrests and used force less often relative to white officers in communities of color, and that female officers use less force than males within all racial groups.
“Back then, it was tall men, white, no tattoos, very rigid, typically from the military or something,” she said. “And when you get people from different backgrounds, they see the world differently because they haven’t been involved in it the same way as that specific group.Ivonne Roman has more than 25 years of experience in policing, working her way from officer to police chief in Newark, New Jersey.
In the past 35 years, women have made up a growing percentage of the workforce in the U.S. The latest census data shows that even among many traditionally male professions, women have made significant increases. Since 1987, women have almost doubled their representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Studies have shown women statistically use less force. They’re perceived as more trustworthy and compassionate, particularly by diverse communities and victims of sexual assault. They receive fewer complaints and lawsuits, and use their firearms less often. They tend to make fewer arrests for minor offenses and make fewer traffic stops.
“That’s not because they’re not capable,” Thomas said. “It’s not because they’re not welcome, it’s because they’re mothers.” McGough said other elements of the profession may discourage women, including hyper-masculinized recruiting materials. Perhaps most controversial, the initiative asks departments to review job requirements. McGough stressed that 30×30 does not advocate for lowering of standards for the sake of gender diversity.
“There wasn’t this willingness pre-Floyd to be as open as they are now,” Roman said of departments. “So whatever the reasons may be, they are coming to us instead of us having to go out and sell this.”Jim Ritter joined Seattle police in 1983. Growing up in Bellevue, Washington, he always knew he wanted to be an officer. But he was afraid.
He came out gradually, on his own timeline. He first told his patrol partner, then co-workers – until everyone knew. However, major departments across the country are creating targeted efforts to recruit LGBTQ+ people. The New York Police Department hosts recruitment drives, attends Pride events and features gay-identifying officers in advertisements. The San Francisco and Atlanta police departments show support for an inclusive culture through openly gay leadership.
“It’s not our responsibility to make up for sins of the past,” she said. “I’m not being brought into a police department to be the poster child and say, ‘Well, look, we’re doing it’ because now we have a gay woman.” Ritter also designed the initiative Safe Place in May 2015. Since retirement, he continues to offer Safe Place training through his consulting and training company J.S. Ritter & Associates.
“The problem with a lot of the activists that I’ve worked with, even in the LGBT community, is that they don’t want to take the time to learn about us,” Ritter said. “They want us to learn about them. It has to be a healthy relationship. Both sides have to want to make it work together.”Cherry said she hears it all the time. Potential candidates come to her and say their family doesn’t want them to be a cop – especially in minority communities.
Experts have long stressed that one way to build trust is for police departments to better reflect the communities they serve. The program was so successful, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., wants to implement it on a national scale. He co-introduced the Pathways to Policing Act, which would provide $50 million for states to create programs similar to Minnesota’s. It also would provide $50 million to the Department of Justice for a national recruitment campaign.Kooi said departments that started requiring college education for recruits also hurt diversity efforts.
“We need to reconsider how we think about rewarding candidates based on the preparation that they’ve brought to the field of policing.” Hiring more local officers can reduce fear and increase communication, particularly with the Spanish-speaking population, Tucson police spokesperson Francisco Magos said. About 27% of the population in Tucson speaks Spanish, and about 46% self identify as Hispanic, according to Census data.
“A lot of people who would make great police officers may not want to apply to be police officers because of the negative attention being put on the profession,” he said.