It can be hard to hire, and hard to keep, minority police offcers. That’s why we appreciate the efforts by some cities to help their police forces look at least a little more like the communities they protect and serve.
The importance of that cannot be overstated.
Law enforcement agencies by their nature have to understand their communities and the various populations within those communities.
Training helps, but a department’s comprehension of cultural differences and challenges facing various subgroups within the general population takes great strides every time someone in the minority is hired.
It was good to hear of a recent meeting with the Rogers Police Department at which members of the public got a chance to provide feedback.
The message delivered is one Rogers police officials have heard before: Diversify. Reflect the community. Build trust among minority groups.
“You can’t tell me the only people who want to be police offcers are white men,” Lyshell Hiatt of Bella Vista told those gathered to discuss the department.
It was significant that the Rogers law enforcement agency held the meeting. A few years ago, it was the subject of a racial profiling case the city settled by pledging not to allow Rogers offcers to inquire about legal status or to request documentation of legal status from those they stop. It’s fair to say some tensions have existed - and to some degree still exist - between police and a large Hispanic presence in the city.
But it seems relationships are improving. The department has held meetings with Hispanic leaders for some time. The most recent included representatives of Northwest Arkansas’ chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, leaders in the Hispanic community and a representative from the Northwest Arkansas Rape Crisis Center.
Understanding requires communication, so these meetings are critical to the city’s future.
Police officials acknowledge room for progress.
About 9 percent of Rogers’ 100 officers speak Spanish fluently. Chief James Allen said the department hired its first black employee six months ago and has only four women on the force.
Those are steps in the right direction, but far short of matching Rogers’ population.
We respect the challenges agencies face. It’s hard to hire people who aren’t applying. Once a bilingual person is hired, they can often be hired away in short order by the private sector for more money, a police spokesman said.
All of these challenges simply reflect a need for the concentrated eftort to do better in the future. If it was easy, all the pieces would just fall into place. It’s good to hear Chief Allen say he’s willing to “try anything” to recruit more minority officers.
We commend those who engaged in the discussion. It’s only through such communication that barriers of distrust or misunderstanding will come crashing down.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/25/2013