Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices
Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices
Isabel R. Rodriguez
University of Phoenix
October 3, 2011
Blanche Cook
Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices
An important part of the United States workforce is made up of police officers. The number of police officers employed has grown drastically over the past few years. However, although the number of police officers employed has increased, public scrutiny has as well. The police employment practices have affected the publics’ perception of the police because of the factors involved as well as the desire to seek employment in law enforcement. The paper below will describe some of the factors involved with race and ethnicity when seeking police careers.
Diversity among the law enforcement was limited until several years ago. A significant positive change has been seen in the perceptions of minorities within the employment of law enforcement. This helps to redress the historic workplace inequity by having police forces better reflect ethnic constituency of society (Perrott, 1999). However, minorities are still more likely to suffer inequalities. These inequalities are shaped by structural constraints that include childhood and adult poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care, and lack of economic and education opportunities (Smith, 2009). Minorities are also placed at the bottom of the social class. Because of these inequalities, employment with the police department has been difficult to achieve as some of these inequalities cannot be overcome by the already existing police. This in turn creates racially disparate outcomes.
Minority recruitment is an essential component of the police and community relationship. Given the fact that the majority of police officers are White, the experience tends to be of the White norms, the White values, and the White beliefs. This in turn indicates that society is consumed by an occupational culture (O'Neill & Holdaway, 2006). Public scrutiny has
Isabel R. Rodriguez
University of Phoenix
October 3, 2011
Blanche Cook
Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices
An important part of the United States workforce is made up of police officers. The number of police officers employed has grown drastically over the past few years. However, although the number of police officers employed has increased, public scrutiny has as well. The police employment practices have affected the publics’ perception of the police because of the factors involved as well as the desire to seek employment in law enforcement. The paper below will describe some of the factors involved with race and ethnicity when seeking police careers.
Diversity among the law enforcement was limited until several years ago. A significant positive change has been seen in the perceptions of minorities within the employment of law enforcement. This helps to redress the historic workplace inequity by having police forces better reflect ethnic constituency of society (Perrott, 1999). However, minorities are still more likely to suffer inequalities. These inequalities are shaped by structural constraints that include childhood and adult poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care, and lack of economic and education opportunities (Smith, 2009). Minorities are also placed at the bottom of the social class. Because of these inequalities, employment with the police department has been difficult to achieve as some of these inequalities cannot be overcome by the already existing police. This in turn creates racially disparate outcomes.
Minority recruitment is an essential component of the police and community relationship. Given the fact that the majority of police officers are White, the experience tends to be of the White norms, the White values, and the White beliefs. This in turn indicates that society is consumed by an occupational culture (O'Neill & Holdaway, 2006). Public scrutiny has
References: Kasdan, A. (2006). Increasing Diversity in Police Departments: Strategies and Tools. Retrieved from http://www.hrccj.org/pdfs/increasing_police_diversity.pdf Kelly, M. E., Guarneri, C., & Foley, P. F. (2007). Reason for Choosing a Police Career: Changes over Two Decades. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 10(1), 2-7. O 'Neill, M., & Holdaway, S. (2006). Ethnicity and Culture: Thinking about Police Ethnicity. The British Journal of Sociology, 57(3), 484-499. Perrott, S. (1999). Visible Minority Applicant Concerns and Assessment of Occupational Role in the Era of Community-based Policing. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 9(9), 339-353. Smith, B. J. (2009). Investigating Differences: Human and Cultural Relations in Criminal Justice (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Pearson Education.