ADVANCING DIVERSITY 

IN LAW ENFORCEMENT 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

October 2016 

Justice.Gov/PoliceDiversity 

EEOC.Gov/PoliceDiversity
 
Dear Colleagues: 

Today, our country is in the midst of an unprecedented national conversation on 

community-police relations. All across our nation – from small suburban hamlets to large, urban 

centers – tragic events have brought to the forefront underlying issues about the ways in which law 

enforcement agencies engage with the communities that they are sworn to protect and serve. Two 

years ago, President Obama established a Task Force on 21st Century Policing for the purpose of 

identifying “the best means to provide an effective partnership between law enforcement and local 

communities that reduces crime and increases trust.” Among its recommendations, the Task Force 

identified increasing the diversity of the nation’s law enforcement agencies as an important aspect in 

developing that trust. Building on this effort, in December 2015 our agencies – the U.S. 

Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission (EEOC) – joined together to launch “Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement,” an 

interagency research initiative designed to help our nation’s law enforcement agencies recruit, hire, 

retain, and promote officers that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. While we fully 

recognize that increasing diversity in law enforcement agencies alone cannot solve the myriad 

challenges in policing or address every concern about public trust in law enforcement, enhancing 

diversity must be part of the conversation about improving relations between law enforcement and 

communities. 

Both the Civil Rights Division and the EEOC are tasked with enforcing federal civil rights, 

but we are also well aware that enforcement efforts – which are critical tools in combating barriers, 

ensuring compliance, and advancing reforms – are most effective when paired with robust outreach, 

stakeholder engagement, and practical tools and resources. It is with this understanding that we 

launched the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative and that we issue the enclosed 

report today. This report aims not only to frame the issue of diversity within the larger, national 

conversation but also to document common barriers and highlight promising efforts already 

underway in law enforcement agencies. This report does not mark the end of our work on these 

important issues. Rather, it provides a framework that we hope will spur further dialogue and 

reform around the country as we continue to engage with law enforcement and local communities. 

We want to acknowledge the work of the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), which served as 

our partner throughout this initiative. CPE’s research, analysis, and expertise were critical 

throughout the process. We also want to thank the hundreds of individuals from across the nation 

who agreed to participate in this effort. Over the course of the last year, we conducted extensive 

outreach with law enforcement leaders, officers, and command staff; national policing organizations; 

federal law enforcement agencies; community stakeholders; and others in order to hear directly from 

you about the challenges you face, the changes you are working to implement, and the resources and 

tools you need to accelerate the pace of progress. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Law enforcement is a rewarding, demanding, rigorous, and – as recent events painfully 

remind us – dangerous profession. We have the utmost respect for the men and women who wear 

the badge and serve our communities, the vast majority of whom perform their jobs with 

professionalism, honor, and integrity. As we reflect on the challenges in our communities today, we 

know that you are asking the hard questions and refusing to settle for easy answers. We hope you 

find this report to be a useful resource as you continue to engage in the tough, vital work of bringing 

our law enforcement agencies and communities closer. 

Sincerely, 

 Vanita Gupta Jenny R. Yang 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General	 Chair 

Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission 
 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative was undertaken as a joint effort 

between the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the EEOC. We thank the staff and 

leadership teams from both agencies who contributed significant time, resources, and expertise in 

producing the final report. In particular, we want to acknowledge the Civil Rights Division’s 

Employment Litigation Section, Policy Section, and Office of Special Counsel for ImmigrationRelated Unfair Employment Practices as well as the EEOC’s Office of the Chair; Office of 

Commissioner Charlotte Burrows; Office of Legal Counsel; Office of Field Programs; Office of 

Research, Information, and Planning; and Office of General Counsel for their stewardship of this 

effort. We also thank CPE – including R. Nicole Johnson-Ahorlu, Ph.D.; Kat Kiyoko Amano; 

Chris Burbank; Laura Cervantes, Ph.D.; Kimberly Burke, M.A.; Kristen Powell; Summer Joi Robins; 

and Phillip Atiba Goff, Ph.D. – for their research assistance and support throughout. We also want 

to acknowledge our colleagues throughout the Federal government, including the Department of 

Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and Office of Justice Programs as well as 

the Department of Labor for their assistance throughout this effort. 

We want to thank the many law enforcement associations, civil rights organizations, 

academics, and others we met with or spoke to as part of this initiative – including the International 

Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Women in Federal Law 

Enforcement, National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, Hispanic American 

Police Command Officers Association, National Asian Peace Officers Association, National Latino 

Peace Officers Association, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Fraternal 

Order of Police, and National Association of Police Organizations – for their important 

contributions to the issues discussed in our report. As part of this initiative, we also met with our 

colleagues in federal law enforcement at the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Marshals 

Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Drug Enforcement 

Administration. We thank them for their engagement, constructive feedback, and candid dialogue 

about the critical issues around diversity in law enforcement. 

Above all, this report is designed to serve as a resource for all law enforcement agencies, 

particularly small and medium-size agencies grappling with the challenges around increasing diversity 

and working hard to implement effective, impactful, and promising practices for change. Several 

local law enforcement leaders around the country took the time to meet and speak with us – sharing 

their unique perspectives about the challenges they have encountered and the promising practices 

they are either already using or considering using to recruit, hire, and retain a diverse officer corps. 

Many of the law enforcement leaders we spoke with directly acknowledged that despite innovative 

and dedicated efforts, barriers still exist, and they fully recognize the challenges that remain. We 

thank these leaders for their engagement, candid assessment of these challenges, and clear desire to 

lead substantive discussions and reforms. 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Tragic events over the past several years – including officer-involved shootings and attacks 

on law enforcement officers, and the demonstrations and protests these incidents have spawned – 

have captured the public’s attention and driven a host of policing issues from the periphery to the 

center of our public dialogue, including a renewed focus on increasing diversity in the nation’s law 

enforcement agencies. In December 2014, President Obama announced his Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing (Task Force). The Task Force brought together a diverse range of stakeholders – 

including law enforcement leaders, advocates, academics, policymakers, and community members – 

to explore strategies for strengthening community-police relations, reducing crime, and advancing 

public safety. In one of its key recommendations for “building trust and legitimacy” in communitypolice relations, the Task Force focused on the need to ensure law enforcement agencies better 

reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. 

Although the spotlight on these issues may seem new to some, for many – including law 

enforcement personnel, government officials, and community leaders – this is only one part of a 

decades-long conversation about how law enforcement and the communities they serve can best 

work together. Many law enforcement agencies, as well as organizations that work with law 

enforcement, have devoted considerable time, energy, and attention in their efforts to recruit and 

retain workforces that reflect the diversity within their jurisdictions. For many years, the Federal 

government has also worked to address challenges and barriers to diversity in law enforcement. 

Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement Initiative 

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

continue to lead robust enforcement, data analysis, and technical assistance efforts to address 

diversity in law enforcement. Yet these efforts, by themselves, cannot reach all of the more than 

18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country. Indeed, voluntary efforts by law enforcement 

employers are an equally, if not more, important way to advance diversity and further equal 

employment opportunity. Toward that end, in December 2015, the Department’s Civil Rights 

Division and the EEOC launched a new research initiative, “Advancing Diversity in Law 

Enforcement,” both to identify barriers that undermine diversity in law enforcement and to 

highlight promising practices that help agencies better reflect the diversity of the communities they 

serve. The initiative has focused on barriers and promising practices across three key areas: 

recruitment, hiring, and retention. In so doing, this initiative has taken a broad examination of 

various barriers to diversity, while also placing particular emphasis on practices that advance greater 

racial and gender diversity and that foster the inclusion of the perspectives and experiences of 

persons of diverse backgrounds in the culture and leadership of law enforcement agencies. This 

initiative was created to assist law enforcement agencies throughout the country as they strive to 

build workforces that better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. It is the hope that 

this effort will especially aid those small and medium-size police departments that recognize the 

importance of diversity, but may lack the resources to fully explore solutions. 

Why Diversity in Law Enforcement Matters 

The challenge of recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse workforce is certainly not limited 

to law enforcement. Throughout the country, in nearly every sector of society, people and 

– i – 
organizations are grappling with this issue. Employers in a variety of industries have engaged in 

proactive efforts to bolster diversity. Yet this challenge remains particularly urgent in the field of 

law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies fulfill a fundamental role in our society, and in many 

communities, individual police officers are often the public face of local government. It therefore is 

critical that our nation’s law enforcement agencies broadly reflect the diversity of the communities 

they serve. 

As the Task Force recognized, increased diversity within law enforcement agencies – defined 

not only in terms of race and gender, but also other characteristics including religion, sexual 

orientation, gender identity, language ability, background, and experience – serves as a critically 

important tool to build trust with communities. This finding is bolstered by decades of research 

confirming that when members of the public believe their law enforcement organizations represent 

them, understand them, and respond to them – and when communities perceive authorities as fair, 

legitimate, and accountable – it deepens trust in law enforcement, instills public confidence in 

government, and supports the integrity of democracy. This trust is essential to defusing tension, to 

solving crimes, and to creating a system in which residents view law enforcement as fair and just. 

Victims and witnesses of crime may not approach or engage with law enforcement if they do not 

perceive such authorities to be responsive to their experiences and concerns. This trust – and the 

cooperation it facilitates – also enables officers to more effectively and safely perform their jobs. 

Research further suggests that increased diversity can make law enforcement agencies more 

open to reform, more willing to initiate cultural and systemic changes, and more responsive to the 

residents they serve. Some have pointed to increased diversity as a catalyst for reform, enabling 

officers and law enforcement leaders alike to become more introspective and reflective about 

problems in their departments. A more reflective and open-minded culture in an agency can help 

drive reform across a range of areas, including civilian oversight, community policing, and racial bias. 

In addition, while greater workforce diversity alone cannot ensure fair and effective policing, a 

significant – and growing – body of evidence suggests that diversity can have a positive influence on 

specific activities and practices of law enforcement agencies. 

Barriers to Diversity 

Despite their efforts, law enforcement agencies of all sizes have not always been successful 

in recruiting and attracting individuals that reflects the communities they serve. This is likely 

attributable to a number of factors that are present in the recruiting, hiring, and retention phases. 

Recruitment: 

 Strained relations and a lack of trust of law enforcement may deter individuals from 

underrepresented communities from applying to be officers. 

 The reputation or operational practices of law enforcement agencies may dissuade applicants 

from underrepresented communities from pursuing a career in law enforcement. 

 Individuals from underrepresented communities may not be sufficiently aware of career 

opportunities within law enforcement agencies. 

– ii – 
Hiring: 

 Law enforcement agencies’ reliance on inadequately tailored examinations as part of the 

screening process may have the unintended consequence of excluding qualified individuals in 

underrepresented communities from the applicant pool. 

 Reliance on certain additional selection criteria and screening processes that 

disproportionately impact individuals from underrepresented communities can also inhibit 

agencies’ efforts to increase the diversity of their workforces. 

 Requirements, such as residency restrictions, may limit certain underrepresented 

communities’ representation in law enforcement agencies. 

 Length, complexity, and cost of application processes can serve as a deterrent for applicants. 

 Law enforcement agencies may be limited in their ability to modify or adjust hiring and 

selection criteria. 

Retention: 

 Individuals may face difficulties adjusting to a law enforcement agency’s organizational 

culture. 

 Individuals from underrepresented communities may face difficulties in the promotion 

process due to a lack of transparency about the process, as well as a scarcity of role models, 

mentoring relationships, and professional development opportunities. 

In identifying policies and practices that have served as barriers to recruiting, hiring, and 

retaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community, this report is not suggesting that 

law enforcement agencies should necessarily abandon those policies or practices. In fact, some of 

these policies and practices result from requirements of federal, state, and/or local laws. However, 

to the extent agencies are trying to increase the diversity of their workforces, they need to recognize 

that these barriers may impede their ability to do so, and develop strategies to compensate for the 

barriers’ undesired impact. 

Promising Practices for Increasing Diversity 

By adopting proactive and intentional recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies, law 

enforcement agencies can address barriers, drive reform, and make progress in ensuring that their 

workforces better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. The report highlights 

promising practices – identified through existing online materials, independent research, and 

interviews – that various law enforcement agencies have found to be particularly effective at 

increasing their diversity. Given the sheer number of law enforcement agencies in this country, this 

report does not provide a comprehensive examination of promising practices that have been 

developed and are being used, but it does provide a number of salient examples focused on the key 

areas of: (i) recruitment, (ii) hiring, and (iii) retention. Although the practices adopted by law 

– iii – 
enforcement agencies vary considerably, this report demonstrates that successful diversity-building 

efforts by law enforcement agencies share several common themes, including: 

 Ensuring that the agency’s organizational culture is guided by community policing (a 

strategy of policing that focuses on police building ties and working closely with community 

members); procedural justice (the idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes) and 

cultural inclusivity (welcoming and including all people). 

 Engaging stakeholders – both from within and outside the law enforcement agency – to 

help create a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community. 

 Being willing to re-evaluate employment criteria, standards, and benchmarks to 

ensure that they are tailored to the skills needed to perform job functions, and consequently 

attract, select, and retain the most qualified and desirable sworn officers. 

Recruitment: 

 Proactive and targeted community outreach efforts can help encourage people from diverse 

populations and walks of life to consider careers in law enforcement. 

 Building partnerships with educational institutions and providing young people with 

internship programs creates a robust pipeline of potential applicants while also helping to 

address historically-negative perceptions or experiences diverse communities have had with 

law enforcement. 

 The effective, innovative use of technology and social media is critical to communicate and 

connect with all members of the community. 

Hiring: 

 Agencies are increasingly adopting a holistic view of what skills and strengths an applicant 

brings to a law enforcement agency, in part by being willing to reevaluate information 

revealed during background checks, including previous drug use. 

 Law enforcement agencies have expressed a willingness to reconsider selection criteria and 

written or physical examinations that do not correspond to job-related duties and that 

disproportionately screen out individuals from underrepresented populations. 

 In their efforts to diversify their workforces, law enforcement agencies have streamlined and 

made more transparent their hiring and selection procedures. Some agencies have offered 

assistance and preparation materials to help applicants prepare for examinations. 

 Law enforcement agencies have involved community members in the hiring process as a way 

to develop workforces that reflects the diversity of their communities. 

– iv – 
 

 

Retention: 

 Mentorship programs and leadership training are critical to providing new officers – 

particularly those from underrepresented populations – with the support, guidance, and 

resources they need to succeed on the job, enjoy their careers, and earn promotions. 

 Community partnerships and stakeholder engagement can help retain officers of color and 

women by better understanding the unique challenges they face in the profession. 

 Incentives – including providing temporary housing, allowing officers to work towards 

college credit while on the job, and providing financial bonuses for language skills – can help 

retain officers with diverse experiences and backgrounds. 

Key Conclusions 

Law enforcement agencies that are committed to increasing the diversity of their workforces 

and ensuring that the demographic makeup of their sworn officers reflect the diversity of the 

communities they serve face a plethora of challenges. These challenges, which manifest themselves 

at every stage of the recruitment, selection, and retention processes, are daunting, but – as the 

experiences of the law enforcement agencies highlighted in this report make clear – they are far from 

insurmountable. In fact, agencies that have undertaken this effort have found that increased 

diversity brings a range of benefits that can be seen both within their workforces as well as in their 

relations with the communities they serve. It is the hope that this report’s discussion of barriers that 

inhibit diversity and the promising practices that have been adopted and are being used in 

jurisdictions all across the country provide a useful resource for law enforcement agencies, 

particularly those that may not have the internal resources to undertake this type of review 

themselves. 

At the same time, the work done for the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative has 

revealed a number of unanswered questions and areas for future research and review. Specifically: 

 More work needs to be done to understand the impact of increased workforce diversity 

on the enforcement activities of law enforcement agencies. 

 Additional empirical research is needed to better understand the long-term impacts of 

the promising practices highlighted in this report. 

 Further research could analyze how to further institutionalize these promising 

practices within departments so that they can withstand changes in leadership and 

personnel. 

 When government stakeholders and policymakers consider laws and regulations that impact 

selection procedures and criteria for law enforcement agencies, the impacts on the 

agencies’ ability to hire officers that reflect the diversity of their communities should 

be taken into account. 

– v – 
 Further research is needed to better understand how law enforcement agencies can 

successfully retain and foster career advancement of officers from underrepresented 

populations. 

This report does not represent the end of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights 

Division and the EEOC’s work around these important issues. The Federal government remains 

committed to partnering with law enforcement agencies from all across the country to assist them in 

their efforts to better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. 

– vi – 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 1
 

A. Background .............................................................................................................................................. 1 

B. Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement Initiative.......................................................................... 4 

C. Roadmap of this Report ......................................................................................................................... 6 

II. WHY DIVERSITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT MATTERS...........................................7
 

III. CURRENT STATE OF DIVERSITY IN AMERICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT ....... 10
 

IV. PROJECT METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 15
 

V. BARRIERS TO DIVERSITY............................................................................................ 17
 

A. Recruitment............................................................................................................................................ 17 

B. Hiring....................................................................................................................................................... 20 

C. Retention................................................................................................................................................. 24 

VI. PROMISING PRACTICES FOR INCREASING DIVERSITY ....................................25
 

A. Recruitment............................................................................................................................................ 26 

B. Hiring....................................................................................................................................................... 30 

C. Retention................................................................................................................................................. 33 

VII. CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................. 36
 

Richmond, California .................................................................................................................................. 37 

Daly City, California .................................................................................................................................... 39 

Beaufort, South Carolina ............................................................................................................................ 40 

Evanston, Illinois......................................................................................................................................... 42 

Artesia, New Mexico................................................................................................................................... 44 

Bowie, Maryland .......................................................................................................................................... 46 

VIII. CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................48
 

IX. APPENDICES ................................................................................................................. 50
 

Appendix A: Lessons Learned from Enforcement of Federal Civil Rights Laws .............................50 

Appendix B: Updated Literature Review ................................................................................................. 58 

Appendix C: List of Organizations and Stakeholders Consulted .........................................................69 
 

 

                                                            

 

I. Introduction 

A. Background 

During the summer of 2014, the nation’s attention turned to the small city of Ferguson, 

Missouri, which was embroiled in protests and civil unrest following the tragic shooting of Michael 

Brown, an 18-year-old African-American resident, by a white officer from the Ferguson Police 

Department. While much of the attention focused on the range of systemic problems and 

significant challenges in the relationship between law enforcement and the community in Ferguson, 

discussion also turned to the demographics of the Ferguson Police Department. Several news 

organizations reported that there was a severe imbalance between the racial composition of the 

police department and the demographics of the community, they observed that although African 

Americans comprised a majority of Ferguson’s population, only three of the city’s 53 commissioned 

police officers were African American.1 Similarly, when the Department of Justice (Department) 

published its investigative findings from its systematic review of the Ferguson Police Department in 

March 2015, the review found that while African Americans comprise roughly 67 percent of the 

city’s population, they accounted for less than 8 percent of its police force. The report concluded 

that the police department’s lack of racial diversity, when combined with other factors, undermined 

and damaged community trust in the police.2 

But Ferguson is far from an anomaly in this regard. A disconnect between the composition 

of law enforcement agencies and the demographics of the communities they serve can be found 

throughout our country.

3 A New York Times analysis of data collected by the Federal government 

found that “[i]n hundreds of police departments across the country, the proportion of whites on the 

force is more than 30 percentage points higher than in the communities they serve.”4 Another 

publication, Governing, conducted a similar analysis with the same dataset and reached nearly identical 

conclusions: “[r]acial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented by a combined 24 percentage 

points on average when each police department’s sworn officer demographics are compared with 

Census estimates for the general public.”5 

1 See Bathya Ungar-Sargon, Lessons for Ferguson in Creating a Diverse Police Department, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT POLITICS, Jan. 5, 

2015, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lessons-for-ferguson-in-creating-a percent1fdiverse-police-department/; see 

also Emily Badger, When Police Departments Don’t Look Like the Cities They’re Meant to Protect, WASH. POST, Aug. 12, 2014, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/12/when-police-departments-dont-look-like-the-citiestheyre-meant-to-protect; Jeremy Ashkenas and Haeyoun Park, The Race Gap in America’s Police Departments, N.Y. TIMES, 

Sept. 4, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/03/us/the-race-gap-in-americas-policedepartments.html?_r=0; Emily Badger, Dan Keating, and Kennedy Elliott, Where Minority Communities Still Have 

Overwhelmingly White Police, WASH. POST, Aug. 14, 2014, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/14/where-minority-communities-still-haveoverwhelmingly-white-police/. 

 U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, INVESTIGATION OF THE FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT 88 (2015), 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-findings-two-civil-rights-investigations-fergusonmissouri. 3 See, e.g., Shaila Dewan, Mostly White Forces in Mostly Black Towns: Police Struggle for Racial Diversity, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 9, 

2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/us/for-small-police-departments-increasing-diversity-is-a-struggle.html 

(discussing the trend regarding small and mid-size departments that have a far less diverse workforce than the 

communities they serve, and commentary on the public discussion of this issue after the death of Michael Brown in 

Ferguson, Missouri). 

4 Ashkenas and Park, supra note 1. 5 Mike Maciag, Where Police Don’t Mirror Communities and Why It Matters, GOVERNING, Aug. 28, 2015, 

http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-police-department-diversity.html; see also Yamiche 

1 

2
 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

Tragic events over the past several years – including officer-involved shootings and attacks 

on law enforcement officers, and the demonstrations and protests these incidents have spawned – 

have captured the public’s attention and driven a host of policing issues from the periphery to the 

center of our public dialogue, including a renewed focus on increasing diversity in the nation’s law 

enforcement agencies.6

 For example, following the recent fatal attack on police officers in Dallas, 

Texas, the Dallas police chief specifically encouraged young African-American men who had been 

protesting the actions of his law enforcement agency to apply to work there.7 Other law 

enforcement leaders have issued similar public appeals in response to demonstrations and social 

unrest in their jurisdictions.8 

In December 2014, President Obama announced his Task Force on 21st Century Policing. 

The Task Force brought together a diverse range of stakeholders – including law enforcement 

leaders, advocates, academics, policymakers, and community members – to explore strategies for 

strengthening community-police relations, reducing crime, and advancing public safety. The 59 

recommendations detailed in the Task Force’s May 2015 final report provide law enforcement and 

communities with a roadmap to rebuild trust and to advance effective, constitutional, and 

community-oriented policing. 

In one of its key recommendations for “building trust and legitimacy” in community-police 

relations, the Task Force focused on the need to ensure law enforcement agencies better reflect the 

diversity of the communities they serve.9 

“Law enforcement agencies should strive to create a workforce 

that contains a broad range of diversity including race, gender, 

language, life experience, and cultural background to improve 

understanding and effectiveness in dealing with all communities.” 

– Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 

Alcindor and Nick Penzenstadler, Police Redouble Efforts to Recruit Diverse Officers, USA TODAY, Jan. 21, 2015, 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/21/police-redoubling-efforts-to-recruit-diverse-officers/21574081/ 

(finding that while the country’s population is about 63 percent white, nearly 75 percent of all police officers are white). 6 When discussing diversity in law enforcement, this report focuses almost exclusively on sworn officers. While 

definitions may vary slightly, sworn officers can be identified and defined by having “the authority to make arrests and 

carry firearms” and have taken an oath to support federal law, including the U.S. Constitution, as well as applicable state
 

or local laws in their jurisdictions. E.g., What’s It Like? Discoverpolicing.org, 

http://discoverpolicing.org/whats_like/?fa=types_jobs (last visited Sept. 21, 2016). 7 Jen Fifield, Can Diverse Police Departments Ease Community Tension? STATELINE, Aug. 22, 2016, 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/can-diverse-police-departments-ease-community-tension/. 8 Id. 

9 See OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES, FINAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT’S TASK FORCE ON 

21ST CENTURY POLICING (2015), at 16, http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf. The U.S. 

Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Office of Justice Programs as well as the U.S. Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission authored a “Diversity in Law Enforcement Literature Review,” which identified research and 

academic scholarship addressing diversity in law enforcement so that this cross-section of relevant research could inform 

the work of the Task Force. An updated version of that literature review is attached as Appendix B. 

2 
                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

Although greater diversity in law enforcement agencies is not a cure-all solution to improving policecommunity relations, the Task Force did identify diversity as a key element, a necessary piece of the 

conversation around reform, and an important factor in evaluating the multiple causes of 

fragmented trust. 

Although the spotlight on these issues is more prominent than it has been in the past, for 

many – including law enforcement personnel, government officials, and community leaders – this is 

only one piece of a decades-long conversation about how law enforcement and the communities 

they serve can best work together. Efforts to advance diversity within the law enforcement 

profession have been particularly challenging. In fact, this is one of the issues that led Congress, in 

1972, to provide the Federal government with greater authority to enforce the employment 

discrimination provisions of Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) against 

state and local public employers, including law enforcement agencies.10 And as one scholar has 

observed, “virtually every national report on the police over the past twenty years has recommended 

increased employment of minorities and women.”11 Many law enforcement agencies, as well as 

organizations that work with law enforcement, have devoted considerable time, energy, and 

attention in their efforts to recruit and retain workforces that reflect the diversity within their 

jurisdictions.12 

For many years, the Federal government has also worked to address challenges and barriers 

to diversity in law enforcement. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency 

tasked with primary responsibility for enforcing Federal employment discrimination laws, enforces 

Title VII as well as the other protections that forbid employers from discriminating against job 

applicants or employees. Additionally, the EEOC collects and analyzes workforce demographic data 

from large employers, including law enforcement agencies, and upon request has provided technical 

assistance to these agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice has also been engaged in a variety of 

efforts to address the diversity of the nation’s law enforcement agencies. The Department’s Civil 

Rights Division works jointly with the EEOC in enforcing Title VII,13 and has successfully brought 

numerous civil actions against police departments, state correctional organizations, and first 

responder agencies challenging unlawful, discriminatory employment, hiring, and promotion 

practices.14 The Division also enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and 

10 George P. Sape & Thomas J. Hart, Title VII Reconsidered: The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 40 GEO. WASH. 

L. REV. 824, 847 (1972). 11 Samuel Walker, Racial Minority and Female Employment in Policing: The Implications of Glacial Change, 31 CRIME & DELINQ. 

555, 555-72 (1985). 

12 For example, in September 2016 a coalition of associations and organizations devoted to representing the interests of 

women and racial minorities in law enforcement joined together to recommend a national “call to action” related to 

increasing diversity in law enforcement. WOMEN IN FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ET AL., TRANSFORMING LAW 

ENFORCEMENT BY CHANGING THE FACE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT – 21ST CENTURY POLICING: GUIDE TO RECRUITING, 

HIRING, RETAINING, AND PROMOTING WOMEN AND MINORITIES 9 (2016). 13 Specifically, the Civil Rights Division enforces Title VII, which prohibits employment practices that discriminate on 

the basis of race, sex, religion, and national origin, against state and local employers, including law enforcement agencies. 

Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against in employment by a state or local employer first file a 

charge with the EEOC. The EEOC investigates the charge, and, if the EEOC finds it meritorious, attempts to 

conciliate it. If conciliation fails, the EEOC refers the charge to the Civil Rights Division for review and possible 

litigation. The Civil Rights Division also has its own self-starting authority to initiate investigations regarding 

employment discrimination by state and local governments. 

14 See, e.g., United States v. City of New York, No. 07-cv-2067 (E.D.N.Y.) (challenging the fire department’s entry level 

examination); United States v. City of Corpus Christi, No. 12-cv-00271 (S.D. Tex.) (challenging the police department’s 

entry-level examination); United States v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, No. 09-cv-11623-WGY 9 (D. Mass.) (challenging 

3 
 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

 

Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits employers, including law enforcement agencies, from 

discriminating against job applicants because of their national origin; it also prohibits citizenship or 

immigration status discrimination where such distinctions are not otherwise authorized by law. In 

addition, through the Division’s enforcement of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 

Act of 1994, the Division has entered into court-enforceable consent decrees that, among other 

measures, have focused on the need for jurisdictions to increase the diversity within their law 

enforcement agencies.15 The Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 

(COPS) and Office of Justice Programs also have been engaged in efforts around this issue.16 

Through this work – as well as the efforts of other Federal agencies17 – the Federal government has 

been actively working to promote greater diversity in the nation’s law enforcement agencies. 

B. Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement Initiative 

While the Department of Justice and EEOC continue to lead robust enforcement, data 

analysis, and technical assistance efforts to address diversity in law enforcement, we also recognize 

that these efforts, by themselves, cannot reach all of the more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies 

in this country. Indeed, voluntary efforts by law enforcement employers are essential to advance 

diversity and further equal employment opportunity. Toward that end, in December 2015, the 

Department’s Civil Rights Division and the EEOC launched a new research initiative, “Advancing 

Diversity in Law Enforcement,” to identify barriers that undermine diversity in law enforcement and 

corrections department’s entry-level examination). U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, https://www.justice.gov/crt/employmentlitigation-section-cases (last visited Oct. 1, 2016). 15 As part of this work, several consent decrees negotiated by the Justice Department – including in Ferguson and 

Albuquerque, among other cities – have focused on the need for jurisdictions to recruit, hire, and retain a diverse police 

force. In Ferguson, the consent decree called for a “written Recruitment Plan that includes clear goals, objectives, and 

action steps for attracting and retaining a high-quality and diverse work force.” Consent Decree at 64, United States v. 

City of Ferguson, No. 4:16-cv-00180-CDP (E.D. Mo. Mar. 17, 2016), 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/833431/download. In Albuquerque, the relevant provisions of the consent decree 

entered required that the police department “shall develop a strategic recruitment plan that includes clear goals, 

objectives, and action steps for attracting qualified applicants from a broad cross section of the community.” Consent 

Decree at 74, United States v. City of Albuquerque ̧ No.1:14-cs-01025-RB-SMV (D.N.M. Nov. 14, 2014), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/12/19/apd_settlement_11-14-14.pdf. 16 In 2009, COPS authored a report that focused on police recruitment, recruiting for diversity, agency collaboration in 

police officer recruitment and selection, and community partnerships in police recruitment. U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, 

LAW ENFORCEMENT RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT (2009), http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/vets-to-cops/e080921223-

RecruitmentToolkit.pdf. And in 2004, COPS published a report that explores methods and practices, in five sites across 

the nation, for hiring police candidates who could develop dynamic and working partnerships with community and work 

collaboratively to solve community problems. Ellen Scrivner, Ph.D., U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, INNOVATIONS IN POLICE 

RECRUITMENT AND HIRING, HIRING IN THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE (2004), http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/vets-tocops/innovationpolicerecruitmenthiring.pdf. In 2014, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of Justice Programs, 

U.S. Department of Justice launched the Women in Law Enforcement Initiative based on publicly available data, 

including information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI, which show that state law enforcement agencies 

lag behind their local counterparts in employing women as sworn officers. The Initiative examines, through compliance 

reviews, how state law enforcement agencies recruit, select, and retain female sworn law enforcement officers. In 

January 2016, OCR issued its first compliance review report under the Initiative. 17 The Department of Labor is conducting a First Responder Workforce Diversity Study, focused on firefighters, police, 

emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and paramedics. The purpose of the study is to identify and document 

promising practices and strategies that promote racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the recruitment, training, hiring, 

and retention of individuals in first responder occupations. U.S. DEP’T OF LABOR, CHIEF EVALUATION OFFICE, FIRST 

RESPONDER WORKFORCE DIVERSITY STUDY, 

https://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/currentstudies/First_Responder_Workforce_Diversity_Study.htm, (last visited 

Sept. 20, 2016). 

4 
 

                                                            

 

 

 

highlight promising practices that help agencies better reflect the diversity of the communities they 

serve. The initiative has focused on barriers and promising practices across three key areas: 

recruitment, hiring, and retention. In so doing, this initiative has taken a broad look at a number of 

barriers to diversity, while placing particular emphasis on practices that advance greater racial and 

gender diversity and that foster the inclusion of the perspectives and experiences of persons of 

diverse backgrounds in the culture and leadership of law enforcement agencies.18 This initiative was 

created to assist law enforcement agencies throughout the country as they strive to build workforces 

that better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and to especially aid those small and 

medium-size police departments that recognize the importance of diversity, but may lack the 

resources to fully explore solutions.19 

This report lays out the results of that effort. Of particular salience is the collection of 

promising practices that are being developed and implemented by law enforcement agencies across 

the country. To be sure, none of these practices can guarantee increased diversity within an agency; 

as discussed in greater detail below, strategies for successfully recruiting, hiring, and retaining 

officers are inherently localized practices that depend upon a variety of factors and contexts that are 

not easily summarized. Moreover, adoption of any of these practices by themselves will not 

necessarily ensure compliance with all legal obligations related to equal employment opportunity.20 

Nevertheless, the experiences of law enforcement agencies taking steps to increase the diversity of 

their workforces provides useful information for others who are, or wish to be, engaged in similar 

efforts. 

Underlying this effort is the recognition that the Federal government should improve its 

own diversity as well. In 2011 President Obama issued an executive order establishing a coordinated 

government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion within the Federal workforce.21 And 

after data revealed a decline in the number of racial minorities serving as special agents within the 

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Director James Comey described the issue as a “crisis” and 

affirmed the agency’s commitment to reversing that trend.22 

18 Throughout this effort, the Department of Justice and the EEOC have explored barriers and promising practices 

related to other factors beyond race and gender, however, given limits in data and population size, the majority of this 

initiative and this report focuses on those two broad categories. 19 For purposes of this report, small law enforcement agencies are those with 75 or fewer sworn officers, medium or 

mid-size agencies are those with 76-125 sworn officers, and large departments are those with more than 125 sworn 

officers. 

20 A discussion of how the requirements of Federal civil rights laws have shaped diversity and equal employment 

opportunity within law enforcement can be found in Appendix A. 

21 See, e.g., Exec. Order No. 13583 3 C.F.R. 13563, (2011), https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2011/08/18/executive-order-13583-establishing-coordinated-government-wide-initiativ. 22 James B. Comey, Director, Fed. Bureau of Investigation, FBI/BCRI Annual Conference on Civil Rights: Law 

Enforcement and the Communities We Serve: Tied Together in a Single Garment of Destiny (May 25, 2016), 

https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/law-enforcement-and-the-communities-we-serve-tied-together-in-a-singlegarment-of-destiny (“The FBI special agent cadre has been growing slowly and steadily more white for the last decade. 

Eighty-three percent of our special agents are white, while the United States continues to get more diverse . . . . 

Becoming a more diverse FBI is of course the right thing to do, but it’s also about being more effective in carrying out 

our responsibilities and our mission in this wonderful country of ours. We are more credible and we make better 

decisions when we bring different perspectives to bear. We know more, we see more, we are better. So we need to be 

more diverse in race and religion, in ethnicity and background. We have to work hard to overcome the cynicism that 

some young people feel about law enforcement and whether to choose that to be their life. And we need to especially 

push hard in communities that are underrepresented in our ranks. That’s going to take a whole lot of energy and 

5 
 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Throughout this initiative, the Department’s Civil Rights Division and the EEOC worked 

with law enforcement leaders, civil rights advocates, academic experts, municipal officials, and other 

stakeholders to take advantage of the considerable existing research and successful models that are 

being used by agencies all across the country to address barriers to diversity. CPE spearheaded 

much of these outreach and engagement efforts. Overall, it is the hope that this Advancing 

Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative will advance ongoing conversations around this challenging 

and important issue and serve as a resource for law enforcement agencies and others across the 

country. 

C. Roadmap of this Report 

This report proceeds as follows: 

 Section II discusses why diversity matters, including the benefits that result when law 

enforcement agencies reflect the diversity of the communities they serve; 

 Section III provides an overview of the nation’s law enforcement agencies and describes 

current demographics; 

 Section IV discusses the methodology that the Department of Justice, the EEOC, and CPE 

used in conducting outreach and research for this effort; 

 Section V examines the barriers to greater diversity in law enforcement within the areas of 

recruitment, hiring, and retention; 

 Section VI highlights promising practices that law enforcement agencies have been using to 

advance diversity nationwide;23 

 Section VII showcases in greater detail the efforts that a handful of law enforcement 

agencies have taken to promote greater diversity in their workforces; 

 Section VIII summarizes the report’s key conclusions and notes places where additional 

research and study may be useful going forward; and finally 

 Section IX provides a set of appendices that document the impact of enforcement activities, 

summarize existing literature on the topic, and list organizations that were consulted during 

the project. 

innovation.”); see also Devlin Barrett, FBI Director Comey Calls Agency’s Lack of Diversity a ‘Crisis’, WALL STREET J., July 13, 

2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-director-comey-calls-agencys-lack-of-diversity-a-crisis-1468426138. 23 Nothing in this report is designed to serve as legal advice; rather the report, including its discussion of promising 

practices, is aimed to serve as a resource for law enforcement agencies. The practices discussed in the report are based 

on both publicly available information and research conducted during this initiative. The mention or recognition of a 

particular practice, however, does not represent the Federal government’s endorsement or blanket approval of the 

organization’s employment practices or the legality of such practices. The Federal government mentioning a practice in 

this report also does not prevent or interfere with any Federal agency’s existing authority to pursue current or future 

litigation against a specific entity or agency using that practice. 

6 
                                                            

 

 

II. Why Diversity in Law Enforcement Matters 

The challenge of recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse workforce is certainly not limited 

to law enforcement. Throughout the country, in nearly every sector of society, people and 

organizations are grappling with this issue. Employers in a variety of industries have engaged in 

proactive efforts to expand opportunity and strengthen diversity.24 Yet this challenge remains 

particularly urgent in the field of law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies fulfill a fundamental 

role in our society, and in many communities, individual police are often the public face of local 

government. It therefore is critical that our nation’s law enforcement agencies broadly reflect the 

diversity of the communities they serve. 

As the Task Force recognized, increased diversity within law enforcement agencies – defined 

not only in terms of race and gender, but also other characteristics including religion, sexual 

orientation, gender identity, language ability, background, and experience – serves as a critically 

important tool to build trust with communities.25 This finding is bolstered by decades of research 

confirming that when members of the public believe their law enforcement organizations represent 

them, understand them, and respond to them, and when communities perceive authorities as fair, 

legitimate, and accountable, it enhances trust in law enforcement, instills public confidence in 

government, and supports the integrity of democracy.26 This trust is essential to defusing tension, to 

solving crimes, and to creating a system in which residents view law enforcement as fair and just. 

Members of the public, including victims and witnesses of crime, may not approach or engage with 

law enforcement if they do not perceive such authorities to be responsive to their experiences and 

concerns. This trust – and the cooperation it facilitates – also enables officers to more effectively 

and safely perform their jobs. 

Research further suggests that increased diversity also can make law enforcement agencies 

more open to reform, more willing to initiate cultural and systemic changes, and more responsive to 

the residents they serve. Some have pointed to increased diversity as a catalyst for reform, enabling 

officers and law enforcement leaders alike to become more introspective and reflective about 

problems with their departments. A more reflective and open-minded culture in an agency can help 

drive reform across a range of areas, including civilian oversight, community policing, and racial 

bias.27 

Additionally, a commitment to diversity by law enforcement agencies ensures that crucial 

public sector jobs are available to all eligible qualified candidates and therefore helps ensure equal 

employment opportunity for all. Positions within law enforcement agencies often serve as the 

backbone of many communities, offering rewarding, long-term careers. Jobs in law enforcement 

24 Society for Human Resource Management, Diversity and Inclusion, https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-andforecasting/research-and-surveys/pages/diversity-inclusion.aspx (last visited Sept. 21, 2016). 25 Joshua C. Cochran & Patricia Y. Warren, Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Perceptions of the Police: The Salience of 

Officer Race Within the Context of Racial Profiling, 28 J. OF CONTEMP. CRIM. JUST. (2012), 209-11,
 

http://ccj.sagepub.com/content/28/2/206.full.pdf.
 26 See, e.g., COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES AND NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR BUILDING COMMUNITY 

TRUST & JUSTICE, PROCEDURAL JUSTICE (2015), https://uploads.trustandjustice.org/misc/PJBrief.pdf.
 27 See e.g., David Alan Sklansky, Not Your Father’s Police Department: Making Sense of the New Demographics of Law Enforcement, 

96 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 1209, 1239-40 (2006),
 

scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7244&context=jclc.
 

7 
 

 

 

                                                            

 

create new pathways of economic opportunity for men and women motivated to serve their 

community and work hard to provide for their families and lift themselves into the middle class. 

In addition, while greater workforce diversity alone cannot ensure fair and effective policing, 

a significant – and growing – body of evidence suggests that diversity can have a positive influence 

on specific activities and practices of law enforcement agencies. 

Decades of research has identified the considerable tangible benefits resulting from an 

increased numbers of female officers within law enforcement agencies. For example, this research 

has shown not only that female officers are just as competent and effective as their male 

counterparts in carrying out law enforcement functions, but also that female officers are more likely 

to use a style of policing that relies less on physical force. Consequently, female officers generally 

are less likely than their male counterparts to unnecessarily use either deadly or excessive force.28 

Female officers have been shown to be more likely to implement community-oriented policing 

approaches which place greater focus on communication and cooperation with the public.29 Female 

officers also have been found to be more responsive to situations involving violence against women, 

which comprise the majority of violent crime service calls made to law enforcement agencies.30 

Similarly, law enforcement agencies that have multi-lingual officers are able to provide 

improved services to individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Thus, for example, the 

Department of Justice, in its efforts to implement the terms of a consent decree with the New 

Orleans Police Department, worked with that law enforcement agency to strengthen its relationship 

with LEP communities by increasing the number of officers who speak languages other than 

English.

31 

The record regarding the impact of increased racial diversity has been more mixed. While 

there have been some exceptions, the research has historically suggested that, standing alone, 

increasing the number of racial minorities does not have a meaningful impact on a law enforcement 

agency’s conduct.32 Yet a growing body of research is challenging some of these conclusions. For 

28 DR. KIM LONSWAY, ET AL., NAT’L CTR. FOR WOMEN & POLICING, Hiring and Retaining More Women: Their Advantages to 

Law Enforcement Agencies, 2-5 (2003), http://womenandpolicing.com/pdf/newadvantagesreport.pdf; Katherine Spillar, 

How More Female Police Officers Would Help Stop Police Brutality, WASH. POST, July 2, 2015, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/02/how-more-female-police-officers-would-helpstop-police-brutality/?utm_term=.8dbe352c9113. 29 DR. KIM LONSWAY, ET AL., supra note 28; see also Christina Asquith, Why Aren’t U.S. Police Departments Recruiting More 

Women?, THE ATLANTIC, Aug. 30, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/police-departmentswomen-officers/497963/. 30 Peter Horne, Ph.D., Policewomen: The First Century and the New Era, THE POLICE CHIEF MAGAZINE, Sept. 2016, 

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=237481. 31 Consent Decree, United States v. City of New Orleans, No. 2:12-cv-01924 (E.D. La. Jan. 11, 2013), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/01/11/nopd_agreement_1-11-13.pdf; see also City of New 

Orleans, NOPD Building Team of Bilingual Officers to Improve Communication with Limited English Speaking Communities, (last 

visited October 3, 2016), www.nola.gov/nopd/press-releases/2016/20160222-nopd-building-team-of-bilingualofficers/. 32 See, e.g., Fifield supra note 7 (referencing a 2004 National Research Council report that found “there is no credible 

evidence that officers of different racial or ethnic backgrounds perform differently during interactions with citizens 

simply because of race or ethnicity); NAT’L RESEARCH COUNCIL, FAIRNESS AND EFFECTIVENESS IN POLICING THE 

EVIDENCE, at 147-48 (2004); Sklansky, supra note 27 at 1224-28, (highlighting studies concluding that African-American 

officers were just as likely as their white counterparts to use their firearms, arrest civilians, spur citizen complaints, and 

be subjected to disciplinary proceedings while also pointing to other studies showing that African-American officers 

8 
 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

example, a recent study analyzing the use of deadly force and officer-involved killings of African 

Americans found that greater demographic diversity within a law enforcement agency could play a 

role in lowering the occurrence of such incidents.33 The authors explain: 

[Previously] there was no reliable evidence that a diverse police force was either more 

effective in responding to crime, or able to bridge the racial breach in trust in the 

police. Our results provide evidence that a diverse police force that proportionally 

represents the population it serves might not necessarily reduce the number of 

officer-involved killings directly, but mitigates the role of various factors associated 

with group threat and thereby eases the tensions between the police and AfricanAmerican communities.34 

After reviewing prior social science research, the authors of the study observed that there are likely 

four relevant factors at play contributing to this outcome: (i) increased representation of racial 

minorities increases the legitimacy of the law enforcement agency among minority residents; (ii) a 

greater presence of officers who are racial minorities not only is likely to change the public’s 

perception of the agency, but these officers are also likely to be more knowledgeable and empathetic 

about the concerns and culture of minority communities; (iii) a higher number of minority officers 

within an agency provides opportunities for greater contact and interactions between white and 

minority officers, which can shape attitudes and reduce negative opinions or stereotypes about 

minority communities; and (iv) the presence of minority officers is likely to introduce different 

perspectives into an agency, and those perspectives can undermine an unnecessarily rigid response 

to certain events or perceived threats.35 

This research, which provides additional support for the conclusion that increased diversity 

can have a positive impact on the activities and practices of law enforcement agencies, highlights 

that this area of study warrants further effort and attention. 

were less prejudiced towards other African Americans than white officers, knew more about the African-American
 

community, and got more cooperation from African-American citizens); John J. Donohue III & Steven D. Levitt, The 

Impact of Race on Policing and Arrests, J. OF L. AND ECON. (2001) (finding that the race of an officer had an impact on the 

officer’s arrest rates of whites and nonwhites). 33 JOSCHA LEGEWIE & JEFFREY FAGAN, GROUP THREAT, POLICE OFFICER DIVERSITY AND THE DEADLY USE OF 

POLICE FORCE, (2016), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2778692. 34 Id. at 32-33. 35 Id. at 7-10. 

9 
                                                            

 

 

 

 

III. Current State of Diversity in American Law Enforcement

There are approximately 18,000 Federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies in 

the United States.36 These agencies range from police departments employing just one sworn officer 

to departments with more than 30,000 officers.37 In 2008, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of 

Justice Statistics (BJS) conducted a census of state and local law enforcement agencies.

38 That 

census, which included 17,985 agencies, found that those agencies collectively employed more than 

1.1 million people on a full-time basis, nearly 800,000 as sworn personnel. The census revealed that 

the vast majority of these agencies – more than 12,000 – are local police departments, a category that 

includes municipal, county, tribal, and regional police departments. BJS’s research also found that 

there are more than 3,000 sheriffs’ offices; approximately 2,000 special jurisdiction agencies, which 

are agencies that provide police services for entities or established areas within another jurisdiction 

(e.g., parks, schools, airports, housing authorities, and government facilities); 50 primary state law 

enforcement agencies; and nearly 700 other agencies, such as county constable offices.39 BJS also 

conducted a census of Federal law enforcement agencies in 2008: that survey collected data from 73 

agencies, which employed approximately 120,000 full-time sworn law enforcement officers.40 

More recent data from BJS’ 2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative 

Statistics data collection (LEMAS Survey) provide information about the demographics of these law 

enforcement agencies. Of the more than 12,000 local police departments, and their nearly 500,000 

sworn officers, 48 percent of the departments employed fewer than 10 sworn officers. While the 

vast majority of these departments employ a relatively small number of sworn officers, 54 percent of 

the sworn officers in this country work for departments in jurisdictions with 100,000 or more 

residents.41 About 58,000, or 12 percent, of the full-time sworn personnel in these departments 

were female; female officers also accounted for nearly 10 percent of first-line supervisors42 in these 

departments.43 The LEMAS Survey found that 27 percent of full-time sworn officers are racial or 

ethnic minorities;44 African-American and Latino45 officers each comprised around 12 percent, while 

36 DUREN BANKS, ET AL., BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, NATIONAL SOURCES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYMENT 

DATA, 1 (2016), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/nsleed.pdf. 

37 Id. 

38 BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, CENSUS OF STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES,
 

2008 (July 2011), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdf. BJS started conducting another census of federal,
 

state, and local law enforcement agencies in 2014; this census is still out in the field as of the date of this report. BANKS, 

supra note 36, at 8. 

39 REAVES, CENSUS OF STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES 2008, supra note 38 at 2. 

40 BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, 2008, 1 (2012), 

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fleo08.pdf.
 

41 BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS, 2013: PERSONNEL, POLICIES,
 

AND PRACTICES, 1 (2015), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd13ppp.pdf.
 

42 “First-line supervisors” in law enforcement agencies – typically personnel with the rank of sergeant – directly oversee 

the work of patrol officers. 

43 REAVES, LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS, 2013, supra note 41, at 4-5. A recent analysis conducted by the U.S. Dep’t of
 

Labor’s Chief Evaluation Office based on data from the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics found similar results. KRISTINA SCHAFTER ET AL., DEP’T OF LABOR, CHARACTERISTICS OF

INDIVIDUALS AND EMPLOYMENT AMONG FIRST RESPONDERS (2015). 

44 REAVES, LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS, 2013, supra note 41, at 1, 5 (Figure 5)(includes Black/African American; 

Hispanic/Latino; Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander; American Indian, Alaskan Native; and “persons identifying 

two or more races”). 

10 
                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

other minority groups, including Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander; and 

American Indian or Alaska Native, collectively comprised 3 percent. The LEMAS survey found 

similar demographics in the nation’s sheriffs’ offices: 14 percent of their full-time sworn officers 

were female (and 12 percent of the first-line supervisors were female); racial minorities comprised 22 

percent of those officers, with Latino officers making up the largest share (11 percent), closely 

followed by African-American officers (9 percent).46 

Source: Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, “Local Police 

Departments, 2013: Personnel, 

Policies, and Practices,” (2015). 

White (72.8%) 

Black/African American 

(12.2%) 

Latino (11.6%) 

Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other 

Pacific Islander (2.4%) 

American Indian/Alaska 

Native (0.6%) 

Two or More Races (0.5%) 

Local Police Departments Breakdown by Race (2013) 

Source: Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, “Sheriffs’ Office 

Personnel, 1993–2013,” (2016). 

Data collected from BJS shows that over the last several decades the nation’s law 

enforcement agencies have become more diverse, at least by race/ethnicity and gender. BJS first 

White (77.9%) 

Black/African American (9.2%) 

Latino (10.7%) 

Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other 

Pacific Islander (1.6%) 

American Indian/Alaska Native 

(0.4%) 

Two or More Races (0.2%) 

Sheriffs' Offices Breakdown by Race (2013) 

45 Because this report relies on a large number of studies that do not use the terms Latino, Latina, and Hispanic in a 

uniform manner, this report uses the term Latino to encompass all three terms and does not attempt to distinguish 

among them. 

46 ANDREA M. BURCH, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013, 1-6 (2016), 

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/sop9313.pdf. 

11 
                                                            

 

 

began gathering data through the LEMAS Survey in 1987. In 1987, BJS recorded 27,000 women 

working as local police officers (8 percent); as noted above, that number has risen to 58,000 (12 

percent) by 2013. In 1987, racial minorities made up 14.6 percent of all officers; they are now 27 

percent. The rates of increase vary by group. Women were 8 percent of officers in 1987; 12 percent 

in 2007; and 12 percent in 2013.47 African Americans were 9 percent of officers in 1987; 12 percent 

in 2007; and 12 percent in 2013.48 Latinos were 4.5 percent of officers in 1987; 10.3 percent in 2007; 

and 11.6 percent in 2013.49 Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, American 

Indians, and Alaska Natives were 0.8 percent of officers in 2987; 2.7 percent in 2007; and 3 percent 

in 2013.50 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 

Percent Minority 

Year 

Local Police Departments: Percent Minority (1987-2013) 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 

Percent Women 

Year 

Local Police Departments: Percent Women (1987-2013) 

Source: Bureau of 

Justice Statistics, 

“Local Police 

Departments, 

2013: Personnel, 

Policies, and 

Practices,” 

(2015). 

Source: Bureau of 

Justice Statistics, 

“Women in Law 

Enforcement, 

1987-2008,” 

(2010); 

Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, 

“Local Police 

Departments, 

2013: Personnel, 

Policies, and 

Practices,” 

(2015). 

47 REAVES, LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS, 2013, supra note 41, at 4.
 48 Id. at 5. 49 Id.at 6.
 50 Id.
 

12 
                                                            

 

While the LEMAS Survey data show that law enforcement agencies overall have become 

more diverse since 1987, it found that departments serving larger jurisdictions have become even 

more diverse. Specifically, in 2013, BJS found that more than two in five officers in jurisdictions 

with 500,000 or more residents were racial minorities, compared to fewer than one in five officers in 

jurisdictions where the population was less than 50,000. This pattern is also seen among women 

officers: women made up 17 percent of full-time sworn officers in local police departments serving 

jurisdictions with 250,000 or more residents, whereas women were only 7 percent of full-time sworn 

officers in jurisdictions with fewer than 25,000 residents.51 

While the number and proportion of law enforcement officers who are racial minorities have 

increased, there are still substantial gaps between the representation of racial minorities within law 

enforcement agencies and their demographic representation in the community. A recent study 

focused on nearly 300 local police departments in jurisdictions with more than 100,000 residents and 

compared their results from the 2013 LEMAS Survey data with data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 

2010-2013 American Community Survey (ACS).52 That study found that racial and ethnic minorities 

were underrepresented within these departments by a combined total of 24 percentage points across 

all racial and ethnic groups compared to the population estimates from the ACS. In other words, if 

racial minorities made up 30 percent of the service population, they made up on average 6 percent 

of the police department. The study found the greatest disparity for any individual group was 

Latinos: the average percentage point difference between their representation within the 

departments and their population estimates was nearly 11 points. The study also found that in 35 of 

the 85 jurisdictions surveyed where African Americans, Latinos, or Asian Americans made up the 

single largest racial group in the population served, their representation within the police department 

was less than half of their share of the population. Additionally, the study concluded that 

representation of racial and ethnic minorities in police departments has not kept pace with the 

country’s changing demographics; it found that the agencies that least resembled their communities 

in terms of racial composition generally serve jurisdictions that have experienced significant 

demographic shifts in recent years. 

Data collected by the EEOC confirm these trends. As part of its mandate under Title VII, 

the EEOC collects labor force data from state and local governments with 100 or more full-time 

employees; this data collection is commonly referred to as EEO-4 data.53 Recently, researchers 

conducted an analysis of the EEO-4 data,54 looking at a sample of 1,061 police departments with 50 

or more officers in order to compare the racial makeup of their “protective service workers”55 to the 

51 Id. at 4-5. A similar pattern is seen in the sheriffs’ office personnel data. 52 See Maciag, supra note 5. 53 Specifically, every other year, reporting agencies provide this EEO-4 data, which includes information on their 

employment totals, employees’ job category, and salary band, by gender and race and ethnicity. For example, in 2013, 

1,140 State and local police departments filed EEO-4 survey reports, covering a workforce of 591,734 full-time 

employees and 41,415 part-time employees. 

54 The EEOC publishes aggregate statistics derived from the EEO-4 data; responses from individual cities and counties 

are not publicly available. However, the EEOC does permit researchers to access this non-public EEO-4 data pursuant 

to an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Agreement, which requires that the data not be shared and that no 

identification of individual local government respondents be reported. Philip Cohen and Moriah Willow, researchers 

from the University of Maryland’s Sociology Department, obtained EEO-4 data pursuant to an IPA Agreement. 55 The EEO-4 report does not collect data on whether employees of law enforcement agencies are designated as “sworn 

officers” or “civilians.” Instead, it includes the job category “Protective Service Workers,” which includes sworn 

officers. 

13 
 

                                                            

racial makeup of the relevant local population as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American 

Community Survey.56 

Their research found that African-American, Latino, and Asian-American police officers 

were underrepresented relative to the local area population in a significant number of the 

departments analyzed. Using a statistical test of underrepresentation,57 the researchers found that 

within their sample, African Americans were underrepresented in 60 percent of the departments, 

Latinos were underrepresented in 41 percent, and Asian Americans were underrepresented in 31 

percent. Consistent with the BJS data referenced above, the researchers found that racial 

underrepresentation was less common in larger departments. Their results also revealed that simply 

because a department is located in a racially diverse service area does not guarantee that the 

workforce will reflect this diversity. In fact, the researchers found African-American 

underrepresentation to be greater in departments where African Americans make up a larger 

proportion of the population. 

56 The racial composition of the population service area was determined using the Census Bureau’s American 

Community Survey, for the 5-year period from 2007-2011. Both EEO-4 and Census files were centered on the year 

2009. 

57 The researchers used a binomial statistical test comparing within-department racial representation to the local area 

population composition. The test statistic is the discrepancy between the number of police officers who are of a given 

race (i.e., African American, Latino, or Asian American) and the expected number of officers of that race given random 

selection from the population, divided by the standard deviation of the expected number. 

14 
IV. Project Methodology 

The Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative was premised on engagement with 

those who have firsthand experience confronting the challenges related to advancing diversity in law 

enforcement. To that end, the teams undertaking this effort – at the Department of Justice, the 

EEOC, and CPE – engaged law enforcement agencies along with other stakeholders through a 

variety of efforts. Those efforts are broadly discussed in this section. 

Over the course of the initiative, the Department of Justice and EEOC research team sought 

input from a number of law enforcement organizations and leaders. The research team conducted 

two day-long listening sessions with civil rights advocates and employment litigators, one focused on 

policy solutions and another focused on lessons learned from litigation. A list of the law 

enforcement organizations and leaders, as well as the participants in the listening sessions, can be 

found in Appendix C. 

 Additionally, CPE, in collaboration with the Justice Department and the EEOC, identified 

12 “subject matter experts” with backgrounds ranging from academia, labor and employment law, 

and leaders of police affinity organizations with significant experience advancing demographic 

diversity within police organizations. Academics were chosen based on the strength of their 

publication record in the field of employment and diversity as well as focused work on police 

departments or other public institutions. Labor and employment lawyers were selected based on 

their knowledge of employment diversity in law enforcement and their practical experience in 

human resource consulting or employment litigation. Affinity organization leaders were selected 

because of their commitment to and work toward diversity in law enforcement. These 12 subject 

matter experts offered a macro-level understanding of what they have found to be barriers and 

promising practices related to recruiting, hiring, and retaining talented officers that reflect the 

community they serve. A list of these subject matter experts is found in Appendix C. 

In order to explore promising practices that enhance diversity in law enforcement agencies, 

CPE also reached out to several police departments that have achieved relative success in becoming 

more diverse. CPE began by identifying small (i.e., 75 or fewer sworn officers), medium (i.e., 76-125 

sworn officers), and large (i.e., 126 or more sworn officers) departments utilizing the 2013 Law 

Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) dataset. LEMAS data revealed 

national department demographics of personnel including the number of reported female, AfricanAmerican, Latino, Asian-American and white full-time sworn officers. These data were paired with 

2010 U.S. Census data for the city or county a particular department serves in order to determine the 

level of parity between department and community diversity. This method provided a range of six 

departments that represented states in the Western, Eastern, Northern, and Southern regions of the 

United States, that are small, medium, and large in size, and that have had success employing sworn 

personnel more closely reflecting the demographics of the communities they serve along gender and 

racial lines. Departments selected did not always precisely mirror the demographics for each 

category of gender and racial groups, but the diversity of their ranks of officers did approach parity 

with at least one or more underrepresented groups in their jurisdiction. The promising practices 

described in Section VII of this report are from the following six departments: 

 Richmond Police Department (Richmond, California) 

 Daly City Police Department (Daly City, California) 

15 
 Beaufort Police Department (Beaufort, South Carolina) 

 Evanston Police Department (Evanston, Illinois) 

 Artesia Police Department (Artesia, New Mexico) 

 Bowie Police Department (Bowie, Maryland) 

The primary methods of data collection were individual interviews and focus groups, which 

were audio recorded and transcribed with the permission of all participants. Each participating 

department agreed to be identified in the reporting of the data. And each department engaged in the 

inquiry project through the voluntary participation of its chief, sworn officer(s) involved in the 

recruitment and hiring process, and full-time sworn patrol officers. 

CPE conducted individual interviews of chiefs and officers involved in the recruitment and 

hiring process in order to glean specific details about the practices they utilized to attract and employ 

exceptional and diverse talent. CPE asked them to describe the recruitment and hiring practices, 

including eligibility requirements and assessments. They were also asked to reflect on what aspects 

of these practices enhanced diversity. Full-time sworn officers participated in focus groups CPE 

facilitated in order to collect their personal experiences and perspectives on the recruitment, hiring, 

and retention practices utilized in their department, including whether they perceived these practices 

as being effective and fair. They were asked to consider their own personal recruitment, hiring, and 

retention experiences, and department policies and practices that led to their successful joining and 

continued engagement in the department. Each department selected a group of officers to 

participate in the focus groups. Each individual interview and focus group was coded for emergent 

themes. The report presents the barriers and promising practices related to diversity identified by 

the subject matter experts, law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders. It was beyond the 

scope of this report to empirically test these claims. 

All the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders who participated in the Advancing 

Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative were informed that this effort is completely distinct and 

separate from the enforcement work conducted by the Department of Justice and the EEOC. 

16 
 

                                                            

 

 

V. Barriers to Diversity 

As previously noted, law enforcement agencies across the country have long struggled to 

recruit, hire, and retain officers who are racial minorities, women, and members of other 

underrepresented populations. To be sure, law enforcement agencies, like all employers, face 

challenges in recruiting, hiring, and retaining high-quality employees, regardless of their demographic 

background.58 But these challenges are particularly acute for those agencies that have sought, or are 

seeking, to build and maintain workforces that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. 

In the section that follows, this report examines barriers law enforcement agencies face in 

three broad categories: (i) recruitment, (ii) hiring, and (iii) retention. Many individuals and 

organizations, including law enforcement leaders, academics, and civil rights practitioners, have 

researched and documented policies and practices that inhibit diversity in the nation’s law 

enforcement agencies. This section seeks to build upon that work and further supplement it with 

additional information, details, and experiences gleaned from the various engagements undertaken as 

part of the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative. 

In identifying policies and practices that have served as barriers to recruiting, hiring, and 

retaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community, this report is not suggesting that 

law enforcement agencies should necessarily abandon those policies or practices. In fact, some of 

these policies and practices are mandated by Federal, state, and/or local laws; for others, there may 

be substantial public policy reasons why they are in place and used by law enforcement. However, 

to the extent agencies are striving to increase the diversity of their workforces, they need to 

recognize that these barriers may be impeding their ability to do so and develop strategies to 

compensate for the barriers’ undesired impact. 

A. Recruitment 

The vast majority of law enforcement agencies in this country actively recruit individuals to 

join their workforce. According to data collected by BJS, agencies utilize a number of different 

recruiting methods designed to reach a broad range of potential applicants, such as advertising 

vacancies on agency websites (78 percent), in newspapers (71 percent), at job fairs (70 percent), on 

employment websites (62 percent), or via special events (56 percent).59 Seventy-four percent of law 

enforcement agencies indicate that they rely on “personal contacts” as a recruitment tool – generally, 

publicizing job opportunities through internal or informal processes that rely on word-of-mouth or 

knowing someone in the agency. BJS data also suggests that the size of the agency plays a role in the 

types of recruitment methods used: agencies with 500 or more sworn officers were nearly three 

times as likely (96 percent) to use internet advertising than agencies with fewer than 10 officers (36 

percent).60 Larger agencies – i.e., those with 126 or more sworn officers – devoted more resources 

58 See generally JEREMY M. WILSON ET AL., POLICE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM: THE 

STATE OF KNOWLEDGE (2010), http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG959.html.
 59 See BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, HIRING AND RETENTION OF STATE AND LOCAL LAW 

ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, 2008 – STATISTICAL TABLES, 10 (2012), 

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hrslleo08st.pdf. 60 Id. 

17 
 

                                                            

 

 

to recruiting, and were more likely than their smaller counterparts to have a dedicated recruiting 

budget and a full-time recruiting manager.61 

Despite these efforts, law enforcement agencies of all sizes have not always been successful 

in recruiting and attracting a pool of applicants that reflects the communities they serve. This is 

likely attributable to a number of factors. Individuals from underrepresented communities may lack 

trust in law enforcement, may be dissuaded by a law enforcement agency’s reputation or operational 

practices, or may have limited awareness about employment opportunities in law enforcement. 

 Strained relations and a lack of trust of law enforcement may deter individuals from 

underrepresented communities from applying to be officers. In communities where 

there are strained relations with law enforcement, those tensions can manifest in a level of 

distrust, or even resentment, that discourages individuals from considering careers in law 

enforcement. A number of the subject matter experts specifically highlighted the current 

climate of distrust between law enforcement and at least some segments of the communities 

they serve as a significant impediment to the recruitment of a diverse array of applicants for 

careers in law enforcement. For example, many African-American communities report high 

levels of distrust with law enforcement, which can impede law enforcement agencies’ efforts 

to bolster their ranks of African-American officers.62 Similarly, individuals from immigrant 

communities may also be less likely to consider careers in law enforcement if they or their 

families have previously been treated unfairly by law enforcement.63 Women and LGBT 

individuals who have encountered bias in their interactions with police may also have 

reservations about joining law enforcement.64 

 The reputation or operational practices of law enforcement agencies may dissuade 

applicants from underrepresented communities from pursuing a career in law 

enforcement. Beyond an individual’s perceptions of, and previous negative interactions 

with, law enforcement, an agency’s reputation and certain operational practices may cause 

some individuals from underrepresented communities to self-select out of even considering 

careers with those agencies. The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 

recognized the emphasis that some law enforcement agencies have placed on the violent, 

dangerous nature of the profession – as opposed to their role as “guardians” of the 

61 Id.; see also, JEREMY M. WILSON & CLIFFORD A. GRAMMICH, RAND CENTER ON QUALITY POLICING, OFFICE OF 

COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICE, AND THE NAT’L INST. OF JUSTICE, POLICE RECRUITMENT AND 

RETENTION IN THE CONTEMPORARY URBAN ENVIRONMENT: A NATIONAL DISCUSSION OF PERSONNEL EXPERIENCES 

AND PROMISING PRACTICES FROM THE FRONT LINES 17 (2009), 

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/conf_proceedings/2009/RAND_CF261.pdf. 62 Fifield, supra note 7. Some departments, however, report that increased tension between police departments and their 

communities create a short-lived decrease in applications. Tom Dunkel, The D.C. Police Department Tries to Solve a Difficult 

Case: How to Recruit New Cops, WASH. POST, Sept. 29, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/thedc-police-department-tries-to-solve-a-difficult-case-how-to-recruit-new-cops/2016/09/28/e62cbe56-75e8-11e6-8149-

b8d05321db62_story.html. 63 U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT, supra note 16, at 33. 64 Id.; see generally CHRISTY MALLORY ET AL., THE WILLIAMS INST., DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT BY LAW 

ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN THE LGBT COMMUNITY (2015), http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wpcontent/uploads/LGBT-Discrimination-and-Harassment-in-Law-Enforcement-March-2015.pdf. 

18 
                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

community – can serve as an obstacle to attracting individuals from underrepresented 

communities, including female recruits.65 

The organizational culture of law enforcement agencies can also serve as a recruitment 

barrier. Research indicates that women are more likely to believe that they will encounter 

sexist attitudes and harassment in law enforcement jobs, that promotions will be denied or 

be more difficult to obtain, and that jobs with higher prestige (such as SWAT team 

assignments and detective services) will be out of reach.66 Research also indicates concern 

on the part of some women with balancing law enforcement careers with the demands of 

raising families.67 Similarly, individuals from LGBT communities have identified issues such 

as anti-LGBT discrimination and harassment and insensitivity towards the needs of officers 

undergoing a gender transition as obstacles to considering careers in certain law enforcement 

agencies.68 

 Individuals from underrepresented communities may not be sufficiently aware of 

career opportunities within law enforcement agencies. As noted above, many law 

enforcement agencies often advertise vacancies and publicize job opportunities through 

internal or informal processes that rely on word-of-mouth or a connection with someone 

who is already employed by the agency. Indeed, one of the common refrains heard 

throughout this initiative is that many agencies rely heavily on their existing workforce in 

their recruitment efforts. These types of practices – which are likely to be even more 

prevalent in smaller agencies that typically have fewer resources to devote to recruitment – 

may result in perpetuating and exacerbating underrepresentation within the agency. 

This is not to say that only female officers can recruit other women, African-American 

officers other African Americans, and so forth, but it does recognize that officers who are 

from communities that are underrepresented within an agency may have access through 

familial ties, civic involvement, and cultural and/or religious affiliations that may allow them 

to reach different segments of the population. As one report explained, “the 

underrepresentation of minorities and women police officers in some departments creates a 

shortage of role models for recruitment of these populations.”69 If qualified candidates from 

65 See William T. Jordan, et al., Attracting Females and Racial/Ethnic Minorities to Law Enforcement, J. OF CRIM. JUST. 331 

(2009). OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES, FINAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT’S TASK FORCE ON 

21ST CENTURY POLICING, supra note 9, at 11-23; WOMEN IN FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ET AL., supra note 12, at 8-

9. 

66 See CARL F. MATTHIES, KIRSTEN M. KELLER & NELSON LIM, RAND CENTER ON QUALITY POLICING, IDENTIFYING 

BARRIERS TO DIVERSITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT 3 (2012), 

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2012/RAND_OP370.pdf (“women who resigned 

from law enforcement agencies indicated that gender discrimination was a factor in their decision”) (internal citation 

omitted); Roseann M. Richard, The Perceptions of Women Leaders in Law Enforcement on Promotions, Barriers and Effective 

Leadership, San Francisco, California: The University of San Francisco, 24-29 (2001) (citing weighted testing processes, 

sex discrimination and sexual harassment as common barriers that women in law enforcement face); see also U.S. DEP’T 

OF JUSTICE RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT, supra note 16, at 6. 67 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 3 (explaining one reason female officers did not apply for promotions is 

because they were concerned “the difference in compensation would be insufficient to cover additional childcare
 

expenses incurred on the evening or night shift”)(internal citation omitted).
 68See Rick Rojas, Transgender on the Force, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 5. 2016, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/nyregion/transgender-on-the-force.html. 69 U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT, supra note 16, at 5. 

19 
 

                                                            

 

underrepresented communities are unaware of job opportunities in a law enforcement 

agency, then they are unable to apply. As one of the subject matter experts observed, 

“having somebody in the organization that [individuals from underrepresented populations] 

can talk to and relate to that may have encountered the same trials and tribulations is 

helpful.” 

B. Hiring 

While the precise process used to select, screen, and hire individuals varies considerably 

across law enforcement agencies, there are significant similarities in the processes used. According 

to data BJS collected in 2007, more than 90 percent of law enforcement agencies relied on medical 

and psychological exams, background investigations, and criminal and driver records checks as part 

of the hiring process; more than 80 percent of agencies used physical agility or fitness tests, written 

aptitude tests, and credit history checks.70 Law enforcement agencies may exercise discretion in 

setting aspects of their hiring criteria, while otherwise satisfying the minimum requirements 

established by their jurisdiction’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Posts (POST) or similar 

entity, in addition to any local or municipal requirements.71 Generally, many officers complete the 

following steps before being formally hired: (i) an initial pre-screening application to verify certain 

background information, including minimum age, driving record, and education or military service; 

(ii) a series of examinations and screens, which further narrow the applicant field; and (iii) the basic 

law enforcement training academy.72 

Research and experience have revealed that at every stage of the hiring process, barriers exist 

that impede the selection of officers reflecting the diversity of the community they seek to serve. 

Many of the selection devices used to screen applicants, including physical ability and cognitive tests 

examinations and background checks, have been shown to have an unwarranted disproportionate 

impact on underrepresented populations. The length, complexity, and costs associated with the 

hiring process can also serve as a deterrent. 

 Law enforcement agencies’ reliance on inadequately tailored examinations as part of 

the screening process may have the unintended consequence of excluding qualified 

individuals from underrepresented communities from the applicant pool. As noted 

above, the vast majority of law enforcement agencies use written tests, physical agility or 

fitness tests, and similar devices as a part of the screening process. While the reliance on 

these tests are not necessarily in and of themselves a barrier to the hiring of individuals from 

underrepresented communities, the design and administration of those examinations can 

serve to exclude certain underrepresented populations. 

For example, research has shown that physical tests may have a significant and unnecessary 

impact on female applicants when they lack a corresponding benefit or job-related need. If 

these tests are administered in a manner that overemphasizes physical strength, fail to 

account for improvements that will result from training, or fail to account for inherent 

70 REAVES, HIRING AND RETENTION OF STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, 2008, supra note 38, at 14. 71 Basic Requirements, discoverpolicing.org, http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=requirements (last visited 

Sept. 21, 2016). 

72 The Hiring Process, discoverpolicing.org, http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=hiring_process (last visited 

Sept. 21, 2016); see also BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 

TRAINING ACADEMIES, 2013, (2016), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta13.pdf. 

20 
 

 

                                                            

 

 

 

 

physiological differences between men and women, they may not be selecting for what is 

actually necessary on the job or is similarly required for the effective absorption of necessary 

law enforcement training, and consequently may screen out otherwise qualified women.73 

Similarly, reliance on certain written tests – specifically those tests that may not sufficiently 

or accurately screen for the skills that are actually needed for a position in law enforcement – 

has been shown to have an adverse impact on racial minority candidates although those tests 

may not sufficiently or accurately screen for the skills that are actually needed for a position 

in law enforcement.74 

 Reliance on certain additional selection criteria and screening processes that 

disproportionately impact individuals from underrepresented communities can also 

inhibit agencies’ efforts to increase the diversity of their workforce. Even beyond 

testing, there are a variety of other screening devices and selection criteria used by law 

enforcement agencies that hamper the ability of those agencies to hire individuals from 

underrepresented communities. For example, the use of educational requirements that are 

not shown to correlate with job-related duties may disproportionately impact racial 

minorities.75 The provision of a veterans’ preference by many state and local law 

enforcement agencies, while laudable, may disproportionately benefit men to the 

disadvantage of women in hiring, since approximately only 15 percent of active-duty 

personnel are women (and historically, that percentage has been even lower).76 

Researchers and practitioners have also highlighted that the use of criminal background 

checks, which are a regular part of the screening process for many agencies, is likely to 

disproportionately impact racial minority applicants since, for a variety of reasons, 

individuals from those communities are more likely to have contact with the criminal justice 

system.77 While law enforcement agencies are undeniably justified in carefully vetting and 

investigating potential hires, excluding applicants regardless of the nature of the underlying 

offense, or how much time has passed since an offense occurred, or without any 

consideration of whether the candidate has changed in the intervening period, can be a 

significant – and unwarranted – barrier. 78 Additionally, applicants who do not have criminal 

records but acknowledge using illegal drugs earlier in their lives (regardless of the frequency 

or amount of time passed since they last did so), will be automatically disqualified from a 

career in law enforcement by some agencies. Credit checks are another screening device that 

may result in excluding many potential officers from underrepresented communities, 

because on average, individuals residing in low-income or predominantly minority census 

tracts are more likely to have lower credit scores.79 Often times, law enforcement agencies 

73 WOMEN IN FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ET AL. supra note 12, at 47 (discussing common physical fitness tests that 

have an adverse impact on women and are not necessarily tied to job relevancy); see also U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE
 

RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT, supra note 16, at 43. 74 See id. 

75 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 3. 76 Richard, supra note 66, at 14. 77 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 3. 78 See id. 

79 BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, REPORT TO THE CONGRESS ON CREDIT SCORING AND 

ITS EFFECTS ON THE AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF CREDIT (2007); GEOFF SMITH AND SARAH DUDA, THE 

WOODSTOCK INSTITUTE, BRIDGING THE GAP: CREDIT SCORES AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IN ILLINOIS 

COMMUNITIES OF COLOR, (2010), 

http://www.woodstockinst.org/sites/default/files/attachments/bridgingthegapcreditscores_sept2010_smithduda.pdf; 

21 
 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

will disqualify a candidate based on poor credit history without considering reasonable 

explanations for the lower credit score, such as student loan debt or a medical emergency, or 

whether any delinquent accounts have been remedied.80 

 Residency and citizenship requirements may limit certain underrepresented 

communities’ representation in law enforcement agencies. A large number of law 

enforcement agencies impose residency restrictions on their applicants and employees.81 

Some offer additional credits to residents (points or a preference), others require applicants 

to be residents, and still others require officers to move into the jurisdiction if they are 

hired.82 While certain residency policies can enhance the diversity of the workforce – for 

example, if a law enforcement agency is located in a jurisdiction with significant racial 

diversity, a residency requirement could increase opportunities for members of those 

communities to join the agency – in certain circumstances, particularly in jurisdictions that 

have a prohibitively high cost of living, it can have the opposite effect.83 

Many law enforcement agencies also require candidates to be U.S. citizens.84 In fact, more 

than 40 states have statutes, regulations, or administrative rules in place that restrict the 

ability of law enforcement agencies to employ non-citizens.85 While Federal law allows law 

enforcement agencies to impose a citizenship requirement where it is authorized by state or 

local law,86 this requirement may prevent a considerable number of racial and ethnic 

minorities – many of whom have valuable foreign language skills – from being hired by law 

enforcement agencies. 

 Length, complexity, and the cost of the application processes can serve as a deterrent 

for applicants. The length and complexity of the application process has frequently been 

noted as an impediment to the hiring of diverse candidates.87 In some police departments, 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, CREDIT-BASED INSURANCE SCORES: IMPACTS ON CONSUMERS OF AUTOMOBILE 

INSURANCE, (2007), https://www.ftc.gov/reports/credit-based-insurance-scores-impacts-consumers-automobileinsurance-report-congress-federal. 80 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 3. 81 BRIAN A. REAVES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, 2008 supra note 40, at 

14. 

82 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 2-3. 83 John Eligon & Kay Nolan, When Police Don’t Live in the City They Serve, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 18, 2016, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/us/when-police-dont-live-in-the-city-they-serve.html. 84 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 2-3. 85 Only five states do not have statewide statutory or regulatory U.S. citizenship requirements for officers of law 

enforcement agencies: Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Vermont, and West Virginia. However, even law enforcement 

agencies in states that do not have statewide citizenship restrictions may be subject to county, city, or other local laws or 

regulations that impose citizenship requirements. 86 Among other things, the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits employers 

with four or more workers from intentionally discriminating in hiring, firing, recruiting, or referring based on a worker’s
 

citizenship or immigration status. This means that, in general, an employer cannot limit its hiring to U.S. citizens. 

However, the statute provides an exception that permits employers to discriminate on the basis of citizenship in hiring 

when such discrimination is required by law, regulation, executive order, or government contract. Even when lawful, 

however, imposing U.S. citizenship requirements on law enforcement hiring may impact the racial, ethnic, and linguistic
 

diversity of the pool of applicants, making it harder to promote diversity. Moreover, a law enforcement agency that is 

not authorized by law, regulation, executive order, or government contract to hire only U.S. citizens violates the statute 

by imposing such a restriction.
 87 U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT, supra note 16, at 9-10. 

22 
                                                            

 

 

the hiring process takes over a year, causing many qualified applicants to abandon the 

process as other career opportunities materialize sooner.88 While this issue can be a 

challenge for all applicants to law enforcement agencies, it can be especially problematic for 

individuals from underrepresented communities, who may be less likely to have personal 

connections and contacts within the agency and therefore less knowledgeable about the 

details of the hiring process. Cost can also serve as a deterrent, as many law enforcement 

agencies require candidates to cover their own cost to take required civil service 

examinations and to attend the police academy. 

 Law enforcement agencies may be limited in their ability to modify or adjust hiring 

and selection criteria. A number of factors, external to law enforcement agencies 

themselves, play a role in their ability to screen and select applicants, including their ability to 

make changes that might be helpful in hiring individuals from underrepresented populations. 

In some states, the POST or similar entity establishes some basic qualification and suitability 

requirements, including citizenship status, age threshold, educational requirement, and valid 

driver’s license, as well as explicit disqualifiers, which may include felony convictions, certain 

misdemeanors, illegal drug use, and poor credit history.89 The POST or similar entity also 

may set minimum selection standards, which may include written, fitness, drug, 

psychological, and polygraph testing, as well as background investigations.90 Relatedly, many 

states require candidates to complete police academy training and pass a certification 

examination to serve as a police officer.91 Many agencies, especially smaller ones, only hire 

officers who have already completed these processes and are certified; this practice may 

significantly narrow the pool of potentially qualified candidates from underrepresented 

communities because only officers who have been hired in other places or who can afford to 

pay for their own training can meet this standard.92 

Even in places where law enforcement agencies may want to change and improve their 

recruitment, hiring, selection, or retention processes, agencies may be hesitant to make 

changes out of fear that doing so may increase their risk of litigation. Changes that are made 

for the purpose of increasing the number of qualified applicants from underrepresented 

groups may be perceived as unfair or discriminatory to some. These concerns may cause 

88 Rachel L. Swarns, Black Police Applicant Frustrated by Opaque Hiring Process, N.Y. TIMES, July 19, 2015, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/nyregion/black-police-applicant-frustrated-by-hiring-process.html (describing 

the experience of one African-American candidate who applied to be an officer with the New York Police Department 

in 2011 and, as of the summer 2015, still did not know if he had been accepted onto the police force). 89 Basic Requirements, discoverpolicing.org, http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=requirements (last visited 

Oct. 3, 2016). 

90 The Hiring Process, discoverpolicing.org, http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=hiring_process (last visited 

Oct. 3, 2016). 

91 Training/Academy Life, discoverpolicing.org, http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=training_academy_life 

(last visited Oct. 3, 2016). 

92 Gary Cordner & AnnMarie Cordner, Research in Brief: Human Resource Issues Faced by Small and Large Agencies, THE 

POLICE CHIEF MAGAZINE, Sept. 2016. (“Two-thirds of small agencies would prefer to hire officers who are already 

trained versus only 13 percent of the largest agencies. This starkly different hiring preference reflects a rather dramatic 

change that has been underway in U.S. police training in recent years, one that probably gained even more momentum 

during the Great Recession—more and more reliance on preemployment police academy training.”) 

23 
                                                            

 

 

 

 

agencies to resist reform, even if they recognize that their current practices are not producing 

the type of workforce they are seeking.93 

C. Retention 

Law enforcement agencies, like all employers, do not simply want to attract and hire 

qualified individuals, they also want to ensure those individuals stay with the agency for a 

considerable period of time. The challenge of retaining individuals from underrepresented 

communities can be especially difficult. Experience has shown that these individuals may face 

difficulties adjusting to the organizational culture within law enforcement agencies; additionally, 

they may face challenges in their promotion process. 

 Individuals may face difficulties adjusting to a law enforcement agency’s 

organizational culture. Individuals from underrepresented groups may have difficulty 

adjusting to the culture of the law enforcement agency. For example, in some law 

enforcement agencies, women and minority officers may be expected to adapt wholly to the 

existing culture of the agency rather than allowing the differences that women and minorities 

bring to enhance the culture of the department.94 This may cause these officers to feel like 

“token” officers, and undermines efforts to make them feel valued and included in the 

organization. 

 Individuals from underrepresented communities may face difficulties in the 

promotion process due to a lack of transparency about the promotion process, as 

well as a lack of mentoring relationships and professional development 

opportunities. As with hiring processes, many law enforcement agencies rely on promotion 

criteria that disproportionately and unnecessarily exclude racial minorities, women, and other 

individuals from underrepresented communities.95 The processes for obtaining promotions 

are not always transparent or readily advertised within all agencies. Additionally, officers 

from underrepresented communities may experience difficulty finding senior staff within 

agencies who are willing to provide support to them as they attempt to navigate their 

careers.96 The lack of transparency and mentoring relationships can inhibit individuals from 

underrepresented groups from advancing within agencies since they may not know to seek 

out opportunities that would make them more competitive for a promotion in the future or 

such individuals may not be chosen for a promotion because they are not part of existing 

networks.97 

93 Melissa Hart, From Wards Cove to Ricci: Struggling Against the “Build-in Headwinds” of a Skeptical Court, 46 WAKE FOREST 

L. REV. 261 (2011), http://wakeforestlawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Hart_LawReview_1.12.pdf, 

(explaining how certain recent court decisions may “make voluntary diversity efforts less appealing to employers by 

casting a shadow of potential litigation over th[o]se efforts”). 

WOMEN IN FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ET AL. supra note 12, at 28. 95 MATTHIES, KELLER & LIM, supra note 66, at 3. 96 LARRY VALENCIA, REGIS UNIVERSITY, A GUIDE FOR MENTORING PROGRAMS IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS 3 (2009), 

http://epublications.regis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=theses. 97 See id. 

24 

94 
                                                            

 

 

VI. Promising Practices for Increasing Diversity 

By adopting proactive recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies, law enforcement agencies 

can address barriers, drive reform, and make progress in ensuring that they more closely reflect the 

diversity of the communities they serve. In the section that follows, the report highlights promising 

practices – identified through existing online materials, independent research, and interviews – that 

various law enforcement agencies around the country have found to be particularly effective at 

increasing the diversity of their sworn officers. Given the sheer number of law enforcement 

agencies in this country, this section does not provide a comprehensive examination of promising 

practices that have been developed and are being used, but it does provide a number of salient 

examples focused on the key areas of: (i) recruitment, (ii) hiring, and (iii) retention. 

While the practices adopted by law enforcement agencies vary considerably, successful 

diversity-building efforts by law enforcement agencies share several common themes, including: 

 Ensuring that the agency’s organizational culture is guided by community policing, 

procedural justice, and cultural inclusivity. Especially in communities that historically 

have had negative interactions with law enforcement, facilitating a culture that prioritizes 

community policing strategies – along with policies, programs, and practices that support 

diversity – can encourage individuals from these communities not only to consider, but also 

to apply for jobs as officers. Such a culture invites individuals who may not have previously 

considered law enforcement as a viable career option to view the profession as an impactful 

and meaningful way to serve their community. 

 Engaging stakeholders – both from within and outside the law enforcement agency – 

to play a role in creating a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community. 

While chiefs, senior management, and human resource personnel may play pivotal roles in 

the hiring process in most law enforcement agencies, there are many others who can be 

called upon to assist in the process of attracting, selecting, and retaining a cadre of officers 

that reflects the diversity of the community. Officers and other personnel are often the best 

spokespeople and advocates for their agencies. They can be deployed to connect and engage 

with a diverse array of individuals to increase their awareness about law enforcement careers, 

address barriers encountered during the application process, and provide support and 

mentorship once officers are on the job.98 There are also a plethora of community 

organizations that stand willing and ready to partner with law enforcement agencies. 

 Being willing to re-evaluate employment criteria, standards, and benchmarks to 

ensure that they are tailored to the skills needed to perform job functions, and 

consequently attract, select, and retain the most qualified and desirable sworn 

98 CAL. COMMISSION ON PEACE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING, RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION BEST 

PRACTICES UPDATE 62-3 (2006), http://lib.post.ca.gov/Publications/RecruitmentBestPrac.pdf. Using officers as 

community liaisons to reach diverse populations can be effective in both recruitment and in improving perceptions by 

the community. They can be deployed to connect and engage with a diverse array of individuals to increase their 

awareness about law enforcement careers, address barriers encountered during the application process, and provide 

support and mentorship once officers are on the job. When officers serve in these roles, formally or informally, law 

enforcement agencies should take care to ensure that these officers’ contributions help to further, not interfere with, 

their overall career advancement. 

25 
 

officers. Law enforcement agencies that have seen success in attracting a diverse workforce 

have generally paid particular attention to specific trends within their agencies that 

disproportionately affect applicants who are racial minorities, women, or from other 

underrepresented populations during the hiring process. Once cognizant of these barriers, 

these agencies have taken steps to proactively address the problem and ensure that criteria, 

standards, and benchmarks are job related and consistent with law enforcement needs. This 

has helped these agencies attract, select, and retain qualified officers with the values and skill 

sets necessary for the job. 

As previously noted, the practices discussed in this section should not be viewed as cure-all 

solutions for advancing diversity within law enforcement agencies. The effectiveness of any strategy 

to address diversity will depend on a number of localized factors specific to a law enforcement 

agency and the jurisdiction in which it operates. Moreover, the vast majority of the agencies 

consulted during this effort – including those discussed below – highlighted that there is more work 

they need to do in order to ensure that they better reflect the diversity of their communities. 

Nonetheless, the practices discussed below highlight promising efforts that have been adopted or 

are underway in communities across the country to advance diversity. 

A. Recruitment 

Proactive and targeted community outreach efforts can help encourage people from diverse 

populations and walks of life to consider careers in law enforcement. 

Many law enforcement agencies have succeeded at recruiting racial minorities, women, and 

other individuals from underrepresented populations by partnering with community or civic 

organizations. For these agencies, community outreach – which can include “meet and greet” 

events, programming at religious and educational institutions, and community fairs – is not an 

optional engagement, but rather a critical part of their recruitment efforts. A number of agencies 

have worked to formalize these types of community engagement efforts. A central underpinning of 

this approach is the recognition that a law enforcement agency’s existing workforce, particularly its 

cadre of sworn officers, is one of their most valuable recruitment tools. Yet these agencies 

recognize that effective recruitment means deploying these officers in a manner that will yield an 

applicant pool that is not only qualified for the job but also reflective of the broader community. To 

that end, agencies have thoughtfully considered how they can best use their existing workforce and 

their interactions with community and civic organizations to accomplish this objective. 

 The Worcester (Massachusetts) Police Department organizes application process 

workshops and conducts outreach to religious and faith-based organizations, local 

colleges, veterans, and minority-owned businesses, and community-based social 

service agencies including those serving Southeast-Asian (primarily Vietnamese), 

African-American and Latino communities. In addition to engaging potential 

applicants from these communities that are underrepresented within the police 

department, these workshops are targeted to particular members of historicallyunderrepresented communities, including, for example, highly esteemed Vietnamese 

community elders who share information with their grandchildren and other family 

members or social workers who share their knowledge of the application process 

with their clients. These outreach efforts reflect the police chief’s specific focus on 

26 
 

 

                                                            

increasing diversity among the department’s ranks. With the added benefit of an 

intact consent decree in place for the Worcester Police Department, these efforts 

have paid dividends: in 2015, the department reported that, out of the all men who 

took the civil service exam, 37 percent were men of color; out of all women who 

took the exam, 56 percent were women of color. 

 The Sacramento (California) Police Department uses a variety of strategies to engage 

directly with community members and recruit officers. These efforts include hosting free 

hiring workshops throughout the year – including workshops done in partnership with 

community-based organizations and tailored specifically for African-American, AsianAmerican, and Latino communities – that inform applicants and their families about the 

process; a “Run with a Recruiter” program that allows potential applicants to ask questions 

in an informal setting and also measure their physical fitness; and patrol ride-along and 

dispatch sit-along programs that introduce recruits to the unique challenges and demands of 

the job in an interactive, engaging manner.99 

 The Miami-Dade (Florida) Police Department has engaged in a number of communityoriented programs that it attributes to bolstering its share of officers who are women and 

racial minorities. In addition to “meet and greet” events that take place at churches and 

community fairs, the police department places a significant emphasis on having a designated 

officer to recruit fellow officers within the department to go out and speak to the 

community. It also employs and promotes a ride-along observer program to attract a diverse 

pool of applicants and introduce them to the duties and responsibilities of the job.100 

 The Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department empowers and expects its officers to 

engage in recruitment efforts. To that end, it has established recruiting cadres for specific 

areas of interests, geographies, or backgrounds, including a focus on candidates of color, 

veterans, and women. Each recruiting cadre is tasked with continually updating its strategies 

in order to ensure that the recruitment message is focusing on specific demographics. The 

cadres also include civilian employees, who are encouraged to assist in recruiting efforts. 

The department has found that these employees are especially helpful in dispelling myths 

and fighting stereotypes about the department. 

 The Wichita (Kansas) Police Department is especially cognizant of the need to build trust 

with its growing immigrant communities from Latin America and other parts of the world. 

Many of these residents grew up in cultures where the traditional attitude towards law 

enforcement was one of fear, not trust. A member of the department’s leadership team 

explained that addressing that level of deeply-rooted, systemic, and long-standing mistrust is 

critical to encouraging young Latino men and women to consider careers in law 

enforcement, and to view the police as partners in the community’s collective effort to build 

vibrant, healthy, and safe neighborhoods. Establishing meaningful connections with 

institutions that support these immigrant populations has enabled the department to 

strengthen its diversity. Additionally, as part of its efforts to recruit additional Spanish99 City of Sacramento, Recruiting Programs, http://www.cityofsacramento.org/Police/Join-SPD/Recruiting-Programs (last
 

visited Sept. 29, 2016). 

100 Miami-Dade Police Department, Careers Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.miamidade.gov/police/careersfaq.asp (last visited Sept. 29, 2016). 

27 
 

                                                            

speaking officers, the department has engaged in outreach, including creating a daily media 

briefing in Spanish and visiting job fairs, career fairs, colleges, and other community 

events.101 

 The Austin (Texas) Police Department, in an effort to encourage more women to apply, 

organizes recruitment and information sessions specifically designed to explain the hiring 

process and career opportunities for women at the agency. The department also recently 

replaced the pushup requirement on its physical fitness test, which deterred some women 

from applying, with a rowing machine exercise to measure upper body strength. This 

change “was met with smiles and claps” at a women recruiting session last year, according to 

a local media story. 102 Additionally, the department publishes YouTube videos, such as 

“Women of APD,” that feature women talking about their experience serving as officers in 

the police department. 

Building partnerships with educational institutions and providing young people with 

internship programs creates a robust pipeline of potential applicants while also helping to 

address historically-negative perceptions or experiences diverse communities have had with 

law enforcement. 

A number of law enforcement agencies have partnered with educational institutions within 

their communities, including K-12 schools, colleges, and universities, in an effort to encourage youth 

to consider careers in law enforcement. This approach allows students to build relationships with 

their local agencies as well as gain an understanding about the unique challenges and rewards that 

come with a career in law enforcement. This outreach also provides students an opportunity to 

interact with police outside of the enforcement context. Additionally, these partnerships afford 

agencies an opportunity to counsel youth early enough to facilitate later success in the application 

process, by, for example, counseling youth about the need to be truthful during polygraph exams, 

raising awareness about how the agency weighs previous drug usage, and emphasizing the 

importance of maintaining good credit. 

 The Detroit (Michigan) Police Department engages in a range of outreach efforts with 

high school students, specifically focusing on outreach to African-American youth to build 

relationships with them in the classroom and outside of an enforcement context. Through 

elective classes and mentoring programs in high school, the department is working to 

address negative perceptions about the police in urban neighborhoods and encouraging 

students to consider career in law enforcement. The department’s student engagement work 

includes inviting students to write essays about the changes they want to see in their city. 

 The Metropolitan (District of Columbia) Police Department runs a Police Cadet 

Training Program to encourage local 17-25 year-old residents to consider a career as an 

officer in their community. The program helps youth prepare to enter the police 

department’s recruit program. Cadets can earn college credit at a local community college 

101 Stan Finger, Wanted: More Hispanic, Minority Police Officers, WICHITA EAGLE, Aug. 29, 2016, 

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article98696237.html. 102 Lilly Rockwell, What the Austin Police Department is Doing to Recruit More Women, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Oct.
 

30, 2015, http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local/what-the-austin-police-department-is-doing-torecr/npCpF/. 

28 
                                                            

 

and strengthen their leadership and analytical thinking skills. As the department’s website 

explains: “The underlying focus of cadet training is on self-discipline and instilling core 

values, such as service to the community.”103 

 The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Police Department, in partnership with other local first 

responder agencies, runs a paid internship program that has targeted individuals from 

populations underrepresented in the department who may be interested in public safety 

careers. The internship aims to enhance recruiting and employment opportunities by 

providing youth with mentoring customized to the specific areas where they may benefit 

from assistance in the hiring process, such as physical fitness or written tests.104 

 The Oakland (California) Police Department launched a partnership with nearby Merritt 

College in the fall of 2015, where a 13-week course taught by the department’s former chief 

works to prepare students for careers in law enforcement. The course, which is not limited 

to students at Merritt but is open to all members of the community, was launched, in part, to 

encourage more people of color to apply to the police academy. It is designed to give 

students a firsthand experience in the field through visits to local jails and a four-hour 

driving course that teaches them how to safely operate a police vehicle. A core objective of 

the course is to address the barriers that applicants of color and women face by providing 

them with the tools, skills, and resources they need to prepare for civil service or police 

academy exams.105 

The effective, innovative use of technology and social media is critical to communicate and 

connect with all members of the community. 

Many agencies have realized that in their efforts to effectively allocate limited resources, 

online communication can be a valuable asset in their recruitment strategies. This can be particularly 

useful for smaller agencies that do not always have the budget or personnel to travel or run 

comprehensive recruitment programs. Moreover, given that many individuals, and particularly 

younger people, predominantly rely on the internet to seek out and research career opportunities, 

the innovative use of technology and social media can ensure that law enforcement agencies are 

reaching a diverse array of potential applicants. 

 The Metropolitan (District of Columbia) Police Department prioritizes innovative 

technology strategies to recruit officers. Ninety percent of applicants initially get in touch 

with the department, which maintains a robust Facebook and Twitter presence, from either 

their smartphone or tablet, according to a September 2016 Washington Post story.

106 The 

agency also uses live online chat rooms to interact directly with potential applicants, has 

revamped and streamlined its online advertising, and is in the process of building a new 

103 Metropolitan Police Department, Become a Cadet, http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/become-cadet (last visited Sept. 29, 2016). 104 Shelly Bradbury, Chattanooga-area Emergency Service Agencies Look to Boost Minority Hiring, TIMES FREE PRESS, June 10, 

2015, http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jun/10/local-emergency-service-agencies-look-boostm/308822/. 105 Drummond: A New Role for Former Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan, EAST BAY TIMES, Aug. 22, 2015, 

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2015/08/22/drummond-a-new-role-for-former-oakland-police-chief-howard-jordan-2/. 106 Dunkel, supra note 62. 

29 
 

   

 

                                                            

website focused solely on recruiting, with a customer service focus centered around instant 

answers to questions from applicants. 

B. Hiring 

Agencies are increasingly adopting a holistic view of what skills and strengths an applicant 

brings to a law enforcement agency, in part by being willing to reevaluate information 

revealed during background checks, including previous drug use. 

Law enforcement is a profession that, for good reason, requires extensive vetting, research, 

and investigation before choosing to hire an officer. Standards undoubtedly have an important role 

to play in the process. But certain barriers – including background investigations that treat all arrests 

and criminal convictions alike regardless of type of offense or how recent the occurrence, or even 

screen out those voluntarily admitting to drug use alone (without any conviction) – can prevent the 

agency from hiring the diverse officers it needs to connect with and serve the entire community. 

Cognizant of this challenge, many agencies have begun to re-evaluate such barriers and more 

holistically evaluate what an applicant can contribute to the agency and the community by also 

considering facts about one’s experience, skills, or record in a broader, comprehensive context. 

 The Wichita (Kansas) Police Department has restructured its hiring practices so that the

process provides a more comprehensive evaluation and review of an applicant’s life

experience and skill set. The department made this change after determining that too many

candidates – and particularly those from underrepresented populations – were being denied

positions and turned away without a fair and nuanced analysis of their prior conduct. As the

department’s chief recently explained to a local news outlet last month: “I want people who

have had adversity in their life and maybe had a bumpy road. They have more life

experience. They can relate to someone better than maybe people that have never struggled

with how they’re going to pay for their next meal or their next rent payment.”107 

 Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board currently allows

individuals with previous criminal convictions to apply for exemptions to attend the

Colorado Basic Academy, so that they can pursue a career in law enforcement. It addresses

this challenge by doing an individualized review of each case. A January 2016 Denver Post

report highlighted this practice. To date, since 2010, of the 56 exemptions requested for

criminal convictions, the agency has denied only eight. As one of the applicants said,

“Colorado is one of those few states that will make that exemption on a case-by-case basis

and give you that shot. Is what amounts to a stupid youth prank something that should

haunt a man for the rest of his life?”108 

As agencies look to increase their diversity, depending on relevant state law, some agencies 

have worked to hire non-U.S. citizens, as long as they are either lawful permanent residents 

or have lawful work authorization. 

107 Stan Finger, Wichita Police Chief Hopes to Open Door Wider for Recruits, WICHITA EAGLE, Sept. 17, 2016, 

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article102460697.html. 108 Christopher N. Osher, Colorado Grants Waivers to Police Applicants with Criminal Backgrounds, DENVER POST, Jan. 22, 

2016, http://www.denverpost.com/2016/01/22/colorado-grants-waivers-to-police-applicants-with-criminalbackgrounds/. 

30 
 

 

 

                                                            

Allowing work-authorized non-U.S. citizens to work in state and local law enforcement, 

particularly in jurisdictions with large immigrant populations, can enable agencies to more closely 

represent the diversity of their community. Especially as agencies work to serve communities with a 

large percentage of limited English proficient (LEP) residents, excluding officers who are not U.S. 

citizens may significantly limit the number of applicants who speak languages other than English. 

For further discussion about citizenship requirements and background on Federal law in this area, 

please see Appendix A. 

 Tennessee, which in recent years has seen a significant rise in its immigrant population, 

enacted a statewide measure that allows noncitizen military veterans who were honorably 

discharged to apply for officer positions in state and local law enforcement. Prior to this 

law, only U.S. citizens could serve in law enforcement agencies in Tennessee. The legislation 

is designed to help increase the diversity of law enforcement agencies throughout the state.109 

 The Colorado State Patrol does not require sworn officers to be U.S. citizens, so long as 

they have documentation (as required by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) to live 

and work in the United States.110 The state police have traditionally struggled to find 

troopers to work in more remote areas, such as the mountains. But in recent years, the state 

police have found immigrants from Canada, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Mexico, 

and Central America willing to live and work there, helping them to effectively police and 

serve the entire state.111 

 The Burlington (Vermont) Police Department requires applicants to be legal permanent 

residents or hold legal work authorization, but they do not need to be U.S. citizens in order 

to become an officer. The agency’s qualifications document begins by stating that it is 

“seeking service and community oriented individuals with excellent communication and 

problem solving skills.”112 

Law enforcement agencies have expressed a willingness to reconsider selection criteria and 

written or physical examinations that do not correspond to job-related duties and that 

disproportionately screen out individuals from underrepresented populations. 

Aspects of selection procedures, including some physical ability tests and written 

examinations, can disproportionately screen out certain groups, including women and racial or 

ethnic minorities, based on factors that have little or no relationship to the requirements of the job. 

Many agencies are working to re-evaluate their screening practices to ensure they are focusing on 

selection criteria that are more holistic and accurate measures of candidates’ skills and abilities. The 

U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division regularly brings enforcement actions opposing 

109 Macaela Bennett, Noncitizen Vets Now Eligible to Become Police Officers, TENNESSEAN, May 29, 2015, 

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/05/29/noncitizen-vets-now-eligible-become-policeofficers/28119863/. 110 Colorado State Patrol, State Patrol Cadet/Trooper Minimum Requirements, 

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/csp/state-patrol-cadettrooper-minimum-requirements (last visited Sept. 30, 2016). 111 Alan Gomez, Police Departments Hiring Immigrants as Officers, USA TODAY, Mar. 21, 2015, 

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/21/immigrant-police-officers/70236828/. 112 Id.; STATE OF VERMONT, http://vcjtc.vermont.gov/sites/vcjtc/files/files/resources/Qualifications.pdf (last visited 

Oct. 3, 2016). 

31 
 

 

the use of written and physical ability tests that have been shown to create unnecessary barriers to 

employment. Through the resolution of these cases, law enforcement agencies have adopted new 

selections procedures that effectively select qualified individuals and have a less adverse impact on 

racial minorities and women. Additional information about these efforts can be found in Appendix 

A. 

 The Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department has made significant progress in increasing 

the number of women it hires to be officers. The agency’s physical agility test used to 

require a bench press component, which deterred some candidates from applying and led 

others to fail – in part because they were not familiar with the specific weight lifting 

equipment or exercise. Recognizing these challenges, the agency began to give candidates 

the option to do push-ups, instead of the bench press, to test their upper body strength. 

Department leadership believes this change resulted in more women competing and passing 

the physical agility test. Overtime, the bench press was completely removed from the exam. 

 The St. Paul (Minnesota) Police Department determined – after analyzing the breakdown 

of pass rates for African-American, Latino, and Asian-American applicants – that its testing 

process was having a disproportionately harmful impact on candidates of color without a 

commensurate job-related benefit. The department found that candidates of color 

performed worse on the situational and written tests but significantly better than white 

candidates during the in-person interview. The department re-evaluated its hiring criteria to 

ensure that its testing criteria accurately aligned with the qualities that were most important 

on the job. It changed its written tests to focus more on the candidate’s personal history and 

community engagement and removed the entire situational component. The department 

reported that it was able to hire more diverse, but equally qualified applicants using this new 

approach. The agency believes that one of the most important criteria to evaluate when 

reviewing a prospective officer’s application is his or her genuine desire to be out in public 

to engage in community-policing with all members of the community. 

In their efforts to diversify their workforces, agencies have streamlined and made more 

transparent their hiring and selection procedures. Some agencies have offered assistance 

and preparation materials to help applicants prepare for examinations.

 To help address some of the misperceptions, confusion, and lack of awareness about hiring 

procedures, law enforcement agencies have streamlined their hiring processes and also made these 

processes more transparent. Agencies have found these efforts, which benefit all applicants, 

especially helpful for applicants from underrepresented populations who, as noted above, may be 

more likely to be less familiar with the long, complex processes that have traditionally defined the 

law enforcement hiring process. 

 The South Portland (Maine) Police Department is working to address the barriers that 

result from various civil service ordinances that create a cumbersome, overly drawn-out 

process for applicants. Given that the civil service exam is only offered once a year, the 

agency has begun experimenting with moving away from the once-a-year test to one that is 

administered more frequently and combining the required oral boards into one. The 

changes being explored allow for more frequent opportunities to access the hiring process. 

32 
                                                            

An ongoing evaluation of the streamlined process is resulting in a marked increase of 

additional candidates. 

 The Yonkers (New York) Police Department found that providing free training to city 

residents before its civil service exam in 2013 led to 60 percent of test takers who were 

minorities and a 25 percent increase in the number of African-American officers. In a 2015 

news article, the police commissioner explained, “We hope to reap the benefits of hiring 

additional minority officers from this exam over the next few years.”113 

Law enforcement agencies have involved community members in the hiring process as a 

way to develop a workforce that is reflective of the diversity of their communities. 

A number of law enforcement agencies have found that engaging community members in 

the hiring process can have a positive impact on developing a more diverse workforce. Agencies 

have worked with community advisory groups and committees to not only develop and revise hiring 

criteria, but to also identify community members who can serve on agency interview panels. These 

kinds of practices ensure that community members get a voice and a vote in who their police 

department ends up hiring. 

 The St. Paul (Minnesota) Police Department created a panel interview process that 

includes community members. Specifically, members of the department’s Community 

Advisory Group provide recommendations about community members who can serve as 

interview panelists. The department has found that this change has had a positive impact on 

selecting individuals from underrepresented populations because during the interview 

process, these community members ask different questions and explore qualities that might 

otherwise go unnoticed, but which reveal diversity in experience and background. 

 The Sarasota (Florida) Police Department consulted the department’s Independent 

Police Advisory Panel, which includes a diverse array of community leaders, and sought 

input on how to revise the recruitment and hiring processes to more easily identify highquality officers. The department has also worked with community leaders to encourage 

applicants from underrepresented populations to apply to work for the department. 

C. Retention 

Mentorship programs and leadership training are critical to providing new officers – 

particularly those from underrepresented populations – with the support, guidance, and 

resources they need to succeed on the job, enjoy their careers, and earn promotions. 

Law enforcement agencies that foster strong mentoring relationships between junior and 

senior officers often experience greater success with employee retention. Mentoring is a crucial 

mechanism for conveying critical and often unwritten information about how to succeed and 

advance within the agency. As in all professions, employees in law enforcement agencies often seek 

mentors and mentees to whom they relate or who remind them of themselves. Some agencies, 

113 Richard Liebson and Steve Lieberman, Diversity a Challenge for Some N.Y. Police Departments, USA TODAY, Mar. 21, 

2015, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/21/diversity-challenge-ny-policedepartments/25166717/. 

33 
 

                                                            

 

recognizing that racial minority and female officers have sometimes struggled to identify mentors, 

have developed innovative programs that successfully bring mentors and mentees together in ways 

that enhance the overall diversity of the workforce. Additionally, recognizing that promotion is 

critical to retaining a diverse officer corps, several departments have begun to place a particular 

emphasis on providing officers – especially women and racial or ethnic minorities, who are 

significantly underrepresented in leadership roles – with the support they need from the outset. 

 The Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department, pairs each new officer with a one-on-one 

mentor. The mentorship program is intended to provide these officers with someone 

intentionally selected to meet their needs. Through the mentorship program, the department 

also holds family-friendly events to create an inclusive environment. 

 The Lansing (Michigan) Police Department launched a mentoring program in the 1990s 

that matches new officers with mentors based on common areas of interest. The agency saw 

an increase in its retention rate following the implementation of the program. The 

mentoring program provides new officers with guidance, support, and resources to help 

them be successful on the job, including professional development. The program was 

designed under the idea that “people relate more readily and positively to peer assistance, 

than to supervisory direction,” and continues to be a core part of the agency’s retention 

strategy today.114 

Community partnerships and stakeholder engagement can help retain officers of color and 

women by better understanding the unique challenges they face in the profession. 

By partnering with stakeholders outside of the agency just as they do in recruitment, law 

enforcement agencies can diagnose the barriers in their practices, policies, or systems that too often 

prevent or discourage officers from staying on the job. Such partnerships allow the agency to take a 

holistic and comprehensive approach to diversity, often drawing connections and replicating 

outreach efforts in retention that they use in recruitment. By demonstrating that the law 

enforcement agency is invested in, and connected with the community, it can help improve public 

trust and allow officers to view their jobs as a meaningful and honorable long-term career. 

 The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Police Department uses its Recruiting, Engagement, 

Selection, Transfer, Assignment, and Retention Team (RESTART) to bring together 

community members, academics, officers, command staff, union officials, and human 

resource professionals to “ensure equity and aggressively support diversity” in a range of 

practices, including those related to retention, assignment, and transfer practices. Through 

this effort, the department is currently in the process of reforming its promotion standards. 

 The Lexington (Kentucky) Police Department works with business leaders, educational 

institutions, athletic associations, and community organizations to facilitate leadership and 

partnership opportunities. In addition to its robust partnerships with these stakeholders for 

recruitment, the department also views their respective insights and perspectives as 

important in understanding how to retain officers. It refers to internal diversity committees 

as “think tanks” that are constantly evaluating and analyzing how to more effectively recruit 

114 Valencia, supra note 96, at 29. 

34 
 

 

                                                            

and retain officers. By building relationships with community partners, the department 

prioritizes enhancing transparency around its recruiting and promotional processes in an 

effort to support diversity within the organization. 

Incentives – including providing temporary housing, allowing officers to work towards 

college credit while on the job, and providing financial bonuses for language skills – can 

help officers with diverse experiences and backgrounds stay on the job. 

Depending on the unique challenges that applicants in the police department’s jurisdiction 

face or the specific needs of the police department, police departments may need to offer specialized 

incentives to attract desired candidates. 

 One of the main barriers that the Mountain View (California) Police Department faces 

in attracting and retaining officers from diverse backgrounds is the high cost of living, with 

few affordable housing options available in the department’s jurisdiction. Many officers live 

an hour or more from the police station. Recognizing this, the department made sleeping 

quarters available for officers who live far away to stay in as needed during the work week. 

This allows officers to work for the department while reducing their daily commute. 

 The Atlanta (Georgia) Police Department has worked to increase the number of Spanishspeaking officers on its staff to better serve the community’s growing Latino population. To 

help attract and retain Spanish-speaking officers, the police department provides a 2 percent 

salary bonus for bilingual officers. As one bilingual officer told a local media outlet last year 

about the benefits of increasing the number of Spanish-speaking officers to connect with 

residents who don’t speak English, “As soon as I tell them I speak Spanish, that instantly 

makes them feel comfortable, and it’s easier for them to communicate with me.”115 The 

agency also now offers a $3,000 “retention incentive payment” for eligible sworn officers 

(not only bilingual officers) who have at least five years of service.116 

115 Jim Burress, Atlanta Police Look to Miami for Bilingual Recruits, 90.1 FM WABE, (Aug. 11, 2015), 

http://news.wabe.org/post/atlanta-police-look-miami-bilingual-recruits. 116 (2007) Code of Ordinances City of Atlanta, Division 3: Pay Plan – §§ 114-139, 140140, 

https://www.municode.com/library/ga/atlanta/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COORATGEVOII_CH114PE_ 

ARTIVCISE_DIV3PAPL_S114-130COUPRE. 

35 
 

VII. Case Studies 

CPE – as part of its work in this effort – engaged with six law enforcement agencies to 

explore in greater detail their efforts related to the recruitment, hiring, and retention of racial 

minorities, women, and other underrepresented populations. This section highlights each of those 

agencies and provides a description of the promising practices they follow that are likely responsible 

for their success in attracting and maintaining a diverse and representative police force. Each agency 

was invited to discuss practices related to recruitment, hiring, and retention; this report highlights 

their most compelling endeavors across one or more of these areas. The case studies and examples 

referenced below highlight successful practices, but every agency interviewed also recognized the 

need for further progress to more closely reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. 

The promising practices described below are from the following six agencies: 

 Richmond Police Department (Richmond, California) 

 Daly City Police Department (Daly City, California) 

 Beaufort Police Department (Beaufort, South Carolina) 

 Evanston Police Department (Evanston, Illinois) 

 Artesia Police Department (Artesia, New Mexico) 

 Bowie Police Department (Bowie, Maryland) 

Across these six agencies, a remarkably consistent picture emerged with regards to how 

contemporary policing can succeed in recruiting, hiring, and retaining a demographically 

representative workforce. Though common issues like budgetary constraints and difficulty engaging 

and attracting so-called “millenials” remain challenges without clear or easy remedies, these agencies 

managed to address a number of the barriers identified in Section V. Specifically, agencies used local 

partnerships, community members on hiring boards, social media outreach, mentorship programs, 

and organizational commitments to work/life balance to address concerns that recruits and officers 

need to be able to see people “like them” succeed in the organization. Similarly, some agencies 

reevaluated their selection processes and removed barriers they found to be unnecessary. Finally, 

agencies that have achieved some measure of success in increasing diversity have generally tasked 

individuals and/or teams with making both formal and informal outreach, prepared candidates for 

success on department evaluations, and enlisted the help of individuals with deep cultural fluencies 

in order to demonstrate their affirmative commitment to the values of diversity, equity, and 

inclusion. 

36 
 

Richmond, California 

Richmond is a diverse city in the San Francisco 

Bay Area, with a total population of 103,701 

residents. Richmond is over one quarter 

African American, nearly one-sixth Asian 

American, less than one percent Native 

American, and another half-percent Native 

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Approximately 40 

percent of its residents identify as Latino. 

Established in 1909, the Richmond Police 

Department (Richmond PD) employs 185 fulltime sworn officers, 13 percent of whom are 

women. According to the 2013 LEMAS 

Survey data, the department’s officers are 49 

percent white, 21 percent African American, 15 

percent Latino, 6 percent Asian American, and 

3 percent Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, with no 

reported Native American officers. An 

additional 6 percent of officers are reported as 

multiracial. Although there is still room to 

expand its representation to better reflect the 

demographic makeup of Richmond, the 

department reflects the African-American and 

Asian-American populations in its community 

better than many similarly-sized law 

enforcement agencies across the country. 

Individual interviews were conducted with the 

chief and the supervisor in charge of personnel 

and training; three different officers 

participated in each of two focus groups. 

Diversity Assessment. Approximately three 

years ago, the Richmond PD’s head of 

recruitment initiated an organizational 

assessment to determine how well the 

department’s staff of sworn officers mirrored 

the racial and ethnic communities of the city. 

The assessment revealed that there was room 

for significant growth in enhancing diversity, as 

the department had a disproportionately high 

representation of white males in its ranks. 

Accordingly, the leadership staff embarked on 

new ways to attract a diverse applicant pool. 

Building a Career Pipeline with Youth. 

One strategy for building a pipeline of qualified 

and diverse recruits is to make connections 

with youth in local middle and high schools, as 

well as postsecondary institutions. Accordingly, 

since the 1970s, the Richmond PD has relied 

on the Police Explorer Program. The goal of 

the Police Explorer Program is to make youth 

aware of local law enforcement as a potential 

career option; this introduction to local law 

enforcement is a first step to preparing future 

recruits. The program functions much like a 

preparatory training institute, and accepted 

applicants are assigned to appropriate 

internship level work with the Patrol Unit of 

Richmond PD. Recruits in the program must 

commit to perform at least 20 hours of service 

per month. The program is open to all within 

the area who are 14-20 years old, and it has 

attracted a diverse group of individuals. 

Richmond PD believes that the Police Explorer 

Program will be a useful tool in ensuring that 

the demographics of the agency continue to 

reflect the makeup of the broader community. 

Community Policing. Another recruitment 

strategy employed by Richmond PD is to 

continually engage in community policing. 

Community policing for Richmond PD 

includes engaging with local residents in nonenforcement interactions. The leadership of 

Richmond PD understands that the diversity of 

its applicant pool is being undermined by the 

current climate of mistrust between law 

enforcement and communities of color, but the 

department utilizes community policing as a 

means to strengthen that trust and also to 

promote law enforcement as an honorable and 

rewarding career. During focus group 

interviews, many of the officers explained the 

importance of community policing to their 

roles as law enforcement officials and how it 

helps the community to see them as invested 

members instead of outsiders. One officer 

explained, “[I] grew up here [in Richmond]. 

37 
 

 This is my community. I go to church here, I 

[work out] here, people see more than the 

uniform I’m wearing.” 

Contextualizing Background Check 

Information. The leadership of Richmond PD 

is very aware of the complexities of conducting 

background checks on prospective applicants. 

For the most part, these checks identify 

applicants that do not have the character or 

disposition to become successful and honorable 

police officers. However, some aspects of the 

background check require more context in 

order for this determination to be made 

properly. For example, many applicants admit 

to some level of past drug use on their 

applications. The department recognizes that 

many young people today have experimented 

with drugs at some point in their lives, but 

wants to ensure that its recruits were never 

habitual users and do not presently use drugs. 

 At times, the background check needs to be 

paired with additional context from the 

applicant to make this determination, as 

opposed to automatically eliminating them 

from the hiring process. When drug use 

questions arise, the officers charged with 

recruitment and hiring go directly to an 

applicant for additional information before 

making a determination. An officer in one of 

the focus groups recalled his personal 

experience with this during his own hiring 

phase with the department. The department 

allowed him to explain an issue raised during 

the investigation that revealed the association of 

one of his family members with the use of 

marijuana. With this further context and 

clarification, the department moved beyond 

those barriers and hired him. 

Transparent Promotion Process. Richmond 

PD understands that their efforts to recruit and 

hire people of color and women are only 

significant if these individuals stay, and 

continue to advance, within the department. 

They further understand that officers are likely 

to leave if they do not feel their organization 

provides equal opportunity to progress in rank. 

Accordingly, Richmond PD utilizes a 

transparent promotion policy that allows for all 

officers to apply for sergeant or lieutenant 

positions if they meet the minimum 

requirements of service and education level. 

 The process for evaluating the applications is 

clearly communicated to prospective sergeants 

and lieutenants. Focus group participants 

communicated that they viewed the promotion 

process to be fair and they all felt that they had 

the opportunity to move up the ranks if they 

applied themselves and worked hard. Officers 

identified this as one of many reasons that they 

continue to stay with the Richmond PD. They 

feel valued and see a clear, equitable path to 

further success. 

38
 

Daly City, California 

Daly City is a municipality in northern 

California and is located in San Mateo County. 

Daly City’s population of 101,123 is 24 percent 

white, 4 percent African American, 56 percent 

Asian American, less than 1 percent Native 

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and less than 1 

percent Native American. Nearly 24 percent of 

residents identify as Latino. 

According to the 2013 LEMAS Survey data, the 

Daly City Police Department (Daly City PD) 

employs 109 full-time sworn officers. Ten 

percent of officers in the department are 

women, 63 percent are white, 6 percent are 

African American, 13 are percent Latino, 3 

percent are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 

and none are Native American. The 

department has been successful in employing 

African Americans to proportionally represent 

the community, and the police force moderately 

represents the Latino population in the city as 

well. Compared to other departments across 

the nation, Daly City is progressive in its 

diverse composition of officers, although there 

is still more room for the organization to grow 

its representation of Asian Americans (who 

comprise the majority of the city’s population). 

 The leadership at Daly City PD is committed 

to enhancing diversity in their employment 

practices; they are very candid about their areas 

of strength and where they need to improve, 

especially with respect to recruiting more 

officers from the Asian-American community. 

 CPE interviewed the chief, two captains in 

senior leadership, three sergeants charged with 

department hiring and training, and one focus 

group comprised of 10 officers. 

Community Engagement and Interpersonal 

Relationships. The leadership of the Daly 

City PD reported that going directly into the 

community and having its officers meaningfully 

engage with residents enhances their 

recruitment efforts. This includes assigning 

officers to staff local college recruitment fairs 

and attend local town hall meetings to promote 

careers in the department. The Daly City PD 

also encourages individual officers to promote 

the department to community residents in their 

one-on-one interactions with them. In the 

interviews, a captain recalled a time where he 

discovered that an individual who worked in 

maintenance for the department expressed an 

interest in law enforcement. Through his 

relationship with this individual, who was 

Chinese-American, the captain spoke more 

with him about a career in policing, encouraged 

him to apply, and the individual is now an 

officer on the force. Interpersonal interactions 

like this, and the department’s participation in 

community events, enable Daly City PD to 

attract a diverse applicant pool. 

Contextualizing Background Check 

Information. Daly City is comprised, in part, 

of low-income communities that face 

challenges such as gang activity, violence, and 

drug trafficking. The command staff 

understands that recruiting and hiring many city 

residents means being open to individuals with 

complicated pasts. A number of officers in the 

focus groups lauded Daly City for not 

overlooking them in the hiring process because 

of bad decisions made in their youth. They 

were grateful to the department for investing in 

their future and for having the ability to see 

them for the people they are today. From the 

chief’s perspective, these non-traditional hires 

have strong connections to the communities in 

Daly City and are able to move through them in 

a way that outsiders would find difficult, 

enhancing the department’s ability to do its 

work effectively. 

39 
Beaufort, South Carolina 

The Atlantic coastal community of Beaufort is 

the second oldest city in South Carolina, 

residing within a larger metropolitan area that 

includes Hilton Head Island. More than 17,000 

active duty military members and families live 

or work in Beaufort, as the city is in close 

proximity to a number of nearby military 

installations, including a Marine Corps 

recruiting depot at Parris Island, a Marine 

Corps Air Station, and a U.S. naval hospital. 

The local population of roughly 13,000 is 

approximately 67 percent white, 26 percent 

African American, and 1 percent Asian 

American. Less than 1 percent of the 

population is Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, 

or Native American, and nearly 6 percent are 

reported as multiracial. Approximately 7 

percent of residents identify as Latino. 

According to the 2013 LEMAS Survey data, the 

Beaufort Police Department’s (Beaufort PD) 

full-time sworn staff of 43 is 58 percent white, 

12 percent African American, 23 percent Asian 

American, 4 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific 

Islander, and 2 percent Latino. No officers 

were reported as Native American or 

multiracial. Sixteen percent of full-time sworn 

officers are women. Separate interviews were 

conducted with the chief of police, the 

lieutenant charged with hiring and training, and 

a focus group of five officers selected by the 

command staff. 

Beaufort PD strives to maintain broad 

community support and overall healthy 

relationships with the residents they serve. The 

department prides itself on its comprehensive 

approach to community policing. Each officer 

is assigned to a segment of the community by 

the chief, and is charged with the responsibility 

of establishing relationships with the people 

there. 

Community Outreach at Events for Youth. 

Officers are encouraged to engage directly in 

recruitment and outreach at community events 

specifically targeted for youth. For example, the 

department and the nearby Lady’s Island 

Cinema have co-sponsored the “Police Movie 

Club” each summer since 1974. This 10-week 

program is free of charge and open to all 

children ages 5 to 12. The department reports 

that over 200 children enroll each year, many of 

them from military families stationed in the 

area. Each movie includes an intermission 

featuring a child-friendly discussion of topics 

such as fire prevention, bicycle safety, and 

resisting drugs and alcohol in the face of peer 

pressure. This type of community engagement 

allows families to interact with the police 

department in a non-enforcement setting, and 

helps to further bolster awareness of – and 

positive perceptions about – the culture of 

Beaufort PD. It is also a means to expose 

young people to local law enforcement and 

indirectly build a pipeline of diverse future 

recruits. 

Partnerships with Local Military and 

Academic Institutions. Beaufort PD seeks to 

recruit members of the military in part because, 

from the chief’s perspective, these individuals 

have already been exposed to a diverse work 

environment, and as a result, are likely to work 

well with diverse groups of people. The 

department has forged good relationships with 

the local military establishments, where the 

recruitment office is consistently able to find 

diverse and high-quality candidates. The agency 

also maintains close ties to the local technical 

college, which the lieutenant personally visits 

every semester to speak with students in the 

criminal justice program. Potential applicants 

from both the local college and nearby military 

installations are invited to come tour the 

department, learn about hiring requirements, 

meet agency personnel, and see the culture 

firsthand. 

Multiple officers discussed the importance of 

the “human touch” throughout their hiring 

process and into their careers with the 

40 
 

department. Although the department’s 

practice of valuing individuals may not always 

be explicitly articulated as a strategy aimed at 

fostering diversity, the respondents from the 

department believed such practices were a 

promising approach to achieving diversity in 

the ranks. 

Increasing Transparency of the Application 

Process. The lieutenant responsible for the 

hiring process changed his approach to the preemployment questionnaire when he realized 

that many younger applicants were omitting 

information about high school drug use, and 

then later being disqualified when the 

polygraph test brought their omission to light. 

To combat these disqualifications, he began 

personally working with candidates to explain 

that the hiring board may overlook youthful 

indiscretions, but simply will not forgive 

dishonesty in the application questionnaire. 

This practice of reviewing and clarifying the 

role of the questionnaire with each applicant 

has minimized the number of candidates 

disqualified in the polygraph phase. 

Incentivizing Diversity. Another way that 

Beaufort PD demonstrates its commitment to 

diversity was revealed by an officer from the 

focus group who was born and raised in the 

Dominican Republic. In our conversation, he 

admitted to struggling with his English at the 

time that he applied to the department. To his 

surprise, the department not only hired him, 

but also paid for English classes to help him 

improve his language skills. It is worth noting 

that this was in addition to the financial 

incentive he received for being a bilingual 

officer, the incentive being a one-time stipend 

offered by the department to improve its 

capacity to communicate with the city’s 

growing Latino population. Both of these 

practices made this officer feel personally 

valued, welcomed, and supported by the 

department. 

41 
 

Evanston, Illinois 

Evanston is a city situated on Lake Michigan, 

just 12 miles north of Chicago, and is the home 

of Northwestern University. According to the 

last U.S. Census in 2010, approximately 66 

percent of its 74,486 residents are white; 18 

percent are African American, nearly 9 percent 

are Asian American, and 7 percent are 

multiracial. The Native Hawaiian and Native 

American representation in Evanston is at or 

near 0 percent. Nine percent of residents 

identify as Latino. 

According to 2013 LEMAS Survey data, of the 

163 full-time sworn officers at the Evanston 

Police Department (Evanston PD), roughly 60 

percent are white, 24 percent are African 

American, 2 percent are Asian American, and 7 

percent identify as Latino. The force is less 

than 1 percent Native American and Native 

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 6 percent are 

reported as multiracial. Thus, while Asian 

Americans are underrepresented on the force, 

the combined non-white and multiracial 

representation at Evanston PD (40 percent) is 

actually greater than that of the local population 

(35 percent). Approximately 18 percent of the 

full-time sworn officers are women. 

Interviews were conducted with a variety of 

command staff and new officers to learn more 

about the practices employed by this agency 

that are likely tied to their departmental 

diversity, including interviews with the chief, 

command staff of recruitment, and a focus 

group with officers selected by the department. 

Leveraging Diversity to Beget Diversity. 

Multiple officers at Evanston PD expressed a 

belief that the existing diversity of the 

department was an important factor in their 

decision to pursue a career at the agency. In a 

focus group, one African-American male 

officer shared, “I applied to many departments, 

but when I applied to this one, I got to see a 

breakdown of their personnel [when I visited 

one of the precincts] . . . . I saw different races, 

different creeds, all in one room. . . . It was very 

diverse.” He felt that this was a deciding factor 

in accepting a position at Evanston. 

It is worth noting that this officer applied to 

other departments in the region, which he 

described as being either predominantly white 

or predominantly African-American, but was 

attracted to the department that he saw as 

particularly diverse, not simply the department 

with the most officers who shared his own 

racial identity. And indeed, the diversity of 

Evanston PD appears to be noticed, and 

celebrated, very intentionally as an integral part 

of the agency’s recruitment strategy. 

Community Policing. Evanston PD’s 

emphasis on diversity is tied to its embrace of 

community policing. One officer, a white man, 

noted that he applied to Evanston PD after 

being referred by a friend who already worked 

for the department. “He had nothing but the 

best things to say – how diverse of a 

department this is, how good of a relationship 

this department has with its community,” 

recalled this officer. “I definitely think that 

having a diverse department plays a pretty big 

role in your relationship with the community. 

I’ve seen it firsthand with how good of a 

relationship we have with all the citizens of 

Evanston.” 

In a focus group, one African-American officer 

shared, “I think a lot of younger [AfricanAmerican] males don’t have interest in law 

enforcement because of the things they’ve 

heard about law enforcement or the 

experiences people close to them have had.” 

He noted that the department’s diversity was a 

major driver in his own decision to apply to 

Evanston PD. He went on to say, “The 

perception of law enforcement isn’t the best 

today. But that’s one of the things that we 

work on, to try to restore that trust and build 

that relationship, which I think will help break 

42 
 

 

that barrier for young people of color to want 

to be in law enforcement.” 

From these officers’ perspectives, effective 

community policing drives diversity in the 

department, and diversity in the department 

drives more effective community policing. 

Leveraging Diversity to Retain Diversity. 

The chief of the department directly 

acknowledged the long-term benefits of a 

continued organizational commitment to 

diversity. This manifests in his diverse 

leadership team, which includes female, AsianAmerican, Latino, and African-American 

command staff. “I am the beneficiary of the 

diligent hiring practices of the three chiefs that 

preceded me,” he said. “This long-term 

commitment to diversity brought in the 

talented people that now I can promote to 

deputy chief, commander and sergeant. So 

those intake decisions that were made over 20 

years ago are reaping benefits now.” 

Evanston PD’s existing workforce diversity 

seems to have implications for retention from 

officers’ perspectives, as well. One Latina 

officer explained her desire to stay and grow 

her career at this department as being rooted in 

the same thought process that led her to apply 

there in the first place. “There are women 

present at every rank here,” she said. “I don’t 

think that [being a Latina woman will] hinder 

my progress here, as far as advancing. That was 

the reason I chose to work in Evanston, 

because I knew it wouldn’t be an issue here.” 

She was also quick to mention that she felt the 

hiring and promotion processes were very fair, 

noting that she did not think the department 

showed any preferential treatment to her or any 

particular group. This was echoed throughout 

the conversations with officers and command 

staff, reinforcing the strong sense of procedural 

justice in the department’s internal practices. 

A Native-American male officer stated that 

other police departments in Illinois would 

benefit from sharing Evanston PD’s “openmindedness” to officers of diverse 

backgrounds, and their fair treatment of all 

officers who can thrive in a culture that expects 

excellence across the board. In his mind, 

success at Evanston PD feels attainable to 

anyone willing to work for it. “I honestly don’t 

think that my racial background has had any 

influence on my ability to interact with the 

Evanston Police Department,” he said. “I feel 

that the culture here is one that is based on 

merit and accomplishment.” 

43 
Artesia, New Mexico 

Artesia is a small city in the southeastern corner 

of New Mexico, roughly 230 miles southeast of 

Albuquerque, and 170 miles northeast of El 

Paso, Texas. The city is home to a 1,340-acre 

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, 

primarily for the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Air 

Marshals, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Police. 

According to the 2010 Census, the local 

population of 11,301 is just over 25 percent 

non-white, most of these residents being 

reported as multiracial or an “other” race. 

Approximately 1 percent of the population is 

African American, 2 percent Native American, 

less than 1 percent Asian American, and close 

to 0 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific 

Islander. Fifty-two percent of residents identify 

as Latino. 

The Artesia Police Department (Artesia PD) is 

a small agency with 32 full-time sworn officers, 

50 percent of whom are Latino and 44 percent 

of whom are white, with an additional 6 percent 

identifying as multiracial, as identified in the 

2013 LEMAS Survey Data. According to the 

2013 LEMAS Survey Data, there are no 

officers reported in other racial or ethnic 

categories and 13 percent of full-time sworn 

officers are women. 

Interviews were conducted with the 

department’s chief, the commander charged 

with recruitment and hiring, and a focus group 

of five officers. They all expressed a very clear 

dedication to their department, which they say 

suffered recently due to financial woes. For 

example, the department’s chief reported that 

salaries were cut by 10 percent across the entire 

department, and they had to discontinue the 

recruiting incentive program that provided $500 

to recruits who successfully completed their 

first year of probation and certification. In his 

decade of tenure as the leader of the 

department, however, the chief along with his 

command staff have worked steadily to grow 

and stabilize the department. 

When the current chief first arrived in Artesia, 

40 percent of the authorized sworn positions in 

the department were vacant. “The organization 

was starving itself,” he said. “There was high 

turnover. But over the last five years in 

particular, we’ve had very little turnover.” The 

chief and the officers we spoke with all agreed 

that except in the case of retirement, people 

rarely leave the department now – typically only 

two to five officers per year. 

Still, the footprint of the recession continues to 

be apparent in conversations with the 

department staff. Officers noted that some 

benefits, such as financial assistance with 

educational costs, have been discontinued. 

These financial challenges present an obstacle 

for a chief working hard to retain talent; the 

command staff countered this problem by 

developing a long-term plan of investing in 

each individual hired, which they largely credit 

with their recent success at retention. 

Mentorship and Supporting Long-Term 

Goals of Officers. Artesia PD, despite being a 

small agency, has a wide array of divisions and 

specializations that its officers can join. 

Importantly, they are encouraged early on to 

identify and pursue any specialty that interests 

them. This approach of personal investment 

has already led to a reasonably diverse 

command staff. Of the eight sergeants 

currently at the department, one is a woman 

and four are non-white men. 

“They’re asked to fill out career goals forms 

and tell us what they want to be when they 

grow up, in essence,” the department’s chief 

explained. When officers document, for 

example, that they want to move from patrol to 

narcotics, they are mentored in that direction 

with specialized training before the official 

44 
 

transition even takes place. “We [start the 

training] ahead of time so that number one, 

they’re not going into that program with no 

experience, and number two, they don’t get 

bored or lose interest while they’re holding 

down the patrol slot.” 

The commander admits that their mentorship 

program is not documented anywhere as formal 

policy, but the commander, who has an 

educational background focused on human 

resources, takes seriously the responsibility to 

nurture his staff’s professional development. 

From his perspective, this strategy reaps 

enormous benefits for the department as a 

whole. When choosing which training staff 

members will mentor younger officers, he says 

it is important to select people that can serve as 

a go-to resource on everything from training 

issues and equipment needs to general policing 

knowledge and employee benefits information. 

Easy access to answers, in the commander’s 

view, allows the officers to “focus on the 

mission statement” and become the best law 

enforcement officer they can be. 

The chief underlined the importance of 

reinforcing his staff’s long-term goals in 

particular, as the officers sometimes need to be 

patient for an opening to become available. 

However, once the chief is aware of his 

officers’ long-term goals, he works to link them 

to the appropriate mentors, and to support 

their skill development appropriately. The 

commander further explained that this 

attention to individual officers’ career ambitions 

has been at the crux of the department’s 

retention strategy, which has been an 

intentional project for the last 10 years. 

45 
Bowie, Maryland 

Bowie is a municipality in Prince George’s 

County, Maryland. It is the fifth most 

populous city in the state of Maryland and 

located within the Washington, D.C. 

metropolitan region. The Bowie Police 

Department (Bowie PD) was established in 

2006. The department currently has 56 sworn 

officers, growing exponentially since its 

inception and serving a community of 54,727, 

which is 41 percent white, 49 percent African 

American, and 4 percent Asian American, less 

than 1 percent Native American, and less than 

1 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. 

Six percent of the population is reported as an 

“other” race or multiracial. Six percent of 

residents identify as Latino. 

The police department staff of full-time sworn 

officers is 39 percent white, 46 percent African 

American, 5 percent Latino, and 4 percent 

Asian American according to 2013 LEMAS 

Survey data. There was no reported Native 

American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or 

multiracial officers in the LEMAS data, but 5 

percent of the full-time sworn staff is 

categorized as having an “unknown” race. 

Seven percent of officers are women. The 

Washington metropolitan region does have a 

rich law enforcement applicant pool from 

which Bowie seeks to recruit candidates. Given 

the diversity in the region, Bowie is able to 

focus on local recruitment and still have a 

diverse pool of candidates to choose from 

without undertaking significant recruiting 

expenses. 

Community Outreach at Events for Youth. 

Bowie PD creates a pipeline of diverse, future 

recruits by investing in youth programs – 

notably a Police Explorer Program – as a way 

for young community members to explore 

careers in law enforcement. According to the 

department, this program lays a strong 

foundation for nurturing local youths’ interest 

in law enforcement careers, thereby helping to 

cultivate a diverse pool of potential future 

recruits. In Bowie, the Explorers are part of a 

broader outreach strategy that is tied to the 

department’s commitment to community 

policing. These programs also serve as a way 

for officers to interact with the community in a 

non-enforcement capacity and on a more 

personal, intimate level. 

Prioritizing the Hiring of “CommunityOriented” Officers. The Bowie PD command 

staff attributes much of its departmental 

diversity to the fact that they intentionally seek 

officers from the local (and diverse) community 

who demonstrate a commitment to community 

policing. These are officers who understand 

the importance of community engagement and 

building strong relationships with members of 

the community through their law enforcement 

duties; the department’s leadership team 

believes that prioritizing this quality in 

applicants will naturally yield a diverse staff. All 

applicants are screened for this quality in 

interviews with a hiring board comprised of 

command staff, who typically describe law 

enforcement scenarios to candidates and ask 

them to relay what decisions they would make 

if they found themselves in a similar situation as 

an officer. The goal is to identify applicants 

capable of reaching solutions that prioritize 

public safety and community trust. There is 

never one correct answer, but the hiring board 

looks for thoughtful responses that reveal 

integrity and character. 

Equal Promotional Opportunities. The 

officers described their department as one that 

has promoted a diverse command staff, and 

that continues to provide its staff with equal 

opportunities for advancement regardless of 

race or gender. They further noted that the 

department’s first chief was Latina, setting an 

early precedent of diversity in the department’s 

leadership. According to the deputy chief’s 

perspective, that is now a cultural norm within 

the department that has continued to this day. 

According to command staff, promotional 

46 
criteria emphasize the same values that are focused approach to promotion plays a large 

championed in the hiring process: strong work role in their decision to continue their longethic, integrity, and consistency. The officers term investment in the department. 

noted that this character- and performance47 
 

VIII. Conclusion and Areas for Future Study 

Law enforcement agencies face a number of challenges when seeking to foster a robust 

talent pipeline that widens the diversity of their workforces and reflects the diversity of the 

communities they serve. These challenges, which manifest themselves in the recruitment, selection, 

and retention processes, are far from insurmountable. And in fact, agencies that have undertaken 

efforts to broaden their talent pool have found that increased diversity brings a range of benefits 

that can be seen both within their workforces as well as in their relations with the communities they 

serve. 

It is the hope that this report’s discussion of barriers to diversity, and the promising practices 

that some jurisdictions have adopted to address them, provide a useful resource for law enforcement 

agencies, particularly those that may not have the internal resources to undertake this type of review 

themselves. At the same time, the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative has revealed a 

number of unanswered questions and areas for future research and review. Specifically: 

 More work needs to be done to understand the impact of increased workforce 

diversity on the enforcement activities of law enforcement agencies. As discussed in 

Section II, there is a substantial – and uncontested – body of research about the benefits that 

result from an increased number of female officers. While there is now a growing body of 

additional research about the impact of increased racial diversity, additional research could 

provide greater understanding about this important issue. 

 Additional empirical research is needed to better understand the long-term impacts 

of the promising practices highlighted in this report. A number of the promising 

practices discussed in Sections VI and VII of this report are relatively new; even for those 

that have been in existence for several years, there is very little empirical research 

demonstrating the impacts of these efforts on the overall demographic makeup of the 

agencies or their relations with the community. While research in this area poses a number 

of challenges, having a better understanding of which promising practices are most effective 

will be a useful addition to the work that has already taken place in this area. 

 Further research could analyze how to institutionalize these promising practices 

within departments so that they can withstand changes in leadership and personnel. 

For a number of the law enforcement agencies that participated in this effort, the promising 

practices they are employing to increase diversity were not always codified in the agency’s 

official policies or even officially designated as diversity-related initiatives. Rather, it was 

more common for either dedicated individuals to be tasked with carrying them out and/or 

for the benefits associated with increasing diversity to be the fortunate collateral effects of a 

practice developed for another primary objective. Agencies often reported that the 

leadership of individuals tasked with addressing diversity was critical to the success of their 

efforts, meaning that even the most promising practices may be a mere personnel-change 

away from disappearing. Further research and study could reveal how to institutionalize 

these promising practices so that they can withstand changes in senior leadership over time. 

48 
 

                                                            

 When government stakeholders and policymakers consider laws and regulations that 

impact selection procedures and criteria for law enforcement agencies, the impacts 

the agencies’ ability to hire officers that reflect the diversity of their communities 

should be taken into account. One of the frequent refrains heard throughout this effort 

was that law enforcement agencies do not always have the discretion to change or adjust 

selection procedures or other criteria that are used as part of the hiring process. Those 

matters are often mandated by local, state, or Federal laws, or controlled by entities or 

individuals who are external to the law enforcement agencies. It is clear that any 

comprehensive solution to advancing diversity in law enforcement does not rest solely with 

the agencies themselves; other stakeholders who play a role in the process should also be 

included as a part of this discussion. In addition, there is probably much that agencies with 

restrictive externally-imposed selection procedures can learn from agencies that do not have 

such procedures in place. This type of cross-agency information sharing about barriers to 

increasing diversity that may be particularly challenging to address (e.g., testing procedures, 

background checks, residency and citizenship requirements) could serve as a useful resource 

as agencies continue their work, often in conjunction with other stakeholders and 

policymakers, in ensuring they are recruiting, hiring, and retaining a qualified and effective 

cadre of officers. 

 Further research is needed to better understand how law enforcement agencies can 

successfully retain and foster advancement of officers from underrepresented 

populations. A considerable amount of research and attention has been paid to how law 

enforcement agencies can better recruit and hire officers who are racial minorities, women, 

or from other underrepresented populations. More attention should be given to how 

agencies can make sure they retain these individuals for long-term careers in law 

enforcement. As the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing explained: “Achieving 

diversity in entry level recruiting is important, but achieving systematic and comprehensive 

diversification throughout each segment of the department is the ultimate goal.”117 

As noted at the outset of this document, this report does not represent the end of the U.S. 

Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the EEOC’s work around these important issues. 

The Federal government remains committed to partnering with law enforcement agencies from all 

across the country to ensure that their workforces better reflect the diversity of the communities 

they serve. 

117 See OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES, FINAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT’S TASK FORCE ON 

21ST CENTURY POLICING, supra note 9, at 16-17, http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf. 

49 
 

                                                            

IX. Appendices 

Appendix A: Lessons Learned from Enforcement of Federal Civil Rights 

Laws 

Federal civil rights laws – mostly notably Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) – 

provide a number of protections that prohibit public employers, including law enforcement 

agencies, from engaging in employment discrimination.118 This appendix provides an overview of 

trends identified and lessons learned through the enforcement of these laws, including as a result of 

the Federal government’s litigation experience and enforcement work combating discrimination and 

advancing diversity in state and local law enforcement agencies.119 A review of this case law also 

provides helpful insights into practices that interfere with the recruitment, selection, and retention of 

qualified women and minorities in state and local law enforcement agencies. Agencies can use these 

examples as part of their efforts to evaluate their own processes and review whether they are legally 

compliant and whether they can be improved.120 

Many of the cases in this appendix involve challenges to policies and practices that did not 

explicitly reference race, sex, or any other legally protected category but nevertheless had an 

unjustified adverse impact on those groups; these types of barriers are often overlooked or simply 

accepted as “business as usual.” Yet these cases are critically important and can often be a catalyst 

for systemic change. Of course, complying with the law and advancing diversity also requires 

ensuring that law enforcement agencies do not intentionally discriminate, and the appendix discusses 

118 Although more limited in scope than Title VII, the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality 

Act (INA) is also an important tool for addressing diversity and preventing discrimination in law enforcement agencies. 

8 U.S.C. § 1324b. Passed in 1986 as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, the anti-discrimination provision 

of the INA was intended, in part, to prevent employers from discriminating against immigrants when hiring workauthorized individuals (e.g., lawful permanent residents, asylees, and refugees). The anti-discrimination provision 

prohibits employers not covered by Title VII from engaging in intentional discrimination based on an individual’s 

national origin. It also prohibits employers with four or more workers from intentionally discriminating in hiring, firing, 

recruiting, or referral for a fee based on a worker’s citizenship or immigration status. This means that, in general, an 

employer cannot limit its hiring to U.S. citizens. However, the statute provides an exception that permits employers to 

discriminate on the basis of citizenship in hiring when such discrimination is required by law, regulation, executive order, 

or government contract. As discussed in Section V, most states have laws that limit eligibility for law enforcement 

positions to U.S. citizens. As a result, many work-authorized immigrants, including lawful permanent residents with 

indefinite work authorization, are frequently barred from holding these positions. In the states with laws that impose 

citizenship requirements statewide, it is typically an administrative body established by each state’s legislature that has 

promulgated the citizenship requirement. Again, while recognizing that Federal law allows law enforcement agencies to 

impose a U.S. citizenship requirement where it is authorized by state or local law, imposing such U.S. citizenship 

requirements on law enforcement hiring may impact the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the pool of applicants, 

making it harder to promote diversity. Moreover, a law enforcement agency that is not authorized by law, regulation, 

executive order, or government contract to hire only U.S. citizens violates the INA by imposing such a restriction. For 

instance, in 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice entered into a settlement with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office 

resolving allegations that it excluded non U.S.-citizens from hiring because of their citizenship status. The alleged 

violation occurred because there was no law authorizing the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office to hire only U.S. citizens. 119 Because of the complex legal issues involved, this appendix does not address race-conscious hiring or promotion 

practices that can be ordered by a court in response to discrimination by an employer or can be instituted by an 

employer under appropriate circumstances. United States v. Paradise, 480 U.S. 149 (1987); Johnson v. Transp. Agency, 480 

U.S. 616 (1987). 120 This section discusses cases against law enforcement agencies and cases against other entities that use selection and
 

promotion processes similar to those used by law enforcement agencies such as fire departments. 

50 
 

                                                            

 

 

some of those cases as well. Importantly, Title VII sets a minimum standard for law enforcement 

agencies in terms of non-discriminatory practices. The law defines what agencies should not do. 

Mere compliance with the law, however, is not a substitute for the voluntary, affirmative steps that 

law enforcement agencies can take to ensure they build and sustain a diverse workforce that is 

reflective of the communities they serve. 

Federal Enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

Title VII is a powerful tool for combating discrimination and increasing diversity in law 

enforcement agencies. Title VII prohibits employers, including public sector employers, from 

discriminating against individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or religion. Title 

VII prohibits discrimination in any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing, compensation, 

benefits, recruitment, assignments, promotion, discipline, and other terms and conditions of 

employment. 

Title VII outlaws intentional discrimination, also known as disparate treatment. The law’s 

reach extends beyond that and also prohibits neutral practices that create unnecessary barriers to the 

employment or advancement of protected groups. As the Supreme Court explained in its landmark 

1971 decision Griggs v. Duke Power Company, Title VII “proscribes not only overt discrimination but 

also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation.”121 This type of discrimination, 

commonly referred to as “disparate impact” discrimination means that an employment practice that 

disproportionately excludes a group on a basis protected by Title VII violates the law if it is “not 

job-related and consistent with business necessity.”122 Even if such a practice is job-related and 

consistent with business necessity, an employer may still be liable for discrimination if there is an 

alternative employment practice available with a less severe impact that serves the employer’s 

legitimate needs.123 

Both the government and private plaintiffs bring Title VII cases against law enforcement 

agencies to challenge unnecessary neutral barriers that create systematic exclusion of protected 

classes from law enforcement positions and promotions and intentional employment discrimination 

against individuals from protected classes.124 The practices challenged through these cases and the 

remedies created as a result of this litigation provide law enforcement agencies with important 

guidance about the steps they can take to comply with Federal anti-discrimination law and promote 

diverse workforces. 

121 Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431 (1971). 122 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k). 123 Id. 124 A suit brought by a private plaintiff starts with the filing of a charge with the EEOC. The EEOC investigates the 

charges and, if it finds reasonable cause to determine that discrimination has occurred, it attempts to conciliate the 

charge. If conciliation fails, the EEOC refers the charge to the Justice Department for possible litigation. At any time 

during the EEOC process, the individual charging party may ask for a right to sue notice and bring a legal action. The 

EEOC also has independent authority to open investigations of public employers through the Commissioner’s charge
 

process. The Justice Department has the authority to bring litigation against public employers that either come from
 

EEOC charges or from its own independent authority to conduct investigations and pursue litigation.
 

51 
 

 

                                                            

 

 

Recruitment Practices that May Violate Title VII 

Recruitment practices can unlawfully exclude qualified applicants from protected classes 

before they even have the opportunity to apply for careers in law enforcement. The failure to 

advertise officer openings in ways that are likely to reach a diverse pool of candidates in (or near) the 

jurisdiction where a law enforcement agency is located may violate Title VII if it results in the 

exclusion of potentially qualified applicants on the basis of race or national origin. For example, the 

Federal government brought a case against the City of Warren in Michigan after the city limited its 

advertising of police and fire positions, resulting in only one African-American applicant. The court 

found that the limitation of advertising violated Title VII, and after the city advertised in newspapers 

outside of the county, including ones with circulation in nearby Detroit, the number of AfricanAmerican applicants grew to 50.125 Law enforcement agencies may also run afoul of Title VII by 

relying solely on word-of-mouth recruitment practices, especially when the enforcement agency or 

the community is not diverse and word-of-mouth does not extend to minority applicants.126 Such 

hiring practices can entrench prior discriminatory practices especially when a law enforcement 

agency’s workforce and labor force are predominately white. In another case, a court found that the 

informal recruitment by friends and family was a reason that applicants were predominately white 

because the workforce itself was predominately white due to years of discriminatory tests.127 To 

remedy discrimination in recruitment, courts have required the advertisement of law enforcement 

positions in the neighboring metropolitan areas with general circulation media as well as newspapers 

with media with primarily African-American readership.128 

Once a violation is found, simply opening the doors to a diverse set of applicants may not 

suffice. Courts have recognized that women and racial minority applicants may also be deterred 

from applying to law enforcement agencies that have developed a reputation for discrimination.129 

This deterrent effect can make victims of discriminatory hiring practices reluctant to take advantage 

of remedial opportunities to join a law enforcement agency that has been previously found guilty of 

engaging in unlawful discrimination. These barriers are not insurmountable, and agencies can 

overcome this perception. For example, a court found that an agency’s funded and active 

recruitment efforts directed at racial and ethnic minorities substantially increased the number of 

applicants from racial and ethnic minorities.130 

Unlawful Selection Procedures that Screen Out Qualified Women and Minority Applicants 

for Law Enforcement Positions 

As discussed in Section V of this report, hiring in law enforcement agencies usually follows a 

series of steps in a fixed order; agencies frequently rely on written tests, oral interviews, physical 

125 See, e.g., United States v. City of Warren, 138 F.3d 1083, 1094 (6th Cir. 1998) (finding Title VII violation for refusal to 

advertise outside of predominantly white county); League of United Latin Am. Citizens v. Santa Ana, 410 F. Supp. 873, 881 

(C.D. Cal. 1976) (finding police department’s low percentage of Mexican-American applicants was traceable to 

recruitment efforts outside the city); United States v. Elmwood Park, Nos. 85-cv-10491, 85-cv-10493, 1987 WL 8162 (N.D. 

Ill. Mar. 19, 1987) (pre-hire residency requirement for law enforcement applicants was patently discriminatory without 

any justification). 

126 Cleveland Branch, NAACP v. City of Parma, 263 F.3d 513, 527-28 (6th Cir. 2001) (quotations and citations omitted). 127 United States v. City of New York, No. 07-cv-2067, 2011 WL 7661518, *16 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2011). 128 See, e.g., City of Warren, 138 F.3d at 1089-90. 129 See, e.g., United States v. Cent. Motor Lines, Inc., 338 F. Supp. 532, 559 (W.D.N.C. 1971); EEOC v. Sheet Metal Workers, 

463 F. Supp. 388, 425 (D. Md. 1978). 

130 See, e.g., City of New York, 2011 WL at *13-*21. 

52 
 

                                                            

 

tests, background checks, and other processes to screen applicants. These processes may violate the 

law if they disproportionately screen out applicants from protected classes and are not job-related 

and consistent with business necessity. This holds true even if the screens were not intended to 

discriminate.131 Even if such practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity, an 

employer will still be liable under Title VII if it failed to use an alternative employment practice with 

a less severe impact that serves its legitimate employment needs.132 

Written Tests 

Extensive Title VII case law has revealed that certain written tests used as part of entry-level 

hiring in state and local law enforcement agencies are likely to create an unlawful disparate impact, 

and are not necessary for selecting the most qualified candidates. For example, while skills like 

reading comprehension and arithmetic may be important for these positions, tests that focus solely 

on these skills may not sufficiently or accurately represent the skills needed for the position and thus 

unnecessarily screen out qualified applicants. Reliance on these tests can create an unnecessary 

barrier to the hiring of qualified racial minority applicants who may have been selected if the test 

were a better reflection of what was actually needed on the job.133 As one court explained: 

I recognize that it is natural to assume that the best performers on an employment 

test must be the best people for the job. But, the significance of these principles is 

undermined when an examination is not fair. As Congress recognized in enacting 

Title VII, when an employment test is not adequately related to the job for which it 

tests – and when the test adversely affects minority groups – we may not fall back on 

the notion that better test takers make better employees.134 

To remedy such violations of Title VII (and protect against them in the future), several state 

and local law enforcement agencies have worked successfully to create more representative tests that 

capture both cognitive and non-cognitive skills and abilities required to succeed on the job and 

consistent with their business and organizational needs.135 Because these tests reflect more of the 

qualities necessary for job performance, they help jurisdictions select qualified individuals. Equally 

importantly, such tests tend to have less unnecessarily adverse impacts on racial minorities. 

Courts also have paid close attention to the ways law enforcement agencies use the results of 

those tests in the hiring process. Agencies have traditionally used the results of tests in a variety of 

ways: including pass/fail screens, rank ordering, and combining the score with other selection 

procedures. Title VII requires that an employer justify how it uses the selection procedure, and so 

agencies should consider if the way in which they are using the results of an exam is having an 

131 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k). 132 Id.
 133 United States v. City of New York, 637 F. Supp. 2d 77 (E.D.N.Y. 2009); United States v. State of Delaware, No. 01-cv-020, 

2003 WL 21183641, at *1 (D. Del. May 20, 2003). 

134 City of New York, 637 F. Supp. 2d at 85. 135 See United States v. City of New York, No. 07-cv-2067, 2012 WL 4503253, at *1-*5 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2012); see also
 

Consent Decree, United States v. City of Dayton, No. 08-cv-00348 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 14, 2009), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/daytoncd.pdf; see also Consent Decree, United States 

v. Virginia Beach Police Dep’t, No. 06-cv-189 (E.D. Va. Apr. 3, 2006), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/vabeachcd.pdf; Consent Decree, United States v. 

City of Chesapeake, No. 06-cv-415 (E.D. Va. June 15, 2007), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/15/chesapeakecd.pdf. 

53 
 

                                                            

 

 

 

adverse impact. Courts have refused to accept cut-off scores that do not meaningfully distinguish 

between applicants.136 And in determining that a jurisdiction should not have used its test results in 

rank order, one court stated: 

The frequency with which such one-point differentials are used for important 

decisions in our society, both in academic assessment and civil service employment, 

should not obscure their equally frequent lack of demonstrated significance. Rankordering satisfies a felt need for objectivity, but it does not necessarily select better 

job performers. In some circumstances the virtues of objectivity may justify the 

inherent artificiality of the substantively deficient distinctions being made. But when 

test scores have a disparate racial impact, an employer violates Title VII if he uses 

them in ways that lack significant relationship to job performance.137 

And even when an agency can show that its written test relates to a law enforcement 

officer’s job duties and responsibilities, the test may still violate Title VII if an alternative 

employment practice with a less severe impact that serves its legitimate interests exists.138 As a 

result, state and local law enforcement agencies should review their testing practices to determine 

whether they have an adverse impact on minority applicants. If so, they should consider alternative 

measures that might reduce the disparate impact while at the same time serving their legitimate 

business needs. Such alternative measures may include new testing formats and content areas, 

assigning different weights to test components, and alternative scoring methods.139 

Physical Tests 

Physical tests, which have also been used to screen applicants for law enforcement officer 

positions, are held to the same legal standard as written tests: if there is an adverse impact, the test 

and its use must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Some physical ability tests 

that purport to simulate the tasks undertaken by police officers have been found to have an unlawful 

disparate impact on women and where they are insufficiently related to actual job duties.140 For 

example, a physical test that included a stair climb, a run, and an obstacle course was found to have a 

disparate impact on women and be insufficiently related to the police officer job. Similarly, tests 

that purport to measure overall physical fitness (such as push-ups, sit-ups, and running) but apply a 

unitary standard to men and women have been found to disproportionately exclude women from 

law enforcement positions and be insufficiently job related. For example, the requirement that men 

and women perform the same number of push-up and sit-up components of one physical fitness 

test was found to violate Title VII. 141 

136 Lewis v. City of Chicago, 2005 WL 693618, at *11 (N.D. Ill. 2005). 137 Guardians Ass’n of N.Y.C. Police Dep’t, Inc. v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 630 F.2d 79, 100 (2d Cir. 1980). 138 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k). 139 Bradley v. City of Lynn, 443 F. Supp. 2d 145, 175 (D. Mass. 2006). 140 See, e.g., Thomas v. City of Evanston, 610 F. Supp. 422, 428 (N.D. Ill. 1985) (concluding that physical agility tests for law 

enforcement officers had a disparate impact on women); but see Lanning v. SEPTA, 308 F.3d 286 (3d Cir. 2002) (finding a 

challenged test for minimum aerobic capacity to be Title VII-compliant after a demonstration of tailored job-related 

need). 

141 United States v. City of Erie, 411 F. Supp. 2d 524 (W.D. Pa. 2005); United States v. City of Philadelphia, Nos. 74-400, 74-

339, 1979 WL 302, at *2 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 5, 1979).
 

54 
 

                                                            

 

 

Jurisdictions interested in assessing the physical fitness of applicants without 

disproportionately excluding qualified women from their ranks may consider using fitness tests with 

gender-normed standards. These tests actually require men and women to show similar levels of 

fitness while taking into account demonstrated physiological differences between men and 

women.142 These tests tend not to have a disparate impact on women and result in the selection of 

qualified applicants. As one court, which recently affirmed the use of a gender-normed physical 

fitness test by a law enforcement agency, has explained: 

Men and women simply are not physiologically the same for the purposes of physical 

fitness programs. . . . [P]hysical fitness standards suitable for men may not always be 

suitable for women, and accommodations addressing physiological differences 

between the sexrs are not necessarily unlawful . . . . Put succinctly, an employer does 

not contravene Title VII when it utilizes physical fitness standards that distinguish 

between the sexes on the basis of their physiological differences but impose an equal 

burden of compliance on both men and women, requiring the same level of physical 

fitness of each.143 

Absolute or Minimum Requirements 

Many law enforcement agencies often employ absolute or minimum requirements in their 

entry-level hiring that may disproportionately screen out women and racial minorities in violation of 

Title VII. Such requirements include education, certification, residency, and other requirements for 

employment with the law enforcement agency. Durational residency requirements – policies 

requiring a term of residency in the jurisdiction served by the law enforcement agency prior to 

applying – in particular, have been found to violate Title VII when they have had a disparate impact 

on the basis of race.144 However, courts have permitted employers to use policies that require a new 

employee to move into the jurisdiction and establish residency within a time period of being hired.145 

Similarly, courts have rejected the use of blanket height and weight requirements in the hiring of law 

enforcement officers as discriminatory on the basis of sex, race, and/or national origin.146 These 

requirements – for example a requirement that all police officers be over 5 feet 10 inches – tend to 

screen out women from the job but are not necessary to successful job performance. 

Background Checks 

Law enforcement is a profession that, for valid reasons, requires extensive and thorough 

vetting of applicants. For that reason, law enforcement agencies, like many other employers, also 

often utilize extensive background checks as part of their selection processes, including information 

142 Bauer v. Lynch, 812 F.3d 340 (4th Cir. 2016). 143 Id. at 350-51. 144 See, e.g., Newark Branch, NAACP v. Town of Harrison, 940 F.2d 792, 805 (3d Cir. 1991) (affirming the district court’s 

judgment that the town’s residency requirements for town employment had discriminatory impact); NAACP v. N.
 

Hudson Reg’l Fire & Rescue, 742 F. Supp. 2d 501 (D.N.J. 2010) (holding that the fire department’s pre-hire residency 

requirements violated Title VII and was not necessary to the successful performance of job functions); United States v.
 

City of Warren, 759 F. Supp. 355, 365 (E.D. Mich. 1991). 145 See, e.g., City of Warren, 759 F. Supp. at 364 (accepting that legitimate employment goals, such as promotion of the tax 

base and improved ability to respond to emergencies, “can be served by post-hire move-in requirements without the 

overwhelmingly disparate impact of durational pre-application residency requirements”).
 146 Santa Ana, 410 F. Supp. at 881; Vanguard Justice Soc. v. Hughes, 471 F. Supp. 670 (D. Md. 1979). 

55 
 

 

                                                            

 

 

relating to criminal history. However, an employer’s use of criminal background information can 

violate either the intentional or disparate impact provisions of Title VII, depending on how that 

information is used. When using criminal background checks, employers should consider the nature 

of the crime, the time elapsed, and the nature of the job. While some applicants have succeeded in 

challenging criminal background check policies as having unlawful disparate impacts on the basis of 

race or national origin, cases bringing these types of claims against law enforcement agencies have 

generally not been successful in court.147 

A number of law enforcement agencies also use credit history checks and psychological 

evaluations as employment screens. Non-law enforcement agency employers’ use of these 

evaluations has also been questioned as discriminatory employment barriers to women and racial 

minority applicants although these challenges have also generally been unsuccessful.148 

Unlawful Employment Practices that Effect the Retention of Women and Minority 

Law Enforcement Officers 

It also bears reminding that certain employment practices – which can range from 

problematic to unlawful – will hinder any institution, including but not limited to law enforcement 

agencies, from retaining women, racial minorities, and individuals from other underrepresented 

populations. These practices can include hostile work environments, harassment on the basis of 

protected characteristics, overly restrictive policies on grooming and appearance, failing to 

accommodate women who become pregnant, and retaliation against those who complain about 

discrimination or harassment. These issues are now discussed in greater detail below. 

Even after decades of equal employment opportunity laws and enforcement female officers 

and officers who are racial minorities continue to face harassment on the basis of their sex, race, 

religion, and national origin. Harassment creates an unlawful hostile work environment under Title 

VII when the conduct is unwelcome and sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the employee’s 

working conditions. Courts have found situations where co-workers or supervisors use racial or 

sexist taunts, or physically threaten or attack co-workers who are women or racial minorities to be 

actionable hostile work environments. Of course, officers facing this type of treatment are less likely 

to remain with the department. Women and minority officers frequently face severe retaliation 

when they come forward to complain about discrimination or harassment. As a result, officers who 

speak up may end up jeopardizing their career in law enforcement.149 

In addition, certain on-the-job policies relating to uniform and appearance can also prevent 

women and minorities from serving as law enforcement officers. For example, unnecessarily rigid 

147 See, e.g., Foxworth v. Pa. State Police, 228 F. App’x 151 (3d Cir. 2007); McCraven v. City of Chicago, 109 F. Supp. 2d 935 

(N.D. Ill. 2000); Davis v. City of Dallas, 777 F. 2d 205 (5th Cir. 1985). Cases have been successful in other areas. See, e.g., 

Houser v. Pritzker, 28 F. Supp. 3d 222 (S.D.N.Y. 2014). 148 See, e.g., EEOC v. Kaplan Higher Educ. Corp., No. 10-cv-2882, 2011 WL 2115878 (N.D. Ohio May 27, 2011); Bibbs v. 

Sheriff of Cook Cty., 618 F. App’x 847, 849 (7th Cir. 2015). 149 See, e.g., Zamora v. City of Houston, 798 F.3d 326 (5th Cir. 2015) (concluding police department retaliated against police 

officer for discrimination lawsuit and finding compensable reputational harm); Murphy-Taylor v. Hofmann, 968 F. Supp. 2d 

693, 723-24 (D. Md. 2013) (concluding that a former police officer properly brought Title VII claims of retaliatory 

termination and retaliatory constructive discharge when she was terminated and blacklisted from employment with law 

enforcement agencies after filing a sexual harassment claim). 

56 
 

 

                                                            

 

 

 

 

grooming and uniform policies that prohibit beards or religious headwear may pose an illegal 

obstacle to retaining minorities and women, including religious minorities.150 

The inability to attain promotions due to unlawful discriminatory practices can also affect 

the retention of women and minority law enforcement officers. Just like entry-level testing 

procedures, promotional testing processes can have an unlawful disparate impact under Title VII by 

disproportionately and unnecessarily screening out women and minority law enforcement 

applicants.151 In addition to facing potentially discriminatory promotional testing, intentional 

discrimination can also be a factor preventing women and minorities from advancing in the ranks of 

law enforcement agencies.152 Disparate enforcement of disciplinary policies and procedures on the 

basis of sex, race, religion, and/or national origin may also play a role in preventing the retention of 

minority and women law enforcement officers.153 

Law enforcement agencies may also lose qualified women law enforcement officers by 

unlawfully failing to accommodate them when they become pregnant. Female law enforcement 

officers may be forced out of their jobs or miss out on opportunities for advancement because 

departments illegally force women to take leave when they become pregnant or deny them light duty 

when they need it for their pregnancies.154 

150 Johnson v. Memphis Police Dep’t, 713 F. Supp. 244, 247-48 (W.D. Tenn. 1989) (holding that a police department 

intentionally discriminated against a black officer by terminating him for refusing to shave even though he had a medical 

condition common to black males that required abstinence from shaving); see also Riback v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’t, 

No. 2:07-cv-1152, 2008 WL 3211279, at *1, 104 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 34 (D. Nev. Aug. 6, 2008) (holding that an 

Orthodox Jewish police officer established a prima facie case of religious discrimination under Title VII as a result of the 

police department’s policy prohibiting beards and head coverings); Sadruddin v. City of Newark, 34 F. Supp. 2d 923, 925-26 

(D.N.J. 1999) (concluding that a Muslim firefighter plead a prima facie case of religious discrimination under Title VII 

when the fire department terminated his employment after he refused to adhere to a department policy prohibiting facial 

hair). 

151 See, e.g., Waisome v. Port Auth. of N. Y. and N. J., 948 F.2d 1370, 1380 (2d Cir. 1991); Isabel v. City of Memphis, 404 F.3d 

404 (6th Cir. 2005). 

152 See, e.g., Chin v. Port Auth. of N. Y. and N. J., 685 F.3d 135, 152 (2d Cir. 2012) (holding that the evidence was sufficient 

to show that the agency’s subjective promotional process intentionally discriminated against Asian American police 

officers when highly qualified and recommended Asian Americans were consistently not promoted); Consent Decree, 

United States v. Waupaca Cty., No. 11-cv-00589 (E.D. Wis. Apr. 27, 2012), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/05/18/waupacacountycd.pdf (settling a case in which the 

United States alleged that the police department intentionally failed to promote the one woman officer on the force for 

nine years despite her strong qualifications). 153 See, e.g., Moore v. City of Charlotte, 754 F.2d 1100, 1005-06 (4th Cir. 1985) (considering a police officer’s Title VII claim 

for disparate enforcement of disciplinary policies on the basis of race). 154 See, e.g., Consent Decree, United States v. Town of Davie, No. 15-cv-60395 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 13, 2012), 

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/09/27/townofdaviecd.pdf; Lehmuller v. Inc. Vill. of Sag 

Harbor, 944 F. Supp. 1087, 1092 (E.D.N.Y. 1996) (holding that a police officer established a prima facie case of disparate 

impact discrimination under Title VII when the police department denied her request for light duty work while she was 

pregnant). 

57 
Appendix B: Updated Literature Review 

In February 2015, The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Office of 

Justice Programs as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authored a “Diversity 

in Law Enforcement Literature Review,” which identified research and academic scholarship 

addressing diversity in law enforcement so that this cross-section of relevant research could inform 

the work of the Task Force. The literature review presented information in four categories: (i) why 

diversity matters, (ii) barriers to achieving diversity, (iii) best practices to achieving diversity, and (iv) 

characteristics of high quality law enforcement personnel. 

A slightly modified and updated version of that literature review is included below. 

Why Diversity Matters 

1. Fridell, Lorie, Robert Lunney, Drew Diamond, and Bruce Kubu. 2008. Racially Biased 

Policing: A Principled Response. Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum. 

Abstract: A police agency whose officers reflect the racial demographics of the community they 

serve fulfills several important purposes in reducing racial bias in policing. First, it conveys a sense 

of equity to the public, especially to minority communities. Second, it increases the probability that, 

as a whole, the agency will be able to understand the perspectives of its racial minorities and 

communicate effectively with them. Third, it increases the likelihood that officers will come to 

better understand and respect various racial and cultural perspectives through their daily interactions 

with one another. 

2.	 Chappell, Allison T. and Alex R. Piquero. 2004. Applying Social Learning Theory to Police 

Misconduct. Deviant Behavior (25): 89-108. 

Abstract: The authors use Aker’s social learning theory to explain police misconduct. Social 

learning theory posits that learning takes place in a social context, occurring by either observation or 

direct instruction. As such, the same learning process can produce either acceptable or deviant 

behavior. In the context of police misconduct, this theory suggests that police are more likely to 

engage in misconduct when peers engage in such behavior and there are few consequences. Using 

data from a random sample of Philadelphia police officers, the relationship between officer attitudes 

and perceptions of peer behavior, and citizen complaints of misconduct are examined. Findings 

indicate that while officer attitudes about the use of excessive force are related to citizen complaints, 

officers anticipated greater punishment for theft than for using force. 

3.	 Fryer, Roland. An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force (July 2016). 

NBER Working Paper No. 22399. 

Abstract: The current research examines police use of force as a function of race. The authors use 

four sources of data to determine the number and type of force used by officers from several cities 

and counties throughout the country: New York City’s Stop-Question-and-Frisk Program; the 

Police-Public Contact Survey; researcher compiled officer-involved shootings data from several 

municipalities (Boston, Camden, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and six Florida counties; and Houston 

Police Department arrest data. Findings indicate that racial differences do exist for non-lethal uses 

58 
 

of force. African Americans are more than 50 percent more likely to experience some form of force 

in interactions with police. Interestingly, as the use of force becomes more severe (e.g., putting 

hands on a civilian versus striking with a baton) the overall likelihood of such occurrences decreases 

dramatically, but the racial differences basically remain the same. Contrary to expectations, however, 

no racial differences were observed for officer-involved shootings. The authors suggest bias may 

influence lower levels of force as opposed to more severe uses of force because the expected costs 

associated with such force are much lower. 

4.	 Legewie, Joscha and Jeffrey Fagan. Group Threat, Police Officer Diversity and the Deadly Use of 

Police Force (May 15, 2016). Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 14-512. 

Abstract: This paper explores officer-involved killings as a function of race. Based on group threat 

theory, areas with large populations of African Americans and areas undergoing rapid population 

changes are expected to increase support for aggressive policing strategies resulting in increased use 

of police force and officer-involved killings of African-Americans. Using LEMAS data and 

information from FatalEncounters.org the authors examined the number of officer-involved killings 

for police departments in cities with more than 50,000 residents. Findings provide support for the 

theory. The proportion of African Americans in the population is directly related with the number 

of officer-involved killings of African-Americans, even after controlling for a number of covariates. 

While minority representation was not found to directly reduce the number of officer-involved 

killings directly, representation did mitigate various dimensions of threat. 

5.		 Sklansky, David A. 2006. Not Your Father’s Police Department: Making Sense of the New 

Demographics of Law Enforcement. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 96 (3): 1209-1243. 

Abstract: This article has three parts. The first part describes how the makeup of police workforces 

has changed over the past several decades. To summarize, the workforce has grown much more 

diverse with regard to race, gender, and more recently, sexual orientation—but the pace of change 

has varied greatly from department to department, and virtually all departments have considerable 

progress to make with respect to diversity. The second part of the article assesses the effects of the 

changes that have already occurred in law enforcement demographics. The author considers three 

different categories of effects: competency 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 the workforce diversity may affect the internal 

dynamics of the department itself). The third part of the article concludes by exploring the 

ramifications of the changing demographics of law enforcement. 

6.	 “Governing the States and Localities.” 2015. Diversity on the Force: Where Police Don’t Mirror 

Communities. A Governing Special Report. 

Abstract: Despite efforts to become more diverse, minorities remain underrepresented to varying 

degrees in the vast majority of larger police departments throughout the country. Particularly in 

jurisdictions experiencing rapid demographic shifts, police largely do not reflect the racial and ethnic 

makeup of their communities. To assess the extent to which law enforcement demographics 

resemble their communities, Governing reviewed recently-released 2013 personnel data for 269 local 

departments serving more than 100,000 residents. Racial and ethnic minorities were 

59 
underrepresented by a combined 24 percentage points on average when shares of police officers 

were compared to Census population estimates for each of the 269 jurisdictions. The disparity was 

greatest for Latinos – nearly 11 percentage points below Census population estimates. 

7.		 Wasserman, Robert. 2010. Guidance for Building Communities of Trust. Washington, D.C.: 

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. 

Abstract: The Guidance describes the challenges that must be addressed by fusion centers, local law 

enforcement agencies, and communities in developing relationships of trust. These challenges can 

only be met if privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties are protected. For fusion centers, this requires 

strong privacy policies and audits of center activities to ensure that the policies and related standards 

are being fully met. For law enforcement agencies, it means that meaningful dialogue and 

collaboration with communities needs to occur in a manner that increases the legitimacy of the 

agency in the eyes of that community. Law enforcement must establish legitimacy in the 

communities they serve if trusting relationships are to be established. For communities, their leaders 

and representatives must collaborate with law enforcement and share responsibility for addressing 

the problems of crime and terrorism prevention in their neighborhoods. 

8.	 McCrary, Justin and Kaushik Krishnan. 2016. Understanding Civilian Deaths 

at Police Hands: Evidence from Crowdsourced Data, Presentation the 2016 EEODATANET 

Conference, “Building An Interdisciplinary Equal Employment Opportunity Research 

Network And Data Capacity.” 

Abstract: A combination of data from FatalEncounters.org and information from the Law 

Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS data) is used to examine the 

impact that increasing the percentage of police officers from underrepresented groups has on the 

number of African-Americans killed by police. Their findings suggest that as the percentage of 

police officers from non-white groups increases the likelihood of officer-involved killings of 

African-Americans decreases. 

Barriers to Diversity 

1.	 Comeau, Michelle J. 2011. Representation and Recruitment: A Three-Part Analysis of the Police 

Hiring Process Within New York State. Rochester, New York: Rochester Institute of 

Technology. 

Abstract: The article consists of three separate analyses, each of which examines the representation 

of women, African Americans, and Latinos in police organizations within New York State. The 

initial study compares department representation to that of the community in regard to race or 

ethnicity and gender. This is followed by the second study, which does a detailed look at the hiring 

process of one department within a mid-sized city (Rochester, NY), noting attrition by 

majority/minority status at each hurdle applicants face. The third study utilizes data from the 

second study to create a model of attrition for the Rochester Police Department. From the three 

studies, a series of recommendations for departments was developed, including: (1) identify 

department needs and allot resources appropriately; (2) track application submissions which can 

assist in identifying times that departments should increase their recruitment efforts; (3) tailor 

advertisements in a manner that would promote diverse representation; (4) increase engagement 

60 
 

through job fairs and reaching out to local professional organizations and community groups; and 

(5) hold informational sessions prior to, and during, recruitment efforts to provide interested parties 

with a realistic portrayal of the police officer position. 

2.	 Dobbin, Frank and Alexandra Kalev. Why Diversity Programs Fail and What Works Better. 

(July-August 2016), Harvard Business Review, 52-60. 

Abstract: After a series of high-profile lawsuits resulting in hefty settlements, businesses became 

more concerned about diversity. As a result, many have developed or expanded training and other 

diversity programs. Despite widespread implementation of such programs, very few gains in the 

proportion of minorities and women in management positions have been observed. Moreover, 

several studies suggest that diversity training can activate bias or spark a backlash. Other common 

strategies for improving diversity have been found to have limited effectiveness, including hiring 

tests, performance ratings and grievance procedures. However, several strategies that are less 

commonly employed by companies have gotten consistently positive results. Diversity task forces 

are most effective, resulting in increases of 9 percent to 30 percent in the representation of white 

women and minorities in management over a five-year period. Diversity managers are also effective, 

resulting in increases of 7 percent to 18 percent in all underrepresented groups in management, 

except Latino men. Targeted college recruitment and mentoring programs result in increases in the 

proportion of women and minorities in management by 8 percent to 24 percent. Self-managed 

teams and cross-training also had positive effects on diversity although the magnitude of their 

impact was less than that of the other strategies. 

3. Dobbin, Frank, Daniel Schrage, and Alexandra Kalev. 2015. Rage against the Iron Cage: The 

Varied Effects of Bureaucratic Personnel Reforms on Diversity. American Sociological Review: 1-31. 

Abstract: The current study examines the effects of four types of bureaucratic reforms on 

managerial diversity. Analyses rely on data from 816 U.S. workplaces over a 30 year period. While 

reforms such as job tests, performance ratings, and civil-rights grievance systems are common in 

organizations, they were found to be ineffective at increasing managerial diversity. In fact, diversity 

declined following the introduction of all three reforms. Targeted recruiting and special training 

programs, while less frequently employed by organizations, were found to promote diversity. 

Reforms that increase transparency with regard to job opportunities, including job posting, systems 

and job ladders, were found to promote equity. While about 80 percent of employers have job 

postings only about 20 percent have job ladders. Finally, diversity managers and regulatory 

monitoring were found to improve the efficacy of reforms. Specifically, diversity managers and 

federal regulators enhanced the effects of job postings and job ladders while mitigating some of the 

negative effects of tests, performance evaluations, and grievance systems. 

4.	 Jordan, William T., Lorie Fridell, Donald Faggiani, and Bruce Kubu. 2009. Attracting Females 

and Racial/Ethnic Minorities to Law Enforcement. Journal of Criminal Justice 37 (4): 333-341. 

Abstract: Using a national survey of law enforcement agencies, this study: (1) measured agencies’ 

ability to fill sworn positions; (2) identified the strategies used to attract and hire females and 

minorities; (3) measured agencies’ success in filling sworn positions with females and minorities; and 

(4) measured the impact of agency strategies and characteristics on levels of female and minority 

applications and hires. The results indicated great variation in agencies’ ability to fill sworn positions 

with females and minorities, as well as considerable variation in the extent to which mechanisms are 

61 
 

used to attract females and minorities to policing. The multivariate analyses indicate that investing 

in a recruitment budget and targeting minorities and women positively affects hiring. 

5.	 Kalev, Alexandra. 2014. How You Downsize Is Who You Downsize: Biased Formalization, 

Accountability, and Managerial Diversity American Sociological Review 79: 109-135. 

Abstract: Research suggests that women and minorities are more likely to be laid off during 

reductions in force due to segregation or discrimination. The current research explores the role of 

formalization and legalization of downsizing in creating or exacerbating gender and racial 

imbalances. Using data from a national sample of 327 downsized establishments between 1971 and 

2002, the effects of layoff formalization and antidiscrimination accountability on women and 

minority representation in management after downsizing are examined. Results indicate that 

downsizing significantly reduces managerial diversity. In addition, formalization intensifies these 

negative effects when downsizing rules depend on positions or tenure, however, not when 

downsizing rules require an individualized assessment. An interesting caveat is that tenure-based 

downsizing rules were not found to hurt Blacks. Moreover, formalization results in more equitable 

outcomes when the process is reviewed by internal legal counsel. Finally, discrimination charges, 

compliance reviews, and affirmative action plans mitigate downsizing inequality. 

6.	 Kalev, Alexandra, Frank Dobbin, and Erin Kelly. 2006. Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing 

the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies. American Sociological Review 71 

(August): 598-617. 

Abstract: Employers have attempted to promote diversity using three broad approaches: 

Establishing organizational responsibility for diversity, moderating managerial bias through training 

and feedback, and reducing the social isolation of women and minorities. The analyses rely on 

federal data describing the workforces of 708 private sector establishments from 1971 to 2002, 

coupled with survey data on their employment practices. Findings indicate that the three 

approaches vary in terms of effectiveness. Diversity training and diversity evaluations were found to 

be least effective at increasing the proportions of white women, black women, and black men in 

management. Networking and mentoring programs show modest effects with mentoring resulting 

in greater gains for black women than other groups. Efforts to establish accountability for diversity, 

including affirmative action plans, diversity committees and task forces, and diversity managers are 

the most effective at increasing the proportions of white women, black women and black men in 

management. Moreover, establishing accountability for diversity was found to make diversity 

training and evaluations, as well as networking and mentoring, more effective. 

7.	 Matthies, Carl F., Kirsten M. Keller, and Nelson Lim. 2012. Identifying Barriers to Diversity in 

Law Enforcement Agencies. RAND Center on Quality Policing. Occasional Paper. 

Abstract: This paper describes one method that law enforcement agencies can use to better 

understand and address the challenges of a diverse workforce in law enforcement agencies: a barrier 

analysis. Barrier analysis is a method of assessment aimed at identifying potential obstacles to 

obtaining resources or participating in a program. Using this tool, the article encourages law 

enforcement agencies to evaluate how women and racial/ethnic minorities face obstacles that might 

account for less-than-proportionate representation among applicants, hires, and senior leadership. 

In the context of employment opportunities, the authors focus on how barrier analyses can be used 

to understand diversity-related challenges at key points in the career lifecycle, such as recruitment, 

62 
 

hiring, promotion, and retention practices. They also present a complete barrier analysis that agency 

leaders can incorporate to identify key barriers and take proactive steps to build a more diverse 

workforce. Case studies are used to provide guidance for agencies to take proactive steps toward 

remedying the lack of representation in their workforces. 

8.	 McCafferty, Francis L. 2003. The Challenge of Selecting Tomorrow’s Police Officers from Generation X 

and Y. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 31 (1): 78-88. 

Abstract: Demands on police officers in the past thirty years have grown dramatically with the 

increasing threats to social order and personal security. Selection of police officers has been 

difficult, but with the increasing demand and complexity of police work, along with the candidates 

applying from Generation X and even Generation Y, the selection process has become more critical. 

The personal characteristics attributed to Generation X – and in the future, to Generation Y – 

should be factored into the selection process to ensure that those individuals selected as police 

officers will be able to cope with what has been described as the impossible mandate of police work 

in a free society. Background information on the X and Y generations is imperative for psychiatrists 

working with police departments and other law enforcement agencies. This article explores these 

areas and constructs a paradigm selection process. 

9.	 Miller, Susan L., Kay B. Forest, and Nancy C. Jurik. 2003. Diversity in Blue: Lesbian and Gay 

Police Officers in a Masculine Occupation. Men and Masculinities 5 (4): 355-385. 

Abstract: This study explores how lesbian and gay police officers fare within law enforcement 

agencies. Using qualitative survey responses from a sample of “out” and “closeted” gay and lesbian 

police officers in a Midwestern city, the authors examine: (1) how police organizations’ cultures 

inform their experiences; (2) how officers navigate multiple aspects of their identities, including 

sexual orientation, gender, race, and ethnicity; and (3) the strategies lesbian and gay officers utilize to 

manage themselves in the workplace. The findings suggest that these officers support a more 

humane approach to policing and see themselves as particularly qualified to work within vulnerable 

communities. 

10. Richard, Roseann M. 2001. The Perceptions of Women Leaders in Law Enforcement on Promotions, 

Barriers and Effective Leadership. San Francisco, California: The University of San Francisco. 

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify factors that undermine successful career 

advancement for women in law enforcement. Through telephone interviews with women holding 

command positions of Captain or higher, the study described the perceptions of women law 

enforcement commanders on leadership effectiveness, challenges, and self-perception. The findings 

presented may be used as the basis for further assessment of effective law enforcement leadership 

and supervisory practices across various federal, state, local, and campus law enforcement agencies. 

In addition, the results from the study can be used to guide departmental development of existing 

management and supervisory programs; update or create harassment and discrimination training 

where none previously existed; and allocate departmental resources for promotional test training 

programs and the testing processes. 

11. Stroshine, Meghan S., and Steven G. Brandl. 2011. Race, Gender, and Tokenism in Policing: An 

Empirical Elaboration. Police Quarterly 14 (4): 344-365. 

63 
 

 

Abstract: According to tokenism theory, “tokens” (those who comprise less than 15 percent 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. Although all minorities 

experienced some level of tokenism, African-American men and African-American women 

experienced greater levels of tokenism than Latino officers, suggesting that race is a stronger 

predictor of tokenism than gender. 

12. Wilson, Charles P., and Shirley A. Wilson. 2014. Are We There Yet? Perceptive Roles of African 

American Police Officers in Small Agency Settings. The Western Journal of Black Studies 38 (2): 123-

136. 

Abstract: One aspect of police behavior that has not been fully or consistently emphasized is the 

problem of perception, particularly how African-American police officers serving in smaller law 

enforcement agencies perceive themselves and their view of how their agencies and the communities 

they serve perceive them. For this article, African-American police officers were surveyed to 

determine their perceptions of the positive or negative effects of their presence in local police 

agencies. Key findings indicate that African-American police officers still find themselves victims of 

racial indifference and seemingly hostile work environments; believe that racial profiling is both 

practiced and condoned by their agencies; that agencies do little to improve diversity and provide 

little support for their efforts; and that they strongly perceive their presence in these smaller agencies 

to have a positive impact on police interactions in the minority community. 

Best Practices for Achieving Diversity 

1.	 Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2012. Survey: Hiring and Retention of State and Local Law Enforcement 

Officers, 2008-Statistical Tables. Washington, D.C.: Office of Justice Programs. 

Abstract: A special survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of approximately 

3,000 general purpose agencies as part of the 2008 BJS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement 

agencies. The study examined specific strategies and policies designed to help them meet the 

challenges of recruiting, hiring, and retaining qualified sworn personnel. 

2.	 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2003. Management Directive 715. 

Abstract: The EEOC provides leadership and guidance to federal agencies on all aspects of the 

federal government’s equal employment opportunity program. Management Directive 715 (MD715) requires agencies to take appropriate steps to ensure that all employment decisions are free 

from discrimination and sets forth the standards by which the EEOC will review the sufficiency of 

agency Title VII and Rehabilitation Act programs. MD-715 sets forth and describes six essential 

elements for model programs. Pursuant to element four, Proactive Prevention of Unlawful 

Discrimination, agencies “have an ongoing obligation to prevent discrimination on the bases of race, 

color, national origin, religion, sex, age, reprisal and disability, and eliminate barriers that impede free 

and open competition in the workplace. As part of this ongoing obligation, agencies must conduct a 

64 
 

 

 

 

 

self-assessment on at least an annual basis to monitor progress, identify areas where barriers may 

operate to exclude certain groups and develop strategic plans to eliminate identified barriers.” The 

background materials include MD-715, Section IIA of EEOC’s Instruction to Federal Agencies for 

MD-715 (Barrier Identification and Elimination), which provides a detailed explanation of the selfassessment process, and “Tips for Small Agencies Conducting Barrier Analysis under MD-715.” 

3.	 Haddad, Abigail, Kate Giglio, Kirsten M. Keller, and Nelson Lim. 2012. Increasing 

Organizational Diversity in 21st Century Policing. RAND Center on Quality Policing.
 

Abstract: Both the military and police departments are concerned about recruiting and promoting a 

racially/ethnically diverse workforce. This paper discusses three broad lessons from the Military 

Leadership Diversity Commission that can be used to inform police department hiring and 

personnel management: (1) qualified minority candidates are available, (2) career paths impact 

diversity, and (3) departments should leverage organizational commitment to diversity. Additionally, 

specific suggestions are given as to how law enforcement agencies can incorporate each of these 

lessons. 

4.	 Kasdan, Alexa. 2006. Increasing Diversity in Police Departments: Strategies and Tools for Human 

Rights Commissions and Others. Harvard School of Government. 

Abstract: The goal of the article is to help human rights and human relations commissions work 

with police officials to increase race and gender diversity among law enforcement personnel. The 

article studies three jurisdictions: Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Atlanta. The article discusses how 

states should support local police departments and assist in assessing diversity. There needs to be a 

firm commitment to diversity from police chiefs and police administrators. In order to achieve 

diversity, there needs to be partnerships and collaboration, outreach, hiring reform, and long-term 

recruitment efforts. 

5.	 Matthies, Carl F. 2011. Evidence-Based Approaches to Law Enforcement Recruitment and Hiring. 

Santa Monica, California: RAND Corporation. 

Abstract: Recruiting diverse, qualified candidates is a continual challenge for law enforcement. 

Around the turn of the millennium, many metropolitan agencies reported a shortage of individuals 

interested in police work. With the downturn in the economy came a flood of applicants, but 

funding for recruitment and hiring eventually decreased. Law enforcement can benefit from 

evidence-based approaches to evaluating recruitment programs and streamlining the application 

process. 

6.		 Taylor, Bruce, Bruce Kubu, Lorie Fridell, Carter Rees, Tom Jordan, and Jason Cheney. 

2005. Cop Crunch: Identifying Strategies for Dealing with the Recruiting and Hiring Crisis in Law 

Enforcement. Police Executive Research Forum. 

Abstract: The processes of recruitment and selection are key to developing agencies with highquality personnel and to producing agencies that are representative of their communities in terms of 

race and gender. The challenge of recruiting and hiring quality personnel has emerged as a critical 

problem facing law enforcement nationwide. It threatens to undermine the ability of law 

enforcement to protect our nation’s citizens and to reverse important gains in our efforts to increase 

65 
the representation on our police forces of racial/ethnic minorities and women. The Police 

Executive Research Forum conducted this project, with funding from the National Institute of 

Justice, to examine the nature and extent of the “cop crunch” and identify department-level 

policies/practices that facilitate the recruiting and hiring of quality personnel, including the 

recruiting and hiring of quality women and minorities. 

7. White, Michael D., Jonathon A. Cooper, Jessica Saunders, and Anthony J. Raganella, 2010. 

Motivations for Becoming a Police Officer: Re-assessing Officer Attitudes and Job Satisfaction After Six 

Years on the Street. Journal of Criminal Justice 38 (4): 520-530. 

Abstract: This article was a follow-up to prior research that examined motivations among academy 

recruits in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Using the same survey and analysis, this 

study re-examined motivations among officers from the same NYPD recruit class after six years on 

the job, and explored both motivation stability and the relationships among motivations and job 

satisfaction. Results suggested that motivations have remained highly stable over time, regardless of 

officer race/ethnicity and gender. Findings also suggested that white male officers were most likely 

to report low job satisfaction, and that there is a link between low satisfaction and unfulfilled 

motivations. Moreover, dissatisfied officers were much less likely to have expressed strong 

commitment to the profession through their original motivations, suggesting that low commitment 

up front may lead to low satisfaction later on. The article concludes with a discussion of 

implications for police departments, particularly with regard to recruitment and retention practices 

and efforts to achieve diversity. 

8.	 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 2000. Revisiting Who is Guarding the Guardians? 

Abstract: Within law enforcement agencies, claims of sexual and racial harassment, disparity in pay, 

and low job satisfaction make police careers unattractive. Additionally, the selection process for 

police officers often contains biases that, in effect, eliminate candidates of color and noncitizen 

permanent residents from being hired. The Commission recommends, among other things, that law 

enforcement agencies: (1) develop creative strategies to increase diversity at all levels, (2) improve 

public perception of the police to attract more applicants, (3) encourage recruits to pursue higher 

education, (4) eliminate biases in the selection system, and (5) revise recruitment and selection 

methods. 

Characteristics of High Quality Law Enforcement Personnel 

1.	 Barrick, Murray R., and Michael K. Mount. 1991. The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job 

Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Personnel Psychology 44 (1): 1-26. 

Abstract: The study investigated the relation of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (extraversion, 

emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) to three job 

performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational 

groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one 

dimension of personality – conscientiousness – showed consistent relations with all job performance 

criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true 

score correlations varied by occupational groups and criterion type. The findings have numerous 

implications for research and practice in personnel psychology, especially in the subfields of 

personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal. 

66 
2.	 Ben-Porath, Yossef S., James M. Fico, Neil S. Hibler, Robin Inwald, Joelle Kruml, and 

Michael R. Roberts. 2011. Assessing the Psychological Suitability of Candidates for Law Enforcement 

Positions. The Police Chief Magazine. 

Abstract: This article describes and elaborates on the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s 

Police Psychological Services Section’s recommended procedures for conducting pre-employment 

evaluations of law enforcement candidates, with an emphasis on steps the hiring agency’s 

administrators can take to ensure adherence to these practices. 

3.	 Chappell, Allison T. 2008. “Police Academy Training: Comparing Across Curricula,” Policing: 

An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 31 (1): 36-56. 

Abstract: This study compared the academy performance of police recruits trained in a traditional 

curriculum with that of recruits trained under a new curriculum tailored to community-policing 

tasks; it also compared the characteristics of recruits who performed better under the communitypolicing curriculum with those who performed better under the traditional curriculum. The study 

found that recruits in both curricula performed similarly in terms of their mastery of the material; 

however, the recruits who performed better in the community-policing curriculum were more highly 

educated and female. The study examined recruit characteristics and performance in Florida’s Police 

Academy under a traditional curriculum that emphasized preparation for law enforcement tasks, 

such as firearms training, physical training, defensive tactics, and driving, in addition to knowledge 

areas such as law, arrest procedures, traffic enforcement, and officer safety. Little attention was 

given to communications, cultural and ethnic diversity, problem solving, and police-community 

relations. The Florida Police Academy subsequently modified its curriculum to reflect the police 

tasks emphasized under community policing, which focus on greater police communication, 

interaction, and cooperation with the community in forging community-based priorities and 

practices in crime prevention and crime control. The community-policing curriculum focused on 

the application of learning rather than memorization, the use of a problem-solving model 

throughout the academy, and the use of scenarios as the basis for learning. 

4. Marion, Nancy. 1998. “Police Academy Training: Are We Teaching Recruits What They 

Need To Know?” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 21 (1): 54-

79. 

Abstract: The description of the basic police academy focuses on training duration, entrance 

requirements, class make-up, environment, instruction, and stress. A review of knowledge learning 

addresses civil liability, ethics, special needs groups, public relations/cultural diversity, and 

examinations. An overview of skill training considers firearms training, self-defense, physical 

training, and communication skills. An overview of hazardous-materials training also is provided, 

along with attitude training. The study concludes that overall this particular police academy is 

providing the information and skills training required to prepare recruits to be police officers. 

However, the study found the academy lacking in its ability to transmit the proper attitudes for new 

police officers. There remains an obvious element of sexism and an element of elitism on the part 

of some instructors, which was made obvious to the recruits. There are a few areas not included in 

the training, specifically ethics and helping the elderly or victims of crime. The addition of female 

67 
 

and minority instructors may help create change. Possible changes in future police academy training 

are discussed. 

68 
 

 

 

 

 

Appendix C: List of Organizations and Stakeholders Consulted 

Law Enforcement Agencies Highlighted in Report 

Artesia (New Mexico) Police Department 

Atlanta (Georgia) Police Department 

Austin (Texas) Police Department 

Beaufort (South Carolina) Police Department 

Bowie (Maryland) Police Department 

Burlington (Vermont) Police Department 

Chattanooga (Tennessee) Police Department 

Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board 

Colorado State Patrol 

Daly City (California) Police Department 

Detroit (Michigan) Police Department 

Evanston (Illinois) Police Department 

Lansing (Michigan) Police Department 

Lexington (Kentucky) Police Department 

Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department 

Metropolitan (District of Columbia) Police Department 

Miami-Dade (Florida) Police Department 

Mountain View (California) Police Department 

Oakland (California) Police Department 

Richmond (California) Police Department 

Sacramento (California) Police Department 

Sarasota (Florida) Police Department 

South Portland (Maine) Police Department 

St. Paul (Minnesota) Police Department 

Wichita (Kansas) Police Department 

Worcester (Massachusetts) Police Department 

Yonkers (New York) Police Department 

Listening Session Participants 

American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity 

American Civil Liberties Union 

Center for Constitutional Rights 

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC 

Feminist Majority Foundation 

Human Rights Campaign 

Just Solutions 

Levy Ratner, P.C. 

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund 

National Center for Transgender Equality 

National Employment Law Project 

69 
National LGBTQ Task Force 

National Women’s Law Center 

Professor Brenda Smith and Professor Richard Ugelow, American University Washington 

College of Law 

Sikh Coalition 

The Advancement Project 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights 

United Sikhs 

Subject Matter Experts 

Dwayne Crawford, Executive Director, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement 

Executives 

Frank Dobbin, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Harvard University 

Harold Goldstein, Baruch College 

Harold Lichten, Founding Partner, Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. 

John Torres, President, Hispanic American Police Command Association 

Kyle Brink, Assistant Professor of Management, Western Michigan University 

Margaret Shorter, President, International Association of Women Police 

Michael Roberts, Ph.D., President, Law Enforcement Psychological Services 

Phillip Cohen, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland College Park 

Stephen Mastrofski, Ph.D., Professor of Criminology, Law, & Society, George Mason 

University 

Thomas Masters, President, National Asian Peace Officers Association 

70