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'More work to do': Police force is still struggling to attract women, minorities
Journal photo by David Rolfe
Sgt. Horace Bryant of the Winston-Salem Police Department leads recruits on a run. “We are trying to attract diverse candidates,” Chief Scott Cunningham said.
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Published: April 10, 2009
Despite its efforts to build a diverse work force, the Winston-Salem Police Department still struggles to attract women and minorities.
A look at this year's class of police recruits shows that among the 30 recruits, 24 are white men, two are Hispanic men, two are black women, one is a white woman and one is an American Indian man, Chief Scott Cunningham said. Only 20 percent of the recruits are members of underrepresented groups, a fact that concerns him.
"The department is not where we want to be," Cunningham said. "We want to mirror our community."
The issue isn't new -- city officials have wrestled with it for 30 years, and the department has made some slow progress in diversifying its ranks. But this is the first class recruited since Cunningham was hired in June 2008. He said last week that the department will "aggressively recruit" more minorities and women to the force.
In late January, Cunningham sent a letter to 400 churches in the city, asking for their help in encouraging people to apply to become police officers.
Police recruiters also have visited several historically black colleges and universities in North Carolina, and the department has advertised in brochures distributed at Winston-Salem State University.
The city also has a program to recruit black police officers at WSSU, in which the city pays the tuition of a student who subsequently becomes a Winston-Salem police officer.
"We are trying to attract diverse candidates," Cunningham said. "We are not as successful as we need to be."
Council Member Molly Leight of the Winston-Salem City Council said she was surprised and disappointed at the low numbers of minorities among the recruits.
"That is something that we have to talk about," said Leight, a member of the council's public-safety committee. "We got more work to do."
The police department has 505 officers and 152 civilian employees, according to police statistics. Eighty-two percent of its officers are white, 14 percent are black, and 3 percent are Hispanic.
White men represent 71 percent of the officers, while black men represent 12 percent, the statistics show. Three percent are Hispanic men.
Among the civilian employees, 72 percent are white, 24 percent are black, and 4 percent are Hispanic, statistics show.
The Winston-Salem Fire Department has a more diverse work force -- 70 percent, or 229, of its firefighters are white men; 28 percent, or 91, are black men. Less than 2 percent are American Indian or Hispanic men. White women are 3 percent of the firefighters, statistics show. Black women represent slightly more than 1 percent.
Mayor Allen Joines has said that the city has taken steps to improve diversity among its employees. Joines said that the low number of black officers is troubling.
Blacks make up 34 percent of Winston-Salem's population, and women make up 52 percent, according the U.S. Census Bureau. Whites make up 51 percent of the city's population, and 12 percent is Hispanic.
Regardless of their race or sex, the department will not recruit anyone who is not qualified to become a police officer Cunningham said. The department wants to expand the pool of potential officers and train the best people.
"If they meet our standards, we will bring them in," he said.
The qualifications to become a police officer include being at least 21 years old, having a high-school diploma, and no felony convictions, serious misdemeanors or impaired-driving convictions. Recruits also must pass physical and written tests.
But two educators said that the police department, like police departments nationwide, faces challenges in recruiting and retaining black and female officers.
James Mayes, the director of the criminal-justice program at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, said that many black men historically have distrusted police and are not interested in working as police officers.
A pattern of police officers using excessive force against blacks has soured many blacks against pursuing careers in law enforcement, Mayes said.
Gwen Hunnicutt, an assistant professor of sociology at UNC Greensboro, said that many of her female students want to pursue careers in law enforcement but they face obstacles.
Many women have difficulty passing the physical and written tests to become police officers, Hunnicutt said.
Others struggle to break through into law enforcement because it is a male-dominated profession, she said.
For women, "it is still difficult to navigate this profession," Hunnicutt said.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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