Race & Ethnicity, Fall 2014: Race Inequality In American Police Force

With the topic of police brutality gaining so much presence in the news lately, reporters have started to zoom in on not only the racial makeup of the cities affected by such brutality, but also the racial makeup of the police departments themselves. After a preliminary dig, it has been made very clear that in some of the most racially diverse American cities, the most nonracially diverse police forces are in charge of keeping the public safe. This becomes an issue because humans naturally like to associate themselves with those who look and behave similar to themselves. However, in cities like St. Louis and Cleveland, we can see that in some counties there are upwards of seventy five percent more white Americans on the force than in the county itself. In all American agencies, twenty once percent is composed of Racial/ethnic minorities, and on local police forces, twenty two percent is composed of racial/ethnic minorities. These numbers are far too low for where our country is today. Only nineteen percent of all sheriff’s offices are composed of minorities. When looking at the general public and how receptive they are to the police force that is protecting their communities, we often see that members of the community are far more responsive to diverse police forces rather than predominantly white forces. The diversity amongst the force gives them more credibility with the community, and when talking about inner cities this plays a huge role in the responsiveness and respect that is given to the serving force. The link provided here gives us a look at the sixteen least diverse police forces in our country as of 2007. In the provided link above we can see that Ferguson, Missouri is the third highest in terms of inequality in the St. Louis area. It is not by accident that cities such as Ferguson are becoming so widely known for their lack of tolerance towards the police force. With such disparity amongst the force, and continuous acts of police brutality/racism in these highly ethnic areas, it makes sense why an increase in diversity would help alleviate some of the burdens these forces have taken on by being so racially lopsided.
There are two main conflicts that appear to be present in terms of the police force and their designated areas to oversee. The “class conflict theory,” which states that widespread inequality forces police to beef up to protect the rich from the poor. As well as the “race conflict theory,” which states that law enforcement expands in response to the threat that minority groups pose to the majority both play roles in this ongoing problem. In both of these theories, the minority class is seen as being a “threat,” to society, which is where the initial problem lies. Rather than creating forces that can relate to the general population that is being governed, we are beefing up the police units with an excess of white officers, thinking this will alleviate some of the issues in minority dominated settings. With great economic disparity in cities it seems as if Americans feel that white dominated forces will be able to take the most care of the rich in terms of protecting them from negative externalities given off by these so called "poor minority groups."
It seems clear that the priorities of the our police force need to be reevaluated with the general public’s best interest in mind, not just the one’s with economic power to influence decision making. If we were to have a better-rounded police force in terms of diversity than we may be able to effectively reduce the amount of police brutality, as well as inner city violence. A lopsided police force in terms of racial makeup does not make any sense for a country that was built off of putting our differences aside to work as one entity.