According to this article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the “Rochester Police Department is seeking more minorities.” (HatTip to reader Mike Bertolone)
Recruitment Officer Jesse Green said anyone can apply to take the test since city residency is not required when applying. But the department will be taking a closer look at minorities who apply. “We want more diversity,” Green said.
More than half of the city of Rochester’s population consists of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, according to 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Yet, only 26 percent of the more than 600 sworn members of the department are African-American, Hispanic or Asian.
The Rochester Police Department says its goal is to have a police department that is reflective of the community it serves, but it does not have an exact percentage goal for how many minorities the department would like to have.
Police spokesman LaRon Singletary said it is important for the department to have individuals who can understand and address the diverse needs of the community.
I wonder if the Rochester Police Department will be called upon to explain to a judge why “taking a closer look at minorities who apply” does not amount to discrimination against all those who are not looked at so closely.
If it is called upon to explain, as it should be, perhaps Police spokesman LaRon Singletary can make available the data revealing, say, how many Jewish and Muslim police officers serve in Rochester.
There are roughly 25,000 people living in Jewish households in the Rochester area, and many thousands of muslims, according to the Islamic Center of Rochester, maybe as many as 19,000. In a city whose population was 219,773 according to the 2000 census, or possibly 207,000, or even if only 189,312 in 2005, you’d think that a department truly interested in being “reflective of the community” would have a good number, perhaps even a “critical mass,” of Jewish and Muslim officers.
Does the Rochester Police Department have a properly reflective number of Jews and Muslims? Does it know how many it has? Does it believe that “Hispanics” are fungible, so that a Mexican-American can “reflect” a Cuban or a Puerto Rican? Does it care?
As a practical matter, the pool of qualified applicants, qualified being defined as a high school graduate, is terribly out of balance. A study by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and the Urban Institute released in 2004 found that for the entirety of the United States, “while 75 percent of white students graduated from high school in 2001, only 50 percent of all Black students, 51 percent of Native American students, and 53 percent of all Hispanic students got a high school diploma in the same year.” The study found that the problem was even worse for Black, Native American, and Hispanic young men at 43 percent, 47 percent, and 48 percent, respectively.” More over the report added, “Black and Latino students in New York State are less likely to finish high school on time than their counterparts anywhere else in the nation…” According to the Census bureau, Rochester, where 73% of the residents are high school graduates, fares a bit better than the rest of the state. Given these facts, I would argue that the current make up of police force more than likely reflects the make up of the qualified of applicants. Until there is something close to equity in the pool, a random selection process where race is not taken into account, will never reflect the “diversity” of the residents.
While the police chief in Rochester states that the combined African-American, Hispanic and Asian population make up a bit more than 50% of the cities residents, it would be more accurate to say the percentages are 38.5%, 12.8%, and 2.2% respectively. In the wider Rochester metro area, Monroe County, Whites compose 80.5% of the population, while the above cited minority populations are 14.8%, 5.8% and 2.8% respectively. (That the numbers add up to greater than 100% is because Hispanics are reported in more than one category.) So even going outside of the community to recruit police officers, of the non-white variety, would seem to be problematic, if not illegal.
John observed that there is a significant Jewish and Muslin population and that, “a department truly interested in being “reflective of the community” would have a good number, perhaps even a “critical mass,” of Jewish and Muslim officers.” The Census Bureau tells us that the local population is 52.5% female so I would think any person interested in “true” diversity would support a police force that reflects that population as well.
Let’s take race and gender check-off boxes off of apllications once and for all.
We should also remove names, too, until after the employment interview to avoid the appearance of ethnic discrimination, too.
Let everyone stand on their own laurels, and may the most qualified person win!
Marc
Well, blacks are still a “preferred” minority for now, and supporting such practices will begin to backfire them.