Diversity in the ranks

The Chattanooga Police Department is seeking a few good officers such as Cornelius Gaines.

He's young, black, educated and enjoys police work. After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2007, the Clarksville, Tenn., native looked for and found work in the Scenic City.

When he entered the police academy in September 2008, six other black cadets were in the class. Four graduated.

Fewer academies and fewer minorities in those academies have translated into a Chattanooga police force that is 15 percent black.

Chattanooga is 35 percent black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And that's a problem, said newly appointed Police Chief Bobby Dodd.

The chief told the City Council during his confirmation vote two weeks ago that one of his goals is to increase the number of black officers and other minorities on the force.

"At some point we have to step out and be more open. We have good candidates here," he said of local minority recruiting efforts.

The upcoming September police academy will be the first one in two years. Half of the 25 selected cadets are minorities, the chief said.

That minority category is composed of women, blacks and Hispanics.

Chief Dodd said growing up in East Lake and later working in Alton Park and Piney Woods as a young patrol officer taught him the value of understanding other cultures.

"GOOD START"

The chief met last week with leaders of black churches and communities in an effort to solicit nominees for the September and future academies.

Though he can't make up losses in previous academies and wouldn't put a specific timeline on when the department could see numbers closer to the 35 percent target, the chief said he can encourage minority recruiting in academies under his leadership.

"It's a good start," he said.

Deputy Chief Mike Williams, who handles day-to-day operations of the department and formerly oversaw training and recruiting, said one obstacle to recruiting qualified minority candidates is competition with the private sector, other police departments and state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Pay increases for new hires in the last two years have helped Chattanooga become more competitive, but challenges remain, he said.

Lowering standards to meet a goal is "counterproductive to both the applicant and the department," the deputy chief said.

Most of the police department's minority recruitment efforts have been unproductive, according to Sgt. Derrick Stewart, president of the local chapter of the Black Police Officers Association.

At one point, Sgt. Stewart said, the department was 20 percent black, but a combination of retirements, resignations and fewer minorities graduating from the academies has depleted the ranks.

Previous police chiefs said they wanted more minorities, but results lagged.

"I think it goes back to priorities," said Sgt. Stewart, a 22-year veteran of the force. "You have to go out and actually put the effort into finding qualified minorities."

The department is sorely lacking Hispanics and women as well, he said.

Nine percent of Chattanooga police are women, and less than 2 percent of the department is Hispanic.

CREATING MISTRUST

The problem with having a police force with so few minorities, said University of Tennessee in Knoxville professor Asafa Jalata, is that it can create mistrust in the minority community.

"It creates suspicion, mistrust, misunderstanding," said the sociology professor whose studies include race and ethnicity. "Police are not seen as a protector, and people are not going to share information."

Dr. Jalata dismissed comments that recruiting qualified minorities candidates for police work is difficult.

"If the police are interested, they can find them," he said. "I don't think there is a big hurdle to recruit people to the police department if the police chief is interested."

Once in the department, supervisors must look for problems of discrimination, which are no longer overt, he said.

"If you belong to the majority group, you might not know what goes on in the minority experience," he said. "You can't assume that there is not discrimination."

That discrimination takes subtle forms such as ignoring certain officers or not assigning them to good jobs or units.

A department breakdown of black officers by unit or division was unavailable. Police by upper-level rank break down as follows: one of the three assistant chiefs is black, one of the eight captains is black, four of the 16 lieutenants are black and 20 of the 85 sergeants are black, according to the department's June report.

OPENING DOORS

Forty-two years ago when Napoleon Williams was the first black policeman to make detective, the community fed qualified young men into the ranks of the police and fire departments on a regular basis, he said.

Principals and coaches at predominately black schools would guide young black men who had an interest and a clean record into public safety. When those gatekeepers recommend youths to leaders in both departments, it opened doors between previously shut-out minorities to quality jobs that served the city, he said.

Mr. Williams said the feeder system started to wither after Riverside High School closed in the early 1980s, cutting away one path to the departments.

Ella Bryant, a former chairwoman of the Westside Weed and Seed, worked directly with Chief Dodd when he was an officer in her area. She said she trusts his intention to bring more diversity to the force.

"I am not for waking up in 2010 and looking and not seeing any minorities anywhere," Ms. Bryant said. "I thought we had made some strides."

Though race is a factor in community relations and building good role models for youth, she said the way an officer, regardless of color, approaches the neighborhood plays a crucial role.

"If you come by and you've got your windows up people are not going to talk to you," she said. "Get on out of your car, leave the car."

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