Local law enforcement hopes to diversify workforce - KOB
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There is a big push not only to get more officers on the streets, but to make sure law enforcement is diverse and inclusive.
The NAACP is teaming with APD and the Albuquerque area FBI this weekend with hopes of adding some new recruits.
Recruitment is a work in progress for the Albuquerque Police Department and other agencies. It goes beyond just filling shoes, but diversity gaps.
“Out of those 892 officers there's only 25 to 30 African Americans on the entire force,” said Pastor David Walker with the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. “When we think of black females on the department. Just currently, we had a black female graduate from the police academy. She’s the only black female in the department.”
The department is made up primarily of white, Hispanic and Latino workers.
It's not just APD. This is representation for special agents with the FBI. African American men represent just 3.5%, and African American women represent just 1%.
“Law enforcement has not always been kind to black people,” said Dr. Harold Bailey, president of NAACP. “So there's a history of violence, a history of police brutality. So we have to work hard to change the attitude and the perception we have.”
Bailey, along with state Rep. Pamelya Herndon and Pastor Walker, said it's time to start recruiting African Americans to fill in that massive gap.
“The big thing we need to look at is cognitive thinking and lifestyles and so those two items are very important when we're looking at bringing in diversity and people of color so that groups and organizations understand that there is a difference in the way people think and the way they live so that when they're enforcing laws they're thinking about those things,” Herndon said.
They're putting on a law enforcement forum Saturday morning.
“As we talk to individuals coming to the forum we are going to ask them specifically, why haven’t you chosen law enforcement as a career? Particularly if you look at the FBI, you can retire at age 55 with a great pension and still come back to the community and be very helpful so these are the things we'd like to express and look forward to examining,” Herndon said.
source: https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/local-law-enforcement-hopes-to-diversify-workforce/6427700/
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