Amidst the confusion in Ferguson, Missouri, other states are discovering similar cases of racial divide between citizens and police force members. In Massachusetts, eight of the most diverse areas were studied and it was revealed that in places where the majority of the population is not white, the majority of officers are. This can be an issue because the police are supposed to make citizens feel safe and protected, but many feel as though they are being racially profiled by the predominantly white force. This creates a lack of trust in authorities by the people. Many of these types of concerns stem from the fact that people believe that the police department should be a representation of the people in the town or city. It is believed that a largely white law enforcement agency does not accurately speak for a racially and culturally diverse area.
While the number of non-white members if the police force is growing quickly, the ratio of white to non-white officers is still no where close to equal. In an effort to make citizens more comfortable, officers are learning other languages such a spanish in order to relate to the people they govern. Many officers in very racially and culturally diverse communities are doing other things in order to show residents that they are making an effort to build inter- racial relationships. These things include visiting businesses frequented primarily by a certain race, and opening conversations about a future in law enforcement with young minority children and teenagers. They do these things in hopes that these children will grow up and want to become police officers, so that in the not so distant future, the large gap between the number of minority citizens and number of minority officers will be much smaller or even non-existent.
This is an article run by the Boston Globe describing the research and efforts of officers in diverse cities to create relationships with minority citizens.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/01/massachusetts-police-forces-lag-racial-diversity/RnEIJW5TuVki4ndotvl2GK/story.html
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