Must Police Be Representative? Whom Do They Represent?

I recently discussed “economic apartheid” in Phildadelphia and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s “diversity” hiring that “overrepresented” some groups and “underrepresented” others. Now comes, thanks to reader Hube, more hiring “representation” malarkey from Pennsylvania.

Mark Faziollah, Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer, writes with evident alarm that “Pa. Troopers Ranks Getting Less Diverse.” Blacks, who make up 10% of Pennsylvania’s population, are now down to 5% of the state police. Horrors.

The article presents no evidence, or even forthright accusations, that the state police has been discriminatory in its hiring practices. On the contrary,

State Police Commander Jeffrey Miller said his department was committed to reversing the trend with aggressive recruiting of black and Latino officers.

“Our numbers look as bad as they possibly could look,” Miller acknowledged….

Miller, who took over the agency in January 2003, said he was committed to diversity, but said he had been unable to recruit enough minorities to compensate for large numbers of retirements.

“I have prioritized the recruitment of minorities,” he said in an interview last week. “Everyone in the law-enforcement system is having trouble.”

Apparently the only way to produce an acceptable “diversity” is through outright quotas.

In 1973, when the state police ranks were virtually all white, a Philadelphia civil-rights lawyer filed a lawsuit alleging the agency had discriminatory hiring practices.

To settle that suit, the state police agreed to strict minority hiring quotas to correct the racial imbalance. Starting in June 1974, Miller said, the agency began hiring one minority cadet for every white one.

The proportion of minorities steadily increased, reaching 9.2 percent of the force by 1983. From 1983 to 1993, the department hired one minority cadet for every two who were white.

Minority representation continued to go up, peaking at more than 12 percent in 1997, about equal to the state’s nonwhite population.

With that goal reached, the trend almost immediately started to reverse. There were no minority hires in 1997, state police records show. In 1998, four hires were minorities and 158 were white.

In February 1999, the federal judge overseeing the case ended the court monitoring. The department promised to work hard on recruiting to make sure black and other minority representation in the hiring pool was adequate.

It didn’t work.

The state police “didn’t really know how to do it,” Miller said. “You have a lot of people in business competing for the same applicants.”

Ah, so one of the main reasons the state police has become less diverse is that other businesses are “competing for the same applicants.” Well, this sounds like a huge problem that the legislature should address, and apparently some legislators agree:

… members of Pennsylvania’s legislative black caucus reacted angrily to the fall-off in the agency’s minority ranks, saying they were never informed there was a problem.

“A reduction like this is completely unacceptable,” said State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Phila.). “It isn’t right.”

Legislators vowed to push for change.

“It’s gone largely unnoticed. It cries out for a remedy,” said Rep. James Roebuck (D., Phila.).

Rep. Roebuck, on the evidence of this article, didn’t say precisely what the “It” is that cries out for a remedy, but by all means I think he should consider some sort of sanctions on firms who hire employees who also applied to the state police, or could have applied to the state police, and he may want to consider similar sanctions for blacks who would have made good state troopers but who decided to pursue careers elsewhere.

Meanwhile, awaiting the results of such legislative action, what can the state police do to increase its “diversity” and representativeness? First, they could follow the example of the FBI and some other police agencies:

To widen the hiring pool, the FBI and some big-city departments have relaxed standards on past drug use for recruits.

Miller said the Pennsylvania State Police had not done so.

Asked whether that was under consideration, he said only that there were arguments for and against loosening those rules.

But wait; there’s more! Hiring cops with a history of drugs is not all that can be done to increase the representativeness of the state police. Deputy Commissioner John R. Brown, “an African American lieutenant colonel” who is responsible for recruiting, said “We’ve come up with a bunch of new ideas.”

And indeed they have. Here’s a doozy:

To find Latino applicants, Brown said, he may send recruiters to Puerto Rico as other departments have done.

Such a move would go a long way toward making the Pennsylvania State Police more representative … of Puerto Rico.

On the theory, obviously the reigning theory in the Pa. state police, that “number” and “appearance” are all that matter, why not send recruiters to Africa to scoop up some black applicants? After all, if the Ivies can do that to beef up their numbers, why not the police?

Say What? (9)

  1. Joanne Jacobs December 23, 2007 at 1:40 pm | | Reply

    I’ve tagged you with the “seven random things” meme at http://joannejacobs.com/2007/12/23/seven-things/.

  2. Shouting Thomas December 23, 2007 at 2:56 pm | | Reply

    This type of AA in New Orleans led to the recruitment of felons into the police department, which led to (among other things), police officers who commited extortion and murder on the job, and abandoned their posts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    Police officers tend to start their careers in the military. A certain prolific poster to this site has declared that black men should decline to enlist in the military, which according to his logic uses such men solely for “cannon fodder” and offers them no opportunities.

    Among the cops I know (and I know a lot of them), almost every one is a veteran.

  3. Dom December 23, 2007 at 4:04 pm | | Reply

    You know, I read that article just this morning over breakfast, and when I came to the sentence about recruiting in Puerto Rico, I said to myself, “I have to send this to JR.”

  4. mj December 26, 2007 at 1:49 pm | | Reply

    PA should pass a law making it illegal for any business to hire any minority candidate until the PA state police reaches its quota. This competition for minority applicants has to be stopped! It’s completely unacceptable!

  5. ArthurEHippler December 26, 2007 at 3:14 pm | | Reply

    There are endless problems with affirmative action (not to mention the most basic: that it offends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which I and many others went to jail a number of times to get).

    But just one small issue merges when one tries to hire black military veterans for police forces. Not only is it not true that blacks are used as “cannon fodder” but in reality very few blacks can be found in direct combat units, so there are few of them to recruit to police units.

    Just take a look at any candid photo of Ranger groups or of Marine or Army combat infantry units, notice what color faces are missing.

    Unfortunately, as more and more things are open to blacks their failures (as a group) to achieve are even more glaring.

    It is apparently easier for some people to excuse their incompetence or laziness by referring to assumed ill treatment and racism than to recognize the immensity of opportunities now available to anyone of color with even a modicum of talent.

    How strangely foolish were the pipe dreams of equality of outcomes being an inevitable concomitant of equality of opportunity.

  6. Cobra December 29, 2007 at 3:30 pm | | Reply

    Arthur E Hippler writes:

    >>>”But just one small issue merges when one tries to hire black military veterans for police forces. Not only is it not true that blacks are used as “cannon fodder” but in reality very few blacks can be found in direct combat units, so there are few of them to recruit to police units.

    Just take a look at any candid photo of Ranger groups or of Marine or Army combat infantry units, notice what color faces are missing.”

    Oh really? Let’s take a look at something:

    >>>”Eligibility Requirements –

    Trooper Applicants for the position of Pennsylvania State Police Cadet will be automatically disqualified if any of the standards listed below are not met.

    General Requirements

    Applicants for the position of Pennsylvania State Police Cadet will be automatically disqualified if any of the General Requirements are not met:

    Age Requirement –

    Applicants must be at least 20 years of age on or before the date the application is completed. Applicants must be 21 years of age and cannot have reached their 40th birthday prior to or on the date of appointment as a State Police Cadet.

    Residency Requirement –

    Applicants must be a resident of Pennsylvania at the time of appointment. Applicants must also possess a valid Pennsylvania driver’s license upon appointment as a State Police Cadet.

    Educational Requirement –

    Applicants must possess a high school diploma or a G.E.D. Certificate plus an Associate’s Degree or 60 semester credit hours in an accredited institution of higher education at the time of application. Only one waiver per candidate, as follows, is allowed:

    60 semester credit hours waived for the applicant with two full years as a full-time police officer as certified by the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission (MPOETC).

    30 semester credit hours waived for the applicant with two full years of any law enforcement experience that encompasses the powers of arrest under State or Federal law, e.g., Liquor Enforcement Officer, Corrections Officer, Probation and Parole Officer, Fish and/or Game Commission Officer. Determination of relevant law enforcement experience to be made by the Pennsylvania State Police on a case-by-case basis.

    30 semester credit hours waived for the applicant with at least two years of full active military duty with an Honorable Discharge or who have completed Officer Candidate School and have no term of obligation.

    15 semester credit hours waived for the applicant who have successfully completed Act 120 training, as certified by the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission (MPOETC).

    Automatic Disqualifiers – Applicants are advised that the Pennsylvania State Police will automatically disqualify any applicant who does not meet the general requirements as noted above. In addition, the following information is provided regarding our criteria for automatic disqualification:

    Falsification or misrepresentation of material fact(s) during the completion of the Polygraph Screening Booklet, the Polygraph Examination, the review of the Formal Application, and/or the Background Investigation.

    Illegal substance use within a prescribed time frame and/or prior to making application with the Pennsylvania State Police.

    Illegal substance abuse beyond what is considered experimental.

    Criminal arrests/behavior which would not reflect well on the Department.”

    http://www.psp.state.pa.us/bhr/cwp/view.asp?a=435&q=153219&PM=1

    Mr. Hippler, would you be so kind as to point out for the readers WHERE in the elligibility requirements for a Pennsylvania State Trooper does it state that one NEEDS to be a member of a “direct combat unit” in the US Armed Forces?

    Arthur E Hippler writes:

    >>>”Unfortunately, as more and more things are open to blacks their failures (as a group) to achieve are even more glaring.

    It is apparently easier for some people to excuse their incompetence or laziness by referring to assumed ill treatment and racism than to recognize the immensity of opportunities now available to anyone of color with even a modicum of talent.”

    Mr. Hippler, do you consider the 240,617 active duty African-Americans “failures”?

    >>>”Total Black U.S. Service Personnel Lost in Iraq Conflict- 365

    Percentage of Total U.S. Killed in Iraq – 9.44%

    Army – 314

    Marines- 39

    Navy – 7

    AirForce – 5

    (as of 11/21/07)”

    http://www.blackmilitaryworld.com/

    I suppose, by your logic, the fallen in Iraq, were victims of their own “laziness” and “incompetence”, and by your standards, not even posthumously elligible to become PA State Troopers, huh?

    Mr. Hippler, I think you’ll fit in quite well with some of the folks at Discriminations.

    –Cobra

  7. ACF December 30, 2007 at 1:43 pm | | Reply

    Cobra,

    Are you saying that only 9.4% of those killed in Iraq were black? (That seems low to me….). Isn’t that substantially below the percentage of Americans who are black?

    Are you willing to support a new affirmative discrimination program to get more blacks killed in Iraq, thus improving the diversity of those dead? Would that be more “just”?

    By the way, we are often told (Charlie Rangle) that Americans benefit from disproportionate service by blacks in the military. But, your number (9.4%) suggests the opposite.

  8. Cobra January 1, 2008 at 2:40 pm | | Reply

    ACF writes:

    >>>”Are you saying that only 9.4% of those killed in Iraq were black? (That seems low to me….). Isn’t that substantially below the percentage of Americans who are black?”

    So I can put you down as being in favor of MORE dead black troops in Iraq?

    –Cobra

  9. […] the “underrepresentation” of Hispanics in that organization, which I discussed in Must Police Be Representative? Whom Do They Represent? ”To find Latino applicants, Brown said, he may send recruiters to Puerto Rico as other […]

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