Team B 1 Panel Discussion Presentation Team CJA 344 Race and Ethnicity in Police Employment Practices Moderator Thomas Aragunde Jr Panelist Andrea Taylor Curtis Hay Lindsey Luther Team B 2 Question 1 Will women ever be viewed as equal in the position of a Law Enforcement Officer Andre To me this is an impatient question Many years ago no one thought that women would be looked as equals in the workforce or in voting Things take time and cultures as well as societies take time to adjust and accept Will women be viewed as equals in the position of a Law Enforcement Officer Of course but it will take time Curti Women are currently more accepted as equals in law enforcement for many reasons For example police work does not always require the use of force and a women s motherly instincts can deescalate a situation without the use of force in many cases Police agencies can also benefit because women are able to add a different approach or perspective than men Because there are many lawsuits that can occur with the use of force women police officers can save police agencies money by talking down a situation rather than impatiently using force to quickly stop a situation Lind In the past women in the criminal justice field were primarily employed in the social service area they were not allowed to patrol thus they were paid less and promotions were not likely for a woman on the force Today women are looked at differently on a task force and equality among men and women is better There has been a steady growth in the number of women entering police work In 1970 only two percent of all police were women but by 1991 nine percent of police were women personal communication Bureau of Justice Statistics 1993 Question 2 Team B 3 Should Police Departments be required to hire a specific amount of minorities Andre Absolutely not Police Departments should be required to hire employees based on their skill sets They should hire the most qualified person for the job When we begin to make organizations hire people based on their ethnicity or race that does nothing but continue the idea that we are separate and not equals It is reverse racism when you hire someone because they are a minority instead of NOT hiring them because they ARE a minority The most qualified person should get the position Curti The use of affirmative action can be useful if there are agencies who only hire non minorities If an agency is known to only hire non minorities even if the minority applicants have similar skills and education that agency should be required to hire a specific amount of minorities According to Allen 2003 Police departments are not making major advances in recruiting and hiring women and people of color In addition educated women and people of color may find that it is more prestigious and profitable to find employment within professions that have better working hours and higher salaries and are less dangerous Because finding qualified minority applicants may be more difficult to obtain a minority requirement could lead to the hiring of less qualified people Lindse Neither women nor ethnic minorities were represented significantly among the ranks of law enforcement officers until the 1970s In 1997 women composed between 5 and 11 percent of sworn officers in local sheriff s special and state police agencies Ethnic minorities account for between 12 and 25 percent of sworn officers in these same agency types U S Department of Justice The hiring of minorities should not have to be a requirement and the position should be filed based on one s ability to perform the job and not the color of their skin Team B 4 Question 3 Will hiring minorities improve the police community relations Andre No it won t What it will do is ostracize the hired minorities within their community What WILL improve police community relations is fair treatment What will improve police community relations is fairness and equality Hiring minorities will not help that but if they are the best qualified for the job then it couldn t hurt Curti Hiring minorities can improve community relations because many communities are diverse If officers of different race and culture are hired they will be able to achieve more effective communication and rapport with the community Linds When the societal change of hiring minorities into the police force was implemented the goal was to improve or eliminate the negative feelings between police and minority citizens Employing a diverse group of individuals will allow for rapport between police and the community Question 4 Does hiring minorities ensure that discrimination will not be a problem Andre No nothing will ensure discrimination is not a problem except better training Officers need to undergo ethics training as well as other forms of training to keep the idea of fairness and equality in their minds Hiring minorities will not stop that Better training programs will Curti According to Zhao Herbst and Lovrich 2001 Future research should be conducted to show how race and ethnicity affects police agencies and their external environments Hiring minorities may provide less discrimination in some areas but this does not ensure discrimination 5 Team B will not be a problem Lindse There will always be discrimination however with a police force with a diverse group of officers there will be less discrimination in some areas Discrimination will always be a part of everyone s day to day lives Question 5 Should Police Officers be partnered with an officer of another race Andre I would have no argument with this I would not make it a requirement but I do think it could be beneficial It would show those outside of the police force that yes they are different but they work together as equals It would send a good message to areas that have race issues I would not go so far as to make this a MUST however but in some areas it wouldn t be a bad idea Curti Partnering officers with another race will allow officers to become more familiar with diversity This will also allow for officers to potentially build a bond together without any racial conflict Ultimately partnering officers with another race will provide a more effective and typically non biased relationship with community members Lindse By partnering police officers of different races many things can be accomplished Minority officers can relate more to minority citizens and both can work together to achieve the goals at hand by learning from each other without racial