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Police officer perceptions of diversity efforts: a disconnect between the goals and the methods
Abstract
Diversifying law enforcement agencies to reflect the communities they serve has continued to be a difficult task worldwide. Research has focused on evaluating diversity initiatives in terms of staffing demographic changes, but the perspective of officers working in departments aiming to diversify is often missing. This study examines officers’ perceptions of diversity initiatives in practice. Qualitative analysis indicated officers were supportive of diversifying; however, nearly all officers, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, were concerned with the methods used. Findings revealed that officers: 1) doubted the merit of their own achievements, 2) perceived promotion/assignment practices as ambiguous, 3) felt politics created symbolic changes, and 4) wanted to inform future diversity efforts. Findings suggest that officer perspectives, particularly from underrepresented groups, are needed to better understand why diversity initiatives have yielded minimal change and to build more effective practices to increase diversity and retain diverse personnel.
... For example, higher SDO officers who are women may resist diversity efforts because they support the subordination of their group vis à vis White men, including by resisting the advancement of women into leadership, even as they fight bias to build and advance their careers. Nevertheless, as diversity is central to law enforcement values and missions, including the organization that is the focus of the current research, cultivating representative organizations is identified as one of policing's most significant challenges (Farrell and Barao, 2023;Stergioulis, 2018). Research shows that police managers and line-level officers generally report support for diversity because it facilitates public trust (Farrell and Barao, 2023) and support for the police (Stergioulis, 2018). ...
... Nevertheless, as diversity is central to law enforcement values and missions, including the organization that is the focus of the current research, cultivating representative organizations is identified as one of policing's most significant challenges (Farrell and Barao, 2023;Stergioulis, 2018). Research shows that police managers and line-level officers generally report support for diversity because it facilitates public trust (Farrell and Barao, 2023) and support for the police (Stergioulis, 2018). However, studies on officers' perceptions of diversity add important nuance, complicating these findings. ...
... However, studies on officers' perceptions of diversity add important nuance, complicating these findings. Several studies found that White policemen opposed diversity efforts (Wieslander, 2018) and reported perceived favoritism towards non-majority officers (Farrell and Barao, 2023;Loftus, 2008). Notably, Farrell and Barao (2023) found that regardless of identity, officers reported support for creating an organization demographically reflective of the communities they serve, but they disagreed with or resisted organizational diversity efforts and implementation. ...
While many public organizations have made notable strides to improve the representation of women at all ranks, women remain severely underrepresented in law enforcement organizations. Research shows that a critical barrier to women’s integration into law enforcement is the common perception among policemen that women are unsuited for police work. This study draws on Social Dominance Theory to provide a better understanding of the values and beliefs underlying policemen’s negative perceptions. Using survey data and Ordinary Least Squares Regression analyses, we examine the association between Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), an individual difference variable that captures preference for group-based social hierarchy, and officers’ assessment of women’s suitability for law enforcement. In line with existing evidence, our analyses show that compared to policewomen, policemen provide a significantly more negative assessment of women’s suitability for law enforcement. We also find that higher SDO officers report more negative assessments of women in law enforcement, and officers’ diversity value partially mediates this relationship. These novel findings suggest that officers who desire to protect existing power dynamics are more likely to resist organizational diversity efforts and have more negative views about women’s suitability for law enforcement.
... adopt in order to re-formulate what may be considered as crossing ethno-national boundaries and even a betrayal among some of their family or community members. The integration of minority women into a diverse organization may exposes identity conflicts, even with colleagues from the majority group (Farrell and Barao, 2023). However, this article focuses on the internal dynamics within the community and the voices that the FAPO express toward their community members. ...
... and tension included in the initial encounter with the organizationmoments which she describes as war ("I had to fight"). Particularly when she finds herself in the position of being the sole Arab woman, thus becoming emblematic as a token representation (Farrell and Barao, 2023). Such an encounter also includes excluding elements, as well as an inherent experience of coping with racism. ...
... During the last decades, the demographic characteristics of police department personnel worldwide have changed, but it is still rare to find a department that mirrors the population it serves in terms of gender and race/ethnicity (Farrell and Barao, 2023). In many police organizations around the world, much effort is spent on increasing diversity. ...
Introduction
In recent decades, Israel’s public sector diversity policy has led to the recruitment of many Arab female police officers (FAPO). For Arab women, joining the police force is seen as boundary-crossing, highlighting the tension between their professional, civilian, and ethno-national identities. While they are Israeli citizens, Arabs are often perceived as an unassimilated minority due to nationality, religion and culture. Arab women face numerous obstacles in integrating into the broader labor market, both from the state and their own society. Therefore, entry into the public sector, like the police force, is of great significance. However, some may view joining the Israeli police as cooperating with the majority-hegemonic group or even as betrayal.
Method
Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 FAPO employed by the Israel Police asking how they articulate the ethno-national identity complexity in their pursuit of quality jobs in the Israeli police force, and how they justify dealing with the challenges this presents.
Results
The analysis sheds light on the interviewees’ subjective perspective of their recruitment to the police force, i.e., the ways they experience their crossing of ethno-national boundaries and the conflictual identity experience inherent in the process.
Discussion
These insights offer a better understanding of the FAPO’s experiences regarding their justification work while facing criticism and value conflicts. The contributions of this study are threefold: 1. It advances the literature on the labor market integration of Arab women from the theoretical perspective of boundary-crossing. 2. It adds to the theory of boundary-crossing in the labor market for minority women in distinct locations. 3. It provides insights into the subjective perspectives and experiences of FAPO, contributing to organizational knowledge about minority policing in a deeply divided society characterized by tense relations between the minority and the police.
... Law enforcement practitioners have recommended the implementation of mentorship and networking programs to connect officers across different ranks and roles, promote inclusion, and enhance retention efforts (Farrell & Barao, 2022;Lavender & Todak, 2022;Suboch et al., 2017). For example, a recent survey of women officers across the United States revealed that although formal mentorship initiatives are uncommon, women officers often seek out informal mentorship opportunities and that those opportunities are highly valued (Lavender & Todak, 2022). ...
Maintaining adequate staffing levels to ensure public safety is a critical challenge
for law enforcement agencies, especially with rising officer turnover driven by
sociopolitical factors and changing workforce demographics. This narrative review
examines strategies to enhance officer retention by synthesizing findings from both
policing and related fields. These strategies are organized into five categories:
(1) compensation and financial incentives, (2) career development and professional
growth, (3) workplace environment and support, (4) wellness and resilience, and
(5) feedback and organizational learning. The review underscores the importance
of context-specific, tailored approaches and calls for rigorous studies to evaluate
the implementation and effectiveness of these strategies. Recommendations
include adapting organizational structures to foster innovative retention strategies,
optimizing resource management, and implementing continuous evaluation
processes to promote sustained officer retention.
We introduce and discuss the concept of community objection against the backdrop of the dominant scholarly tendency to attribute a shared viewpoint to residential communities. The notion of community objection arises from two dimensions of diversification among members of minority residential communities: vision of their relationship with the majority and vision of appropriate sexual behavior. We offer an analysis of the experience of Arab women who are citizens serving in the Israeli Police, who face community objection from members of their communities who endeavor to exert social control by questioning their loyalty and their sexuality. We asked which patterns of community objection are perceived as threatening by Arab policewomen, and how women explain their community’s objection to their employment. We conducted a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with 27 Arab policewomen employed by the Israeli Police. Grounded theory was applied, bringing to light gender-based, nationality-based and crime-based community objection. The analysis furthermore revealed that Arab policewomen could hold on to their jobs by rejecting the viewpoints manifested by those three types of objections. In fact, they thwarted the gender-based one as a conservative attempt to stop their work in the area of violence against women; and the nationality-based objection as an often crime-based one in disguise. Their perceptions allowed us to elaborate on previous discussions, underscoring the significance of inner disagreement on minority-majority relations for conceptualizing ‘community’.
Purpose
This paper provides a discussion of evidence supporting strategic, targeted recruitment for increasing minority representation in police agencies in the context of negative reputations for inclusion.
Design/methodology/approach
Database searching along with backward and forward citation chaining identified 145 articles for review. After extracting the recruitment strategies mentioned that had empirical support for effectiveness, a framework was developed for categorizing those strategies.
Findings
Police agencies use some evidence-based practices (e.g. community engagement) but could do more to enhance diversity. Strategy applicability in the context of limited organizational diversity or a less positive reputation as an inclusive employer is discussed.
Practical implications
This review provides a clear set of recommended best practices for agencies to use in evaluating and enhancing their efforts at targeted recruiting.
Originality/value
Reviews of recruiting practices in policing have not provided a deep consideration of the evidence base for practice effectiveness nor considered practices that have support in non-policing contexts. Our review addresses the concerns of agencies that must address a less positive image regarding diversity and inclusion.
Police agencies implement a variety of strategies for recruiting, promoting and retaining police officers with diverse backgrounds. Changes have however been difficult to attain. We expand research on representative bureaucracy by investigating diversity perspectives in a case study of the Norwegian Police Service (NPS). Using mixed-methods we investigate the diversity perspectives of ethnic minority and majority students and employees in the NPS, focusing on the interplay between educational and work experiences, recruitment practices and diversity policies. We found that ethnic minorities were still underrepresented, and their cultural competence was not fully recognized by other students, teachers, colleagues and leaders. Interview and fieldwork findings were corroborated by surveys among NPS employees documenting that competence development was perceived as the least emphasized justification for diversity management.
Diversity strategies to increase social inclusion in organisations have been a major concern in various institutions during recent decades. This article examines Swedish police recruits’ talk about diversity. The study is based on data from ethnographic fieldwork at the Swedish National Police Academy and focus group interviews of police recruits. Twenty-seven recruits were interviewed in their final year at the police academy, which included a period of probationary service at a police station. Using a discourse analysis, the article explores how the Swedish police's official policies for diversity and social equality are recognised, but also called into question, by Swedish police recruits. One dominating discourse of difference and two controversial discourses on diversity are outlined, showing that recruits frequently draw upon multiple discourses to legitimise their claims for and against diversity. A conceptual framework is developed for understanding the discourses and dilemmas of diversity within the police, with examples provided of how social order is reproduced among recruits.
Recruitment for diversity is part of a range of proactive strategies for overcoming occupational stereotyping in a number of professions, as well as addressing a history of discrimination against women and minority groups. One such campaign launched by the Swedish police involves 'inclusive recruitment'. By analysing the discourse of inclusive recruitment and its subject positions in police student talk, this article shows how borders between people who are assigned different social categories are constructed, challenged and reinforced. Positive intentions in agendas towards diversity are problematised when minorities are ascribed as admitted on quotation, which places them in a ubordinate and 'risky position' within an occupation and on less legitimate premises. A dilemma emerges between a call to represent minority groups and the risk of categorising them as 'others'. In particular, voices of resistance from ethnic minority police women show how practices of exclusion could jeopardise efforts to achieve inclusion.
Recent studies show a clear link between women in government and reduced concerns about corruption. Until now, it remains unclear which underlying attitudes about women explain the perception that they will reduce corruption. Using a survey question about adding women to a police force, with an embedded experimental treatment, we examine three distinct stereotypes that might explain the power of women to reduce concerns about corruption: gender stereotypes of women as more ethical and honest, the perception of women as political outsiders, and beliefs that women are generally more risk averse. We find that people do perceive women as more effective at combating corruption, and these perceptions are greatly enhanced when information about women's outsider status and risk aversion is provided.
In the USA, Blacks are under-represented in policing. This limitation is problematic, especially in Black communities which
experience strained relations with the police. Although individual and cultural reasons that Blacks lack interest in policing
have been studied, less work has considered the effects of hiring processes on Black applicants. This article presents a barrier
analysis of the applicant screening process in a major metropolitan police department. The initial application, the written
exam, and the background investigation were isolated as barriers to Black applicants. Further analyses indicated that Black
applicants were more likely to self-select out of the process in lieu of testing. During the background investigation, Blacks
disqualified at greater rates for economic, educational, and criminal reasons. The relationship between these issues and underlying
social conditions is explored. Finally, given the challenges facing police departments attempting to increase diversity, the
value of barrier analysis to police organizations is discussed.
It has been proposed that hiring more Black police officers is an effective way to alleviate long-standing tensions between police and African Americans because Black officers will connect with Black citizens and treat them well. This hypothesis, however, fails to account for the macro-level context of the troubled locations in which African Americans disproportionately reside and wherein police-minority citizen problems are deep seated. The present study examines two competing hypotheses concerning the influence ofofficer race relative to that of ecological context in shaping African Americans’ experiences with and perceptions of local police. These hypotheses are testedusing in-depth interview data with Black residents of a majority-Black, high-crime, economically troubled city. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
Policing is a controversial issue in diverse societies where cultures, religions and competing national identities challenge the existing order, and where the police have yet to develop the capabilities to engage with diversity and overcome its own biases and prejudices. Literature and experience point to two central problems of policy with regard to minority relations that can be described as ‘under-policing’ and ‘over-policing’. Thus, minorities can suffer from police neglect of their neighbourhoods, from an aggressive police approach or, at times, from both. As a result, the police can have a legitimacy problem vis-à-vis minority groups that may undermine its efficacy. This research, based on interviews conducted with Canadian police officers and documents collected, identifies three interrelated issues in police adaptation to a multicultural setting: recruitment and training, practices and community involvement.
Laws that regulate the employment relation tend to set forth broad and often ambiguous principles that give organizations wide latitude to construct the meaning of compliance in a way that responds to both environmental demands and managerial interests. Organizations respond initially by elaborating their formal structures to create visible symbols of compliance. As organizations construct and institutionalize forms of compliance with laws, they mediate the impact of those laws on society. The author uses data from a nationwide survey of 346 organizations to develop models of the creation and institutionalization of organizationally constructed symbols of compliance following the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The literature on diversity management has tended to obfuscate some of the theoretical and methodological shortcomings associated with research in this area. Specifically, the literature tends to make a number of rather naïve assumptions about the experiences and aspirations of disadvantaged groups. This paper seeks to problematize the universalist and partisan tendencies that typify much of the diversity literature by focusing on the issue of ‘resistance’. Using a form of discourse analysis informed by Foucauldian principles, the paper explores how ‘resistance’ to diversity initiatives is expressed by both ‘dominant’ and ‘subordinated’ groups in a UK police force. It is argued that ‘resistance’ is better thought of as a discursive resource that can be drawn upon to justify or account for one’s own organizational experiences and, in turn, the need to both justify and account for one’s experiences is located in broader discursive fields that reproduce dominant ideologies of liberal democracies. The theoretical implications of this position are discussed and a case is presented for more critical and theoretical approaches in the diversity management literature.
Contemporary public policy presupposes that police officers should be racially representative of the areas in which they work in order to foster good police-community relations. This article examines citizen assessments of Black and White officers and preferences regarding the kind of officers they want assigned to their neighborhoods. In-depth interviews were conducted with 169 residents of three neighborhoods in Washington, DC. The findings suggest that neighborhood context influences residents' views on the behavior of White and Black officers; that African Americans' evaluations of White and Black officers often challenge the conventional wisdom; and that there is considerable support for a policy of deploying racially integrated teams of officers in Black neighborhoods.
In a previous issue of this journal, Ellis Cashmore (20023.
Cashmore , E. 2002. ‘Behind the window dressing: minority ethnic police perspectives on cultural diversity’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28(2): 327–41. [Taylor & Francis Online], [CSA]View all references) discussed two key issues currently confronting police constabularies in England and Wales: the recruitment of minority ethnic officers and civilian staff, and the impact of diversity training now in place for all police officers. Cashmore argued that not only are these policies ineffective in enhancing cultural diversity within constabularies, but that they are harmful, presenting a false outward image of effective action. This article examines Cashmore's arguments and develops them in light of findings from recent research on Black Police Associations (BPAs) in England and Wales. Our findings firstly suggest that, because of heavy involvement with these initiatives and the close relationship BPAs have developed with senior management (in comparison to non-BPA members), they must be considered in any discussion of minority ethnic recruitment and diversity training. In addition, the majority of the officers we interviewed were supportive of current recruitment and training programmes. Secondly, we argue that BPAs are helping to change the nature of the overall police culture to a certain extent. Many minority ethnic officers no longer feel they must downplay their ethnicity as members of constabularies.
Arguably the most aggressive affirmative action program ever implemented in the United States was a series of court-ordered racial hiring quotas imposed on municipal police departments. My best estimate of the effect of court-ordered affirmative action on work-force composition is a 14-percentage-point gain in the fraction African American among newly hired officers. Evidence on police performance is mixed. Despite substantial black-white test score differences on police department entrance examinations, city crime rates appear unaffected by litigation. However, litigation lowers slightly both arrests per crime and the fraction black among serious arrestees. (JEL H76, J15, J78, K31)
Diversity in policing
In the wake of high-profile police shootings of Black Americans, it is important to know whether the race and gender of officers and civilians affect their interactions. Ba et al. overcame previous data constraints and found that Hispanic and Black officers make far fewer stops and arrests and use force less than white officers, especially against Black civilians. These differences are largest in majority-Black neighborhoods in the city of Chicago (see the Perspective by Goff). Female officers also use less force than male officers. These effects are supportive of the efficacy of increasing diversity in police forces.
Science , this issue p. 696 ; see also p. 677
Ethnic minority officers continue to be underrepresented across UK police forces. Further, some ethnic minority groups consistently report lower levels of confidence in police compared to their White British counterparts. Although there is consensus that a more ethnically representative police service is a good idea, there is limited evidence in the UK on how the public perceives officers of different ethnic appearance, and how this relates to trust, confidence and legitimacy. This paper presents findings from an online experiment (n = 260) exploring how ethnic appearance affects perceptions of police. Our findings offer rare empirical support for a more ethnically representative police force. First, across respondents, we found that Black officers were perceived significantly more favourably than White or Asian officers. Second, we found that Black respondents had more negative responses to White officers, yet there was little evidence that Black officers elicited more negative reactions from White or Asian respondents. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
Stigmatized professions are those where physical, social, and/or moral taints are applied. Stigma theorists hold that stigma is socially communicated and changes over time, but it is unclear if stigma content can be applied to those who are seen as powerful. Two studies examined how the impact of socio‐political discourses on policing, a profession that carries legitimate power, on the tainting of the profession and distrust in policing. In an examination of archival news media clips on policing (N = 200), results show that media coverage over time (between 2011‐2016) has used more negative tone in discussing police‐citizen interactions, and these findings varied by conservative versus liberal media. Importantly, across media sources, taints were ascribed to policing. In a second survey study, individuals directly ascribed taints to policing (N = 169). Relative to other jobs, policing was categorized as a pervasively stigmatized job (i.e., high frequency and strong potency of taints were applied). It was also found that those who discussed media stories tended to distrust police more. Implications for efforts to recruit, select, and train officers, and to improve police‐community relations are discussed; findings may also generalize to other public and community facing professions.
Given the challenges that police organisations continue to face in attracting visible minorities, this study reviews how minority police officers perceive the barriers they confront. The systematic review of the literature provided the initial framework to guide the interviews with 20 visible minority police officers in a medium sized police organisation in Western Canada. The results illustrate that this police organisation, like many others, is slow in changing its organisational culture. This was demonstrated through comments about some misguided recruitment practices where human resource officers are not able to generate interest from potential minority recruits. It was also demonstrated through comments about leadership’s inability to follow through on improving diversity. Thirdly, it was demonstrated through comments about job satisfaction and motivational issues. The findings point to reshaping recruitment, leadership and motivational practices as a way to better develop a more heterogeneous police culture. In re-engineering the recruitment process, a key message emphasises building relationships using ‘gatekeepers’. Changes in leadership practices might encourage transformational or shared types of leadership with structures for more engagement – teamwork, participation, and personal development. This may allow leaders and members to be involved in pursuing diversity goals and be internally motivated to carry them out. The findings also indicate that key motivators for minorities relate to community feedback, autonomy, career developmental opportunities and team relationships. These motivators build on police public service-like motivators (PSM’s) emphasising service to the larger community, a focus which might offer insights in responding to the diversity issues in the future.
This study examines racial variations in the experience of police department norms and culture. Using the data set Police Stress and Domestic Violence in Police Families in Baltimore, Maryland (1997-1999), results show that White and Black officers describe sources of work-related stress differently. Whites focus on issues related to the institutional culture, whereas Blacks described problems in terms of personal mistreatment. There are no differences related to critical incident stress, and the two groups do not different dramatically in how work-related stress is manifest and perceived.
Organizational diversity initiatives—programs and policies intended to increase the fairness of organizations and promote the inclusion, hiring, retention, and promotion of underrepresented groups—are ubiquitous. Despite the widespread implementation of diversity initiatives, several empirical investigations point to challenges associated with these initiatives. We suggest that one of the challenges hindering the effectiveness of diversity management involves the unintended signals that these initiatives send. Specifically, we review social psychological evidence that the mere presence of diversity initiatives can have unintended consequences through the communication of (1) fairness signals, (2) inclusion signals, and (3) competence signals. The presence of organizational diversity initiatives may lead to a presumption of fairness for underrepresented groups, making discrimination harder to identify and litigate. Conversely, these initiatives may lead to a presumption of unfairness for members of overrepresented groups, increasing the likelihood that traditionally advantaged groups will perceive themselves as victims of discrimination. The presence of diversity initiatives may increase the attractiveness of organizations to underrepresented groups who anticipate inclusion, but increase felt exclusion and threat among overrepresented groups. Finally, the presence of diversity initiatives may signal that underrepresented groups need help to succeed and are thus less competent than their advantaged counterparts. Researchers and practitioners should note the potential unintended signaling consequences of diversity initiatives, and build‐in accountability and social psychological knowledge when designing policies aimed at creating inclusive, diverse, and fair workplaces.
Women, ethnic minority and LGB police officers often experience prejudice, disadvantage and exclusion within police forces because of their perceived ‘otherness’ in a predominantly white, heterosexual, male organisation. In the context of an increasingly diverse service, the paper argues that the concept of intersectionality is important in order to understand the experiences of police officers who encounter bias and prejudice because of their multiple, intersecting identities. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 20 individuals based in an English police force, the paper examines their occupational experiences of bias, discrimination and exclusion perpetrated by their colleagues and supervisors. Utilising the ‘exit, voice and loyalty’ model, the paper analyses how police officers are affected by, and respond to these experiences. Taken together, these arguments lay the foundation for future work to further understand the experiences of police officers as victims of bias and prejudice due to their multiple, intersecting identities.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the theory of representative bureaucracy. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data, covering a period from 1997 to 2013, suggest that a greater number of women in the workforce is related to higher reporting rates for rape incidents and higher clearance rates for rape cases. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the relationship between female representation and women-centered outcomes is moderated by the presence of a union and mediated by resources for victims and community policing. Looking ahead, more research is needed to identify how female representation in policing influences organizational processes and outcomes for citizens.
Many have suggested police diversity will improve police-community relations, but research testing this hypothesis is inconclusive. We investigated perceptions of police race, ethnicity, and diversity in a heterogeneous sample of prospective police officers. Data are drawn from interviews with 42 criminal justice college students in the Southwestern United States, of which 15 were Hispanic, and who each wanted to become a police officer. Participants supported diversity in policing, and collectively expressed a belief that race plays a central role in policing today. Furthermore, participants expressed support for the ideals of both passive and active representative bureaucracy. Hispanics in the sample in particular anticipated they would positively affect police relations in Hispanic neighborhoods and encourage immigrants to cooperate with police.
Arguably the most aggressive affirmative action program ever implemented in the United States was a series of court-ordered racial hiring quotas imposed on municipal police departments. My best estimate of the effect of court-ordered affirmative action on work-force composition is a 14-percentage-point gain in the fraction African American among newly hired officers. Evidence on police performance is mixed. Despite substantial black-white test score differences on police department entrance examinations, city crime rates appear unaffected by litigation. However, litigation lowers slightly both arrests per crime and the fraction black among serious arrestees.
Policing in a multicultural society presents particular challenges both to officers and community residents. This study addresses police officers’ perceptions of multicultural skills, values, and training needed to serve diverse communities better. Of particular interest is whether police supervisors and non-supervisors differ in their attitudes toward multicultural skills, multicultural values, and receptiveness toward diversity training. Results of a web-based survey from over 500 police officers in Rhode Island suggest perceptions of multicultural skills, multicultural values, and training varied by supervisory status and years of experience.
Following recent high-profile deaths of unarmed African American suspects at the hands of police, a number of reforms have been proposed, among them improved minority representation in the ranks of law enforcement organizations. Previous research has explored the effects of minority representation on complaints against the police and other behaviors, but very few studies have examined violence toward the police. We merged several data sources together and tested the hypothesis that minority representation within police departments is inversely associated with assaults against the police. In an extension of prior research, we also conducted separate analyses for African American, Hispanic, and Asian officer representation. The results did not support the expectation that diversity within police organizations results in improved police-citizen interactions, as measured by assaults on police. This study is one of the few to examine how different measures of minority representation in police agencies relates to assaults on the police.
From New York to Los Angeles, police departments across the country are consistently accused of racism. Although historically white police precincts have been slowly integrating over the past few decades, African-American officers still encounter racism on the job. Bolton and Feagin have interviewed fifty veteran African-American police officers to provide real-life and vivid examples of the difficulties and discrimination these officers face everyday inside and outside the police station from barriers in hiring and getting promoted to lack of trust from citizens and members of black community.
Using data from 464 law enforcement agencies drawn from the Law Enforcement Administrative and Management Statistics survey, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the number of institutional rules and organisational structures an agency has in place to identify, collect and manage information on the use of force incidents explains the previously reported findings that greater levels of female officer representation is associated with more police use of force. Agencies reported receiving a total of 18,711 citizen complaints in 2003 and 22,146 complaints in 2007. Approximately 6.7% of the complaints were sustained in 2003 and 8% in 2007. In 2007, women made up approximately 11% of the sworn officers in the agencies under examination, ranging from 1.4% to 40.1%, up slightly from 2003 when the average was 10.1% Based on the disruption thesis, we hypothesise that increasing female representation in police organisations is a catalyst by which norms and practices become formalised and embedded in the organisation's institutional structure. The findings confirm this connection and suggest that the relationship between gender diversity and citizen's complaints of inappropriate use of force is a function of the number and quality of rules, policies and mechanisms designed to capture and quantify complaints. These results have implications for the increased representation of women in law enforcement. A more robust research agenda on women and policing is needed to explore ways to reduce the negative conflict associated with increasing gender diversity while maintaining a police force that accurately represents the diversity in modern society.
According to tokenism theory, “tokens” (those who comprise less than 15% of a group’s total) are expected to experience a variety of hardships in the workplace, such as feelings of heightened visibility, isolation, and limited opportunities for advancement. In the policing literature, most previous studies have defined tokenism narrowly in terms of gender. The current research extends prior research by examining tokenism as a function of gender and race, with an examination of racial/ethnic subgroups. Particular attention is paid to Latino officers as this study represents the first known study of tokenism and Latino police officers. Quantitative analyses reveal that, for the most part, token police officers do experience the effects of tokenism as predicted by tokenism theory. Although all minorities experienced some level of tokenism, Black males and Black females experienced greater levels of tokenism than Latino officers, suggesting that race is a stronger predictor of tokenism than gender.
This article explores reasons why the level of employment of women police in the United States is relatively low and no longer seems to be increasing. Surveys were administered to all women officers and all police chiefs in a three-county area of Pennsylvania where the proportion of women police is lower than the national average. The chiefs and women officers largely agreed about the impact of many components of the hiring process. Women officers perceived more shortcomings in recruitment practices than did the chiefs, though, and put much more emphasis on the male-dominated cultures of police academies and police organizations as obstacles to both recruitment and retention of women officers.
This study examines longitudinal changes in police officer attitudes towards the community within the theoretical context of representative bureaucracy theory. The sample consists of 405 male Caucasian, African-American and Latino/Hispanic patrol officers who began employment with the LAPD from 1985 to 1991 under affirmative action hiring. The same officers comprising the panel study were surveyed at two points in time, 1992 (Wave 1) and 2007 (Wave 2). Results indicated that, over the study’s 15 year time frame, African-American and Latino officers significantly increased their desire to engage in active representation or ‘partnerships’ with the community. Also discovered was a similar time effect among Caucasian officers, who at Wave 1 of the study held significantly lower desires for community interaction than the minority officer sample. Overall, the study findings lend support to representative bureaucracy theory’s general assumption that establishing racial parity between police and citizens may increase the willingness of officers to represent the interests of others with similar demographic backgrounds.
Institutional racism became a potent mobilising concept in police reform in the UK following the publication of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in 1999. Yet while it continues to be used to highlight problematic police/community relationships, little attention has been paid to whether it actually works as a conceptual instrument for change. The explanatory value of the concept has long been contested due to its inherent ambiguities. However, reflecting the noted lack of empirical research in this area, there has been little exploration of how the concept is interpreted and applied by those charged with responding. Drawing on ethnographic research in the aftermath of the Inquiry, this paper puts in question the continuing use of the concept as a lever for reform. Empirical exploration reveals that the conceptual limitations of the term have important operational implications. While the concept provoked an urgent reaction, its central ambiguities confronted police services with profound difficulties in responding. At the same time, it inadvertently focused attention on internal police culture. Consequently, despite the Inquiry's intention that the term would divert attention away from a preoccupation with overt racism among police staff, this is precisely where reform activity was directed. Moreover, the concept not only failed to direct attention to the dynamics of institutional discrimination but, through the activity it elicited, in fact sustained them. However, despite these limitations, the mobilising power of the concept may have instigated a more subtle and pervasive series of shifts in organisational norms. A new approach grounded in practice and giving primacy to conceptual accuracy is now needed.
This paper develops theory about the conditions under which cultural diversity enhances or detracts from work group functioning. From qualitative research in three culturally diverse organizations, we identified three different perspectives on workforce diversity: the integration-and-learning perspective, the access-and-legitimacy perspective, and the discrimination-and-fairness perspective. The perspective on diversity a work group held influenced how people expressed and managed tensions related to diversity, whether those who had been traditionally underrepresented in the organization felt respected and valued by their colleagues, and how people interpreted the meaning of their racial identity at work. These, in turn, had implications for how well the work group and its members functioned. All three perspectives on diversity had been successful in motivating managers to diversify their staffs, but only the integration-and-learning perspective provided the rationale and guidance needed to achieve sustained benefits from diversity. By identifying the conditions that intervene between the demographic composition of a work group and its functioning, our research helps to explain mixed results on the relationship between cultural diversity and work group outcomes.
This article reviews the issues surrounding the employment of racial minorities and women by American police departments. It places particular emphasis on the extent to which slow but uneventful change forces a reconsideration of our understanding of the police. The article reviews the available data on police employment and examines the issues surrounding the factors associated with progress toward equal employment opportunity, the impact of changing employment practices on police performance, public attitudes, and the dynamics of the police subculture.
This paper examines nine innovations in American policing since the report of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967) - community-oriented policing, problem-oriented policing, signs-of-crime policing, hot-spots policing, mandatory arrest for spouse assault, enhancement of internal discipline, external oversight, COMPSTAT, and increased diversity of personnel. These innovations occurred from the top-down within policing and were not the product of collaboration with the rank-and-file. In all but two cases, innovations were not instigated by the police themselves but were formulated by people outside the police and brought to the police for adoption. I conclude that innovation occurred because of a system of collaboration between police and civil society that is unique in the world and was itself instigated by far-sighted police leaders.
In this paper we identify a number of strategies that police officers use to cope with stress caused by problems in the workplace. We also compare coping strategies for gender and racial groups, and link differences to level of stress. Extensive observational data and a survey of 1,087 police officers in 24 departments were used to address the research questions. We found that African-Americans rely more strongly than Caucasians on bonds with other minorities, and that Caucasian officers more often use expression of feelings, trying to get others to like them, and camaraderie with coworkers. Women cope with stress by using escape and by keeping written records more often than men. The data also suggest that an officer's stress-level group depends on the coping strategies he or she uses. Implications for future research are discussed, as are programs to help police develop effective strategies for coping with workplace problems.
This article examines the literature on the physical demands of police work, the use of physical agility testing in police selection, and women's performance as police officers. A survey was conducted with 62 police agencies regarding their physical agility test and the representation of sworn women. Results indicate that the vast majority (89%) of agencies use some form of physical agility testing for entry-level selection, and agencies with a test have 31% fewer sworn women than agencies without such a test (15.8% vs. 10.9%). Results also demonstrate a striking lack of agreement regarding the physical capabilities that should be tested and the standards that should be used to evaluate successful performance. In light of these results, women's proven ability to perform as police officers, and the legal requirements of preemployment testing, the article concludes by reviewing alternatives for physical agility testing in police officer selection.
Successful recruitment and retention of qualified police officers is a primary concern of departments and supervisors. Employment discrimination is an onerous stress that negatively interferes with success. In this article, the authors discuss the legal concepts of employment discrimination, report the discrimination experiences of the officers in their research database, and make recommendations for confronting and preventing employment discrimination. The database includes numerous descriptive variables taken from employment discrimination claims field in Ohio during a 15-year period. It is the most complete database on employment discrimination in the United States.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of policewomen to determine the extent to which female officers face resistance and obstacles to police work, to examine the coping mechanisms female officers utilized to overcome impediments encountered, and to establish common themes in female officers' success stories of acceptance and integration.
Design/methodology/approach
Owing to the difficulty in accessing female officers, the current research utilizes in‐depth qualitative interviews through snowball sampling. This methodology provided a rich sample of tenured female officers' experiences to explore resistance and integration.
Findings
The findings suggest despite early occupational experiences of sexual harassment, discrimination, and disrespect, after long tenures, female officers do achieve acceptance in police work. Female officers are holding high civil service ranks in police agencies and achieving new “firsts” every day, including breaking into stereotypically masculine assignments.
Practical implications
As police departments nationwide are having difficulties maintaining recruitment standards and full rosters, the current study can provide insight into the obstacles women face when joining police agencies and methods to alleviate these impediments, revealing an under‐recruited population for police agencies nationwide.
Originality/value
This study extends past literature by: examining female officers' experiences in a variety of agencies previously ignored in the literature; analyzing the tenure of the officers' careers to determine the onset and desistance of female officers' experiences with resistance and acceptance; and suggesting women do survive and, in some instances, thrive in an “all boys club.”
Bedrock assumptions about the benefits of recruiting more ethnic minority police officers and enhancing cultural diversity training for police are critically evaluated by black and Asian police officers in Britain. Neither policy finds favour among groups which articulate a previously concealed interpretation of such aims: that their value lies in presenting an outward image of action rather than furthering the public good. The research reported in this paper – the first to have gained the cooperation of British police services – involved unstructured interviews with officers from African Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds. The interviews took place in the 18 months following the publication of the Macpherson Report in February 1999 and reflected some of the policy recommendations made by the report, which was based on the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence. Interviewees analyse the two central policy directives advanced by both the Macpherson Report and the Scarman Report, which had been published 18 years before. Both policies concern the enhancement of cultural diversity as a way of combating racism. Cynically regarded in some quarters as 'window dressing', the policies are not seen as helpful, nor even harmless, but as pernicious in that they contrive to give the appearance of progress, while actually achieving little. Interviews were subject to strict confidentiality and conducted in circumstances of the officers' choice in the effort to minimise any inhibitions about expressing views candidly. The officers' perspective is revealed by extensive use of verbatim quotations which drive the narrative of the article. They indicate how far the viewpoints of ethnic minority officers contrast with official policy.
This study investigated the use of force by and against women police officers using survey data from a large sample of female and male officers in six departments. Results suggested that female officers and same-gender female-female officer pairs used less force, and were less likely to use physical force, in police-citizen encounters when compared to their male counterparts. There was no evidence supporting the proposition that citizens used less force against female officers compared with male officers. In fact, the findings indicated that citizens used significantly more force against female officers relative to male officers in domestic calls. Although female officers were more likely to engage in underpredicted policing; that is, use less force than the situation would normally dictate, underpredicted policing was not related to an increase in the likelihood of officer injury. Implications for women officers, police use of force, and the institution of policing are discussed.
This article analyzes three discursive strategies which White police officers use to talk about affirmative action. In different ways, these strategies allow officers to claim to see no racial difference or inequity. In one instance, however, a White officer did remark upon her own Whiteness in terms of cultural difference. I consider the implications of this fact for recent debates in anthropology about the relationship of culture and ideology, as well as for further studies of Whiteness.
This article draws upon research conducted in an English police force to explore how greater political recognition of cultural and gendered identities has impacted upon the interior culture. Two broad, and opposing, perspectives on the contemporary working environment are presented. The first is characterized by resistance and resentment towards the new diversity terrain, and is articulated principally by white, heterosexual, male officers. A contrasting standpoint, held by female, minority ethnic and gay and lesbian officers, reveals the persistence of an imperious white, heterosexist, male culture. It is argued that the narratives of demise and discontent put forward by the adherents of the former operate to subordinate the spaces of representation for emerging identities and sustain an increasingly endangered culture.
Over the past thirty-five years the demographics of American law enforcement have been transformed. The virtually all-white, virtually all-male police departments of the 1950s and 1960s have given way to departments with large numbers of female and minority officers, often led by female or minority chiefs. Openly gay and lesbian officers, too, are increasingly commonplace. This article explores the nature and extent of this transformation, its effects, and its ramifications for how we think about and regulate the police. The demographic transformation of the police workforce is far from complete, and it has gone further in some departments than in others. On the whole, though, the changes are widespread and dramatic. They could have three kinds of possible effects: competence effects (ways in which minority officers, female officers, and openly gay and lesbian officers may have distinctive sets of abilities), community effects (ways in which the demographic diversity of a police department may affect its relations with the community it serves), and organizational effects (ways in which workforce diversity effect the internal dynamics of the department itself). The third category has received the least attention and is probably the most important. In particular, there is mounting evidence - increasingly commonplace among police ethnographers, but largely unfamiliar to legal academics and the broader public - that the demographic transformation of American law enforcement has done much to break down the police subculture, by weakening both the occupational solidarity and the social insularity of the police. When police departments began adopting affirmative action policies three decades ago, even some police officials sympathetic to the policies worried about factionalism and a decline in esprit de corps. As it has turned out, though, the decline in occupational solidarity is very good news. Police effectiveness does not appear to have suffered, a range of police pathologies have been ameliorated, and police reform has grown easier and less perilous. I explore four sets of ramifications of the changing demographics of law enforcement. The first set concerns affirmative action. Here law enforcement appears to be a striking success story, but a success story in danger of ending prematurely. The evidence is strong that the demographic transformation of American law enforcement over the past few decades owes much to race-conscious remedies, typically imposed pursuant to consent decree or other court order. There are lessons here for the debate over affirmative action more broadly, and grounds for concern about future progress integrating police departments as court-ordered hiring and promotion plans expire or are rescinded. The second set of implications concerns the debate over litigation as a strategy for social reform. Here, again, the integration of police departments is a noteworthy success story - one that casts doubt on sweeping generalizations about the ineffectiveness of courts in catalyzing social large-scale change. The third set of ramifications concerns police reform. Here the lessons are twofold: continued diversification of law enforcement workplaces deserves more attention as a key component of police reform, and the diversification already accomplished should prompt reconsideration of avenues of reform previously thought too dangerous because of the solidarity and insularity of the police. The fourth and final set of implications concerns criminal procedure. The changing demographics of American law enforcement falls far short of making Warren Court criminal procedure obsolete, but it does justify more careful and nuanced thinking about race, gender, and sexuality dynamics in policing. There is a story running through this article, about a profound insight ossifying into orthodoxy. The insight was that police behavior is overwhelmingly determined by a homogeneous occupational subculture, a subculture shaped by the nature of the job itself and marked by paranoia, insularity, and intolerance. This became the orthodox view of the police for good reason: it had tremendous explanatory power when it was first developed in the late 1950s, and made even more sense by the end of the 1960s, as the police felt themselves increasingly under siege. Even today, police solidarity and insularity are hardly things of the past. But neither are they what they used to be. In large part because of the demographic transformation of law enforcement, police officers are far less unified today and far less likely to have an us-them view of civilians. But our beliefs about the police have had trouble keeping pace with the changes on the ground. We still tend to believe that police behavior is shaped by a monolithic professional subculture, to which all recruits either assimilate or fall victim. That belief has made it hard for us to see the ways in which policing has changed as police officers themselves have changed - the ways in which the new diversity of police workforces has altered the dynamics of law enforcement.
A growing body of evidence shows that minorities are disproportionately the targets of police brutality, but important theoretical questions about the causes of that inequity remain unanswered. One promising line of research involves structural-level analyses of the incidence of police brutality complaints; however, existing studies do not incorporate variables from alternative theoretical explanations. Drawing on the community accountability hypothesis and the threat hypothesis, we tested the predictions of two prominent structural-level explanations of police brutality in a study of civil rights criminal complaints. The study included cities of 150,000+ population (n = 114). The findings reveal that two community accountability variables—ratio percent Hispanic citizens to percent Hispanic police officers and the presence of citizen review—were related positively to police brutality complaints, partially supporting that perspective. Two threat hypothesis measures of threatening people—percent black and percent Hispanic (in the Southwest)—were related positively to complaints, as predicted. The relative degree of support for the two hypotheses is assessed.
This article draws on participant observation in a law enforcement academy to demonstrate how a hidden curriculum encourages aspects of hegemonic masculinity among recruits. Academy training teaches female and male recruits that masculinity is an essential requirement for the practice of policing and that women do not belong. By watching and learning from instructors and each other, male students developed a form of masculinity that (1) excluded women students and exaggerated differences between them and men; and (2) denigrated women in general. Thus, the masculinity that is characteristic of police forces and is partly responsible for women’s low representation on them is not produced exclusively on the job, but is taught in police academies as a subtext of professional socialization.
This article addresses perceived deficiencies in the study of representative bureaucracy by explaining and classifying the sources of passive representation's substantive effects. This classification is used to clarify existing empirical research and normative thinking on active representation. Doing so produces a more modest but more accurate interpretation of existing research findings and helps to indicate future research needs. It also reduces normative disagreement to a single source of substantive effects, namely bureaucratic partiality. Minority bureaucratic partiality is of dubious value for helping minorities, and bureaucratic partiality should generally be rejected. However, a passively representative bureaucracy increases in importance because of its other sources of substantive effects. This demonstrates the need to go beyond the passive–active distinction: It is more adequate and accurate to speak of representative bureaucracy and the sources of its substantive effects.
Most of the empirical literature on gender and policing has assessed gender differences in arrest levels and police use of force. While simple gender differences in police behavior are important for understanding skills men and women bring to the policing occupation, research must also determine under what conditions gender differences emerge and what factors impact the relationship between officer gender and behavior for this knowledge to be constructive. Although sexy, arrest and force decisions occur when police discretion is often limited, adding little to the knowledge of how gender affects everyday police-citizen encounters. Using data from systematic social observations of police-citizen encounters in St. Petersburg, Florida and Indianapolis, Indiana, this article replicates past analyses of gender differences in police utilization of controlling and supporting behaviors, but also extends the analyses by assessing the possible impact of intervening situational and organizational characteristics, determining under what conditions female officers utilize different behaviors from their male counterparts. The findings provide mixed support for the general hypothesis of gender-specific responses. Consistent with previous literature, this research suggests that women are much less likely than men to utilize extreme controlling behavior, such as threats, physical restraint, search, and arrest. Surprisingly, the findings do not confirm that women are more likely than men to use supporting behaviors, even when controlling for women's greater likelihood to hold community policing assignments. These findings, while unexpected, are important. Simply assuming female officers manifest stereotypically feminine traits in policing tasks is clearly an overly simplistic conceptualization of the meaning and impact of gender in policing. The implications for female officers, policing, and future research are discussed.
This longitudinal field study examined the influence of (1) perceived person-job and person-organization fit, (2) social support network, and, (3) equal employment opportunity (EEO) policy on pre-entry career commitment and intentions to remain in the profession. In addition, the study explored whether gender moderated the relationship between equal employment opportunity policy and pre-entry career commitment and intentions to remain in the profession. The sample consisted of 116 Australian police force applicants who completed a questionnaire prior to formal selection procedures (Time 1) and on completion of the selection procedure (Time 2). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceived fit perceptions and EEO policy were significant predictors of pre-entry career commitment and intentions to remain in the profession; social support network was a significant predictor of the latter, but not the former variable. Analyses showed that gender was not a moderator variable. The practical and future research implications of the results are discussed.
Resigners? The experience of Black and Asian police officers
- A M Barron
- S Holdaway
Barron, A. M., & Holdaway, S. (2016). Resigners? The experience of Black and Asian police officers. Springer.