The department also made an effort to hire more black officers, and now has 65 African-American officers in a force of 718, or 9 percent of the total. That's an improvement over 1989, when there were 35 black officers out of 562, or 6.2 percent, according to city records. In general, minorities comprise about one-quarter of the city's population today. Arresting a disorderly person on a crowded street can often provoke more problems than the original offense, Cervera said. Crowds can gather.
People can begin to talk about the police.
The suspect might play to the crowd's sympathies, he said, aggravating the situation. To prevent this from happening in some situations, Cervera said, police will remove suspects from the street by simply walking them to another location, usually around the nearest corner. There, the suspect can be questioned, frisked and placed into custody without complication. And while that takes place, officers back at the scene will stroll through the crowd. Often the energy that can surge through a crowd witnessing a public arrest fades away, he said.