Attracting Females and Minorities to Law Enforcement

The Police Service are trying to recruit more female officers as well as more people from minority groups with an aim to have a more diverse workforce who can relate more to the public.

Being a female in law enforcement can be challenging at times but however the reward will outweigh the risk. What exactly does happen when females join in “the biggest boys club in America”? Sandra K. Wells and Betty L. Alt are the authors of Police Women Life With A Badge where they discuss the struggles of female police officers seeking to reach top ranking positions; their efforts can be identified as failure, success, politics, and fair play. This book not only presents the struggles of the current problems as a female police officer but past problems as well. Wells and Alt provide a brief history of females in law enforcement through the eyes of female officers. This book outlines where women started in the criminal justice system to where

When it comes to race within law enforcement, male police officers still question whether women can handle the dangerous situations and physical confrontations that officers may be confronted with, while it is shown that most police women have easily met the expectations of their superiors. Indeed, studies have found that, in general, male and female officers perform in similar ways. In addition, research has found that most citizens have positive things to say about the work of police women (Worden,

The article also discusses the challenges of attracting and recruiting police officers. Many police departments pay higher than the state police department, which tends to draw the police officers’ attention. Currently state police departments have to decide how to attract police

In the United States the issue of Policing in regards to race, gender and ethnicity has

There has been many controversies and attention towards the recruiting and hiring crisis in American law enforcement. Among the various problems that law enforcement agencies in America face, however, do not solely pertain to issues such as budgeting or manpower; but rather, it is the problem of recruiting qualified Asian-American applicants (Gaines & Kappeler, 2014). Policing in the United States has changed since the early days of American law enforcement. Although there have been opportunities for Asian-Americans to pursue a career in law enforcement over the last forty years, an existence of discrimination in the workplace regarding allocation of assignments, promotions, and recruitment still occurs (Matthies et al., 2012). That being said, law enforcement agencies in the United States must be culturally and racially diverse, to reflect the population of Asian-Americans in which they promised to protect and serve. It is important to have more Asian-American officers on a police force to improve relationships between law enforcement and Asian-American residents (Alcindor & Penzenstandler, 2015). Having more Asian-American officers on the police force could also help with cultural differences when responding to a call for service involving Asian immigrants (United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2010). Asian-American officers can help solve crimes that might astound colleagues unfamiliar with various Asian dialects (Cao, 2011).

America’s racial past in regards to crime and punishment is discriminatory to say the least, any race that is not white is almost always treated with less care and more caution. Personally, I have never experienced any sort of discrimination by the police or legal system and I believe my description of the police reflects my personal experiences. Despite my personal experiences, I know that when it comes to racial minorities the police are not always just and fair; officers are known to shoot first and ask questions later. In the last few years many of these cases have been widely publicized in American major media outlets, and the text gives numerous examples dating all the way back to the 1990’s. The text provided a quote by Scythian, an ancient Greek philosopher, which I thought was particularly apt for this subject, “they (the laws) catch the weak and the small, but the strong and powerful break through them” (Desmond & Emirbayer, 2009).

Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict

Multicultural understanding is critical, as currently members of racial and ethnic minorities account for more than one in three Americans, and projections indicate that members of minorities will constitute a majority of the nation’s population by 2050. One of the most significant problems facing the police during the past three decades has been the tension, and often upright hostility, between the police and minority group citizens. Over the last few decades, minority representation has increased significantly in U.S. police departments. However, African America, Hispanic American, and other minorities are still seriously underrepresented in U.S. police departments.

This paper will show four different police departments that are currently hiring or recruiting for police officers. There will be a summary on the research found on the process used to recruit police officers. It will also show their current hiring trends and what hiring practices they have that are successful or not successful. The paper will also go over the different methods departments use to train their new officers and their values.

Not more than two years ago, I listened to three minority female officers conversing on the difficulties of being a female officer. Though women have been accepted into police force, it has been a very slow and difficult process. What follows is a brief chronology of their struggle to become assimilated into and become an important part NYC’s “finest” – the N.Y.P.D.

Gender inequality still plays a huge role in today’s society. Women comprise only a small percentage of the local law enforcement agencies across the nation. Women have been a part of law enforcement since the 20th century but have only been noticed within the last 40 years. Back in the 1970’s women rarely held positions in law enforcement and if they did it was mainly clerical/desk positions. Even though the amount of women in law enforcement today has increased, women still only make up roughly around 13 percent of the law enforcement work force (Public). Women can make such an impact in the Law Enforcement field if given a fair chance but they may face many problems when doing so. Some say that women don’t belong, while others suggest

In recent years, recruitment and retention of police officers has been a pain point for many departments across the nation. Odd and inflexible hours, uncompetitive pay, para-militaristic organizational structures, and a negative public perception have all worked to diminish the pool of applicants interested in careers in law enforcement. Add to the mix the sexist “brotherhood” police culture, emphasis on masculinity and aggression, and the nearly non-existent opportunities for advancement for women, and over half of the eligible workforce has been discouraged from even considering a career in law enforcement. In 2013, women comprised just over 57% of the labor force, but accounted for only 13% of sworn police officers (USDOL, 2013; Crooke, 2013). Not only are women sorely underrepresented in the field of law enforcement, but those who are employed experience discrimination at the hands of their supervisors and coworkers, and as a result, the attrition rate for women is often much higher than that of their male counterparts. Departments should pledge dedication to recruiting and retaining more female officers, as research indicates that not only do females perform just as well as males in patrol positions, but they also have a unique set of advantages to offer agencies when employed in law enforcement. In order to improve the recruitment and retention of females into policing roles, departments must determine the biggest deterrents for women who are considering the pursuit

There are many stereotypes that women in the law enforcement field have to face. In order to recruit more women into policing, law enforcement agencies should attempt to overcome the idea that policing is a "male-oriented profession". This paper will cover parts of the history of women police officers, some views and stereotypes of the female officer, job related issues, life outside of the workforce and job satisfaction.

Diversity in law enforcement has grown to become a hot topic within the law enforcement community. The demographic of society has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and with that law enforcement has been changing, but have they been changing enough? Different law enforcement agencies have their own ways of implementing diversity in their practices and procedures, some of them are better than others, but with issues that happen today it is important that they do something.