Discrimination In Policing

As we look at the lack of minorities in policing the two key problems causing this issue are gender and race. As recently as 1968 African Americans on the force only consisted of a makeup of only 5 percent of all sworn officers in the United States and the percentage of women on our forces in numbers were substantially even lower. Throughout the last twenty years, many police departments have tried to recruit women, African American, Hispanics, Asian American and other minority groups. Though the numbers are on a steady rise, they are not an impressive one. Discrimination is a factor in the issue in few minorities in policing, the illegal use of characteristic of race and/or gender of an applicant used by the employer in making a hiring or promotion decision. In women, scrutiny and tokenism play the reason for the lack of women on the police force. Male police officers feel their female counterparts are mentally soft, physically weak, and are unable for the rigors of the job. More than half of this country’s police department has no women in their highest rank and less than one percent of the

In areas that are in Mexican American communities such as Arizona, Texas and California, Hispanic offices are very viable there are they speak Spanish and able to communicate and bale to gather information which would be difficult for non-speaking Spanish officers. It is the best argument to say the least a diverse police force in this country would only enhance the overall effectiveness of American law