Police minority recruitment: A note on its effectiveness in improving black evaluations of the police

Decker, Scott H.; Smith, Russell

doi:10.1016/0047-2352(80)90114-2

Cited by 57 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…First, representation is seen as a way of increasing the legitimacy of the police in the eyes of the public, especially among minority residents. The limited evidence, however, suggests that increased minority recruitment is not related to African American attitudes toward the police (Decker & Smith, 1980). Nonetheless, minority officers are seen as more knowledgeable about minority communities and minority cultures, and they may be more empathetic to minority concerns (Decker & Smith, 1980; Goldstein, 1977).…”

Section: Minority Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The limited evidence, however, suggests that increased minority recruitment is not related to African American attitudes toward the police (Decker & Smith, 1980). Nonetheless, minority officers are seen as more knowledgeable about minority communities and minority cultures, and they may be more empathetic to minority concerns (Decker & Smith, 1980; Goldstein, 1977). Second, increased numbers of minority officers in police agencies increases the contact between Caucasian officers and minority officers.…”

Section: Minority Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Police Officer Diversity on Police‐Caused Homicides

Smith¹

2003

Policy Studies Journal

114

148

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Macrolevel studies of police killings generally focus on testing the conflict and community violence hypotheses. This research generally supports both the conflict proposition that minority threat is related to police violence and the community violence proposition that locations with higher levels of violence have a greater number of police-caused homicides. However, some of the most common proposals to reduce police-citizen violence, namely changing police personnel, are largely overlooked in existing research. The majority of studies that have examined police homicides do not acknowledge the possibility that the personnel composition of police agencies may affect levels of police violence. The current article extends previous lines of research on police-caused homicides by including measures of the personnel composition of police agencies as predictors of police-caused homicides. More specifically, this study examined the influence of minority and female representation within large municipal police agencies on police-caused homicides. The findings show that more diversified departments do not have significantly lower levels of police-caused homicides. The results do, however, support both the conflict and community violence propositions. Furthermore, the pattern of findings suggests the existence of a generalized threat in the nation's largest cities.

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Section: Minority Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Minority Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Police Officer Diversity on Police‐Caused Homicides

Smith¹

2003

Policy Studies Journal

114

148

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the era of the Civil Rights Movement, and later in the context of the Vietnam War, the greater representation of African American officers was broadly regarded as a critical step toward improving the state of police-minority community relations in the U.S. Enhanced employment of minority officers was seen as a way to both serve social equity and promote more effective control of urban crime (Decker & Smith, 1980; President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, 1967, pp. 167-177).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the employment of minority officers in U.S. cities: OLS fixed-effect panel model results for African American and Latino officers for 1993, 1996, and 2000

Zhao¹,

He²,

Lovrich³

2005

Journal of Criminal Justice

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“…The civil disturbances that erupted in cities across the United States in the 1960s were attributed in part to discriminatory practices of the police. National commissions called on police departments to diversify their ranks, arguing that minority officers would have a better understanding of minority communities and display less prejudice than their White counterparts, thereby reducing police–minority conflicts (Decker and Smith, 1980; National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968; President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, 1967). As one report put the issue:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Policing Race: The Racial Stratification of Searches in Police Traffic Stops*

2012

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Research on race effects in police traffic stops is theoretically underdeveloped. In this study, we derive propositions from Donald Black's theory of law to explain the interaction effects of officer and driver race on searches in traffic stops in St. Louis, Missouri. Our citywide results and those for stops in predominantly White communities are generally consistent with the theory: Searches are more likely in stops of Black drivers than in those of White drivers, especially by White officers, controlling for other characteristics of the officer, driver, and stop. In predominantly Black communities, however, stops of White drivers by White officers are most likely to result in a search. We interpret both sets of results as manifestations of racial profiling in segregated communities and suggest that Black's theory of law remains a promising theoretical framework for future research on the continuing significance of racebased policing in the United States.Although a burgeoning research literature examines the characteristics and consequences of police traffic stops, most of this research is either

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Police minority recruitment: A note on its effectiveness in improving black evaluations of the police

Cited by 57 publications

References 11 publications

The Impact of Police Officer Diversity on Police‐Caused Homicides

The Impact of Police Officer Diversity on Police‐Caused Homicides

Predicting the employment of minority officers in U.S. cities: OLS fixed-effect panel model results for African American and Latino officers for 1993, 1996, and 2000

Policing Race: The Racial Stratification of Searches in Police Traffic Stops*

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