Minority Officers: Current Issues (From Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, P 331-345, 1989, Roger G Dunham and Geoffrey P Alpert, eds. -- See NCJ-114674)

• NCJ Number: 114683
• Author(s): P S Sullivan
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The history and current trends related to the involvement of racial and ethnic minority group members in law enforcement are examined, with emphasis on current issues related to hiring, job assignments, and promotions.

Abstract

After a long struggle, minority officers are now represented proportionally with their population share and have the same legal rights and responsibilities as other police officers. They are no longer relegated to cars marked 'colored police' and allowed to arrest only other minority citizens. Evidence indicates that minority officers still face discrimination in duty assignments and promotion. Efforts by law enforcement agencies to eliminate discrimination in hiring and promotion have faced many problems. For example, changes from traditional measures such as written tests have caused some to argue that police agencies are lowering their standards of quality to comply with court mandates. Whether discrimination exists in assignments and promotions is difficult to study due to the lack of data. However, consensus exists that officers of all minority groups are underrepresented above the patrol level. Law enforcement agencies need to continue to recruit actively among minorities, to improve relations with minority communities, and, if necessary, to improve their testing and training programs. Table, list of cases cited, and 29 references.