The often cited theory that if police departments reflected the racial makeup of their communities they served, incidents of police use of force would decrease has recently been studied in a new research project that will be published in the next edition of the Public Administration Review.
Sean Nicholson-Crotty, a political scientist at Indiana University and one of the study’s authors said that “what we find is evidence that [having] more black police officers probably doesn’t offer a direct solution to this problem,” The researchers concluded that as the ratio of black officers in police departments rose so did the number of fatal encounters between officers and black residents.
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This is seemingly not, what many that keep proclaiming diversity, want to hear.
Not to worry, the study ensured that they accomplished what they set out to do. The study claims that when black officers reach 40% of a police department that use of force begins to decline. The study suggests that if police departments put more blacks on their department than are actually represented in the community, it could help reducing use of force.
The study and what it suggests is simply the newest supposed “data” that says the white cop is bad but there are several flaws in this study.
Only 15 departments were studied that had 40% blacks in the department. Considering there are over 18,000 agencies, that is hardly a data set that can be trusted. Also, is it possible that use of force can be reduced if citizens simply stop resisting the efforts of law enforcement to do their job? In the agencies that was found to have lesser force, was the overall violent crime rate studied as a possible link to the reduction in force used? Those are studies that have yet to be completed. In addition, there seems to be no mention of use of force applied correctly. The premise of the study is that police force is bad, no matter what.
Don’t get me wrong, use of force that is excessive should be investigated and if it happened the officer should be disciplined. But, if the officer applied force correctly, I have no issue with that and neither should the public.
Also, Law Officer continues to promote that police departments should reflect their community. It appears that this study set out to look at that but when the data didn’t show what they wanted, they went further. Any study that suggests one race should over-represent another is borderline racist. I hesitate to say all out racist because everyone is being called that these days in America (especially if a leftist disagrees with someone). But what the heck; everyone else is doing it. This study is racist!
As I previously mentioned, I may be Bullethead but I’m proud of what Law Officer has done to promote diversity in law enforcement and much of that lies in the opportunities that they provide agencies to recruit all over the country. Not only are free postings available but the Law Officer Partner opportunity, lets an agency not only have a customized recruiting website but they can target their job openings to specific regions in the country. In short, we are providing agencies a tool to recruit minorities across the country so that their agency can reflect the community that they serve.
In regards to this study, I doubt anyone that seriously wants to impact the profession for the better will pay much attention to it. There is important work to be done and race baiting may be the new normal but simply won’t work.
