Roundtable: Police Diversity--What Does Real Diversity Look Like and How Does It Impact Policing Outcomes?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended that law enforcement agencies strive for wide-ranging diversity to “improve understanding and effectiveness in dealing with all communities”. This roundtable considers why police diversity is a key factor in the delivery of police services and how it can enhance police legitimacy. This roundtable contemplates two specific aspects of police diversity. First, what does it mean to have a truly diverse police force? Are racial and ethnic diversity most important? What about intersectionality with gender, class, sexual orientation, religion and other factors? And practically speaking, how do police departments recruit and retain diverse police officers, supervisors and leaders? Second, the Task Force observed that law enforcement should recruit candidates who are "likely to police in an unbiased manner". This roundtable will also consider how police diversity impacts policing outcomes. Key questions include how conscious or unconscious bias of police shape their discretion and decision-making when policing communities. This roundtable draws on perspectives from American and European policing scholars. Participants will share findings from individual research, including methodological approaches and areas for further research. The roundtable’s goal is to engage with an audience of scholars with similar research interests

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Chair

• Tara Lai Quinlan, University of Sheffield

Discussants

• Delores Jones-Brown, Center for Race, Crime and Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Alpa Parmar, University of Oxford

• Tara Lai Quinlan, University of Sheffield