Not that we needed Ferguson, Mo., to remind us, but it more than matters if a police force identifies with those it’s sworn to protect. The obvious corollary: It also matters mightily if the citizenry can identify with its police force. Is it “us” or is it “them”? It’s an all too familiar refrain.
The most obvious variable, of course, is race. The late Michael Brown merely underscored the reality: Too many police forces don’t reflect their communities’ demographics–read: too few black officers. In Ferguson, where two thirds of the residents are black, more than 90 percent of the police force is white.
Tampa is not that one-sided, although the numbers–like almost everywhere–are racially skewed. This city is 46 percent white, and TPD is 70 percent white. Tampa’s population is 24.7 percent black, and TPD is 14 percent black. It’s no surprise, and it will take more than diversity awareness and proactive recruiting to improve.
Here’s the reality.
Nobody questions racial composition when it comes to accountants, chemists, bankers, pharmacists, social workers, Baptist ministers or NFL players. It is what it is, and societal subplots and personal callings have everything to do with it.
Law enforcement is no exception, even if its subplots parallel America’s racial fault lines.
It has requirements beyond the acceptance of serious risk, which is a stark given. A high school diploma and, increasingly, college credits, for openers. And a background check that doesn’t yield police-blotter photos.
“We are looking to hire minorities,” imploringly underscores St. Petersburg police Chief Tony Holloway, who is black. “We want to. And if they are qualified, please give us a call.”
It’s no secret–and the reasons are as familiar as they are regrettable–that black graduation and incarceration rates are major barriers in the recruiting of African-American police officers. It’s also lamentable that the police are too often regarded as the white establishment, with a cop of color too easily stereotyped as a “snitch” with a badge or an armed, acquiescent “Uncle Tom.”
If none of this changes, then those police-force racial ratios won’t change, and racial bias will remain a constant. Cosmetic affirmative action is no solution. No one wants to rely on a token cop for protection any more than they would prefer a token emergency-room physician.
Change has to emanate from the black community as a complement to ratcheted-up, police- recruiting efforts. That means, for example, zero tolerance for academic achievement being perversely perceived as “acting white.” It also means high-profile campaigns that denounce black-on-black crime that is more insidious than the headline-grabbing cases involving the egregious shooting-and-choking deaths of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, respectively.
If there’s no grass roots change, there will be no success in meaningfully diversifying police forces. If there’s no such change, the words of the Rev. Jesse Jackson will continue to haunt.
“There’s nothing more painful to me than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery,” said Jackson, “then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
That’s painful commentary on 21st century America. We’ve got to get beyond that disturbing state before we meaningfully improve the relationship between communities and law enforcement. A force for good can’t come solely from more empathetic, racially-diverse police officers.