Why the push for minorities?

[puzzled]

Police widen recruiting for visible minorities
Force wants to reflect community

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald


Monday, December 15, 2003

Calgary police are stepping up efforts to recruit visible minorities.

"We've clearly recognized we have to reflect the growing population in the city and we're doing what we can to recruit these people while maintaining the standard for recruits," said Insp. Barry Clark of the police human resources section.

Police are using their cultural resources unit and school resource officers to target candidates from visible minorities.

Calgary police no longer keep track of the ethnic background of officers because of human rights legislation.

Statistics from 2000, however, indicated that 5.1 per cent of the force's then 1,310 officers were from visible minorities and 2.2 per cent were aboriginal.

And 12.5 per cent of police officers were women. Today, 14 per cent of city police officers are women.

Although no hard data exists on the present force of 1,440 city police officers, experts believe the percentage of visible minorities and aboriginals is still relatively low.

Population trends show that by 2005, about 25 per cent of Calgarians will likely identify themselves as visible minorities.

Clark said police forces across Canada are faced with the same issue.

More than 13 years ago, alarm bells were sounded by the Calgary police commission. Fears of problems with ethnic groups prompted police forces in cities across the country to launch major drives to convince more members of visible minorities to join.

"All it takes is for one person to be hurt or, heaven forbid, killed in circumstances which are not clear, and then we've got a big community problem," former Calgary police commission chairman Darryl Raymaker said in 1990.

His words were prophetic, as witnessed by a recent incident.

Deng Fermino Kuol, 34, was shot and killed by a Calgary police officer on Oct. 25, after a struggle outside a southeast apartment building.

Kuol was sitting outside the residence when the officer arrived. Investigators said after initially agreeing to leave, Kuol drew a knife and slashed the officer in the arm. The officer struggled to restrain his attacker, then pulled his gun and fired twice.

The shooting sparked outrage from members of Calgary's Sudanese community, which is calling for a judicial inquiry. Calgary police continue to investigate.

"Clearly, if there are not any representatives on a police service of large segments of the population and visible minorities and if there is an incident involving that group, there can be social repercussions and the confidence factor between the service and that population can be shaken," Raymaker, a Calgary lawyer, says now.

Vettivelu Nallaingayam, a member of the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary, said it is important the police reflect society's diversity.

"It should happen not as a forced thing, but it should happen as a natural process."

He said such a move would give visible minorities a sense of hope in a society that treats everyone equally -- it would give a message that there are no barriers for visible minorities in becoming a police officer, a firefighter or even the mayor of the city.

A better reflection of diversity would also create a sense of belonging for ethnic communities.

"When you see the main institutions of Calgary when they have ethnic minorities on staff, it says to the community 'I belong,' " said Nallaingayam.

Mahfooz Kanwar, a sociologist and criminologist at Mount Royal College, agrees there should be more police officers with diverse backgrounds, but "there must not be any relaxing of rules to fill a quota."

"We must not lower the standards just to accommodate minority people," he said.

Part of the reason police have difficulty recruiting minorities to the force, he said, is because many people in other countries view law enforcement as a "dishonourable profession," which has no social status in their cultures.

Also language barriers can present a roadblock for some applicants.

Insp. Gord Pelly, 53, has been a member of Calgary police force for 27 years.

"When I joined the service, there were only two other visible minority members in the force in 1976," said the black officer.

Pelly said it was tougher then for a visible minority officer, but he learned not to be overly sensitive.

"I'm pretty gregarious in nature," he said. "I enjoy a challenge. From my military background, I learned to take lots of things like water off a duck's back.

"I made a commitment to myself: I was going to teach people along the way and inform them."

Today, Calgary has grown culturally by "leaps and bounds," he said, compared with 27 years ago. And, he said, it's important for the police department to reflect that growth.



Why this push for minorities? I have yet to see studies or instances where this has helped. In fact, I have heard where this may backfire when a "minority" culprite demands or is expected to recieve preforential treatment from a same "race" officer.

It all sounds like a bunch of window dressing made to appease a few squeeky wheeled whiners regarding the race/sex make up of police forces.

The brutal side of this story is the fact that the police/fire departments are lowering entrance scores and physical standards to increase minority and female applicants.

Calgary police commission chairman Darryl Raymaker (1990) was quoted as saying "All it takes is for one person to be hurt or, heaven forbid, killed in circumstances which are not clear, and then we've got a big community problem,". His statement was in favor of increasing the hiring of minorities as a means of preventing a 'big community problem".

What is going to happen when one of these lower scoring minorities or lesser physical women screws up and a civillian dies because they couldn't do the job as prescribed?

No I am not saying here that all minorities score lower but in a majority of forces they need a lower mark to pass. Fire epartments in particular are renowned for lowering physical benchmarks to get women into the department.

When is the world going to wake up and see this "affirmative action" is in fact discrimination against white males. Two wrongs don't make a right. Wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. Take the best person for the job. Applicants should be nothing but a number to these forces. Interviews should be performed by third parties with scores given back to the force only accompanied by the applicant number.

These are my words, not yours.

[guest]

I guess you would prefer that only whites be allowed to join police forces and fire depts ? Can I assume, based on your post, that in your opinion, anyone who is a visible minority on a police force is there for window dressing and was given the job as a result of discrimination against whites ? Maybe you feel that only white male officers are up to the task of doing undercover work to catch "johns", infiltrate minority criminal groups, communicate efficiently with people in the community who are of a different background and culture, etc..etc. Did you recently fail a police entrance exam somewhere ? You sound pretty bitter....or maybe its just your ignorance. I would hate to be partners with someone like yourself.

[puzzled]

Don't go spewing written garbage by "assuming" or "guessing" anything as doing so indicates your ignorance.

I am asking what I consider a very real question. Why the push to have police forces reflect the visual cultural diversity of our community populations. It is clearly a numbers game.

You blab about UC work but how many officers fresh out of training, no matter what their race, go into UC work. They are thrown on the street for at least a couple years are they not?

I would truely like someone to give examples of how having a certain color skin has effected some form of policing that could not have been accomplished by another officer with a different skin color.

I am simply asking why the best people for the job are not being selected. Shouldn't we be picking from the top of the applicant lists and work our way down?

[JY]

I see people kept asking the same question again and again. As a matter of fact, it does sound bitter. And as a matter of fact, white male are still the majority in the police force. If we kept asking ourselves this kind of question, you will fall into a trap. Why do we hire female then? It'll only go round and round.

I can give u an example. I arrested someone who happen to speak only Chinese, my partner who doesn't understand a word of Chinese kept telling me" Just get her to fessed up" What did I do? I stop, I listen and I get to know the story. If I didn't understand her at all, I would have just put her in the jail. What good does that make? I can tell you, it makes a BIG difference! If I arrested someone who speak other languages and having difficulties with English, I would want to have an officer who can understand that language beside me.

The best person should get the job. No doubt about it. It all come to what you have to offer. What you didn't see is what they posses.

[Jag]

Puzzled

I believe the issue is more than just skin deep. Minority applicants bring "soft skills” to the table. I.E. language skills, cultural understanding, and as the guest suggested, the ability to do UC work. Furthermore, I think it important to realize that criminal organizations are also recruiting from all races. Unlike the police forces, these criminal organizations just don’t make declaration in the Calgary Herald. Heck they don’t even care if you can speak English or if you have grade 12!

As for lower standards, I think that you might be making an assumption. As far as I know minority applicants have to meet the minimum requirements. Yes the cut-off for score does vary to compensate for English as a second language, and maybe even quota requirements. However, other requirements remain the same. Interestingly, if you conducted a survey of the applicants that are in the running (minority or not) you will find the Aptitude Test results are pretty consistent.

I am of the opinion that this practice of actively recruiting minorities is a business decision. After all the clients come in different shades and colours. Let me ask you a question. If you owned a business and your clients were let us say 10 percent oriental. You had an opening for one position. You get two applicants. You conduct as basic job related test. Test result comes back and applicant “A” gets 90% and applicant “B” gets 85%. Both applicants are equal in qualifications. However, applicant “B” speaks Cantonese. Who would you hire?

Jag

[observer]

Jag said:

Puzzled

I believe the issue is more than just skin deep. Minority applicants bring "soft skills” to the table. I.E. language skills, cultural understanding, and as the guest suggested, the ability to do UC work. Furthermore, I think it important to realize that criminal organizations are also recruiting from all races. Unlike the police forces, these criminal organizations just don’t make declaration in the Calgary Herald. Heck they don’t even care if you can speak English or if you have grade 12!

As for lower standards, I think that you might be making an assumption. As far as I know minority applicants have to meet the minimum requirements. Yes the cut-off for score does vary to compensate for English as a second language, and maybe even quota requirements. However, other requirements remain the same. Interestingly, if you conducted a survey of the applicants that are in the running (minority or not) you will find the Aptitude Test results are pretty consistent.

I am of the opinion that this practice of actively recruiting minorities is a business decision. After all the clients come in different shades and colours. Let me ask you a question. If you owned a business and your clients were let us say 10 percent oriental. You had an opening for one position. You get two applicants. You conduct as basic job relate test. Test result comes back and applicant “A” gets 90% and applicant “B” gets 85%. Both applicants are equal in qualifications. However, applicant “B” speaks Cantonese. Who would you hire?

Jag

Jag, your business analogy is excellent. Puzzled, I don't believe you are really asking a question, I believe as the guest stated that you are bitter and are just looking to stir up the pot. I believe that you have certain negative assumptions about women and minorities and their place in the policing profession, maybe even society. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however impolite they may be. Nevertheless, you should get your facts straight before you go public with these opinions, especially on such a potentially divisive issue. Last time I checked, a vast majority of police officers and fire fighters are white males, and whenever I see a brother in uniform I tend to do a "double take" because they are still so rare. The reality of the situation is contrary to what you believe and would try to have others believe.

[MALAKA]

I believe Calgary does face a challenge. The cultural diversity in the city is continuously expanding. It is important for the city to reach out and encourage minorities to apply. Problems and situations will arise when certain minority individuals can be called upon to serve the Calgary community. Infilitration, communication, and cultural understanding is an area which the Calgary Police does recognize as a growing weakness. A police officer is a public servant, whether the offender being delt with is black, green, white or purple. A criminal is a criminal, no preferential treatment should be given.

As a community member, I applaud the Police for trying to assess a community problem and then taking action to address the problem. As an applicant, I hope that all skills of an individual are weighed, and a decision is based, to allow qualified people to be added into the police roster to combat community issues of all natures.

[mikegee]

ON the race issue-I am a Blk officer and have been on the job for 14 yrs! I thank affirmative action for "helping",but I am also college educated ,bi-lingual (spanish speaker also) and scored consistently in the 90s' in EVERY written/oral exam I've had for promos, as well as for prior agency interviews as an applicant.(so it is possible that affirmative action played only a "Minor" party in me getting hired!!) Sadly, the lack of interest in Law enforcement as a career has led to the "softening" of a LOT of standards to apply(now some agencies don't even disqualify for prior marijuana use or for some misd. criminal charges!!!),for everyone,not just visible minorities. Black males here in So.Calif are stuck in the same boat as Wht males -that is- if you don't score extremely high, you'll not be processed( its due to the high number of applicant male whites and blacks you will be competing against vs. other ethnic and gender groups) The earlier writer has his/her opinion, but the reality is that agenciesin the US nationwide, including Canada, are having trouble getting the #s they need (despite the "willing 2bes" on this site!), and the world," Puzzled", is a very diverse place-in some parts of L.A. if you don't speak the language or have the look that the locals are familiar with, then you are running into a brick wall.As far as U/C duties-yes, some rookie officers are used "on loan" due to ethnic skills(language,knowledge of community,ability to fit in). and sadly baby faced M/Ws from the suburbs could end up a victim more so than a a viable U/C officer ( they'd be spotted as a cop, or worse, be thought of as a potential drug buyer "out of his element" and so, an easy robbery victim!). I don't believe in quotas, but the reality was well stated by Jags posting. Don't pick on the lower scale of the spectrum (i.e under recruited F/Hisp or Asians) when YOUR competition is that SMARTER,BETTER QUALIFIED M/W OR M/BLK,OR M/Asian that looks like you!

You're like a 2nd tier Heavy weight boxer that wants to fight a Welter weight "because they're not as good as you".better prepare yourself for your real competition and "stay" in your weight Division!.........

[puzzled]

Thanks for the intelligent reply Mikegee.

I can buy into the notion that the way you look might have some positives and/or negatives when it comes to policing. I may have been stuck on the limited scope view that policing was fairly black and white regarding the laws etc and was having a tough time understanding why it mattered what you looked like as long as you could do the job and enforce the laws. I have heard this a million time though, "Once you put that uniform on, you are pretty much viewed the same by everyone". Most people have a tough time seeing past the blue.

I don't buy any of the language arguments. In fact some of the posters here are sterotyping when they answered that speaking a different language is necessary. Yes it is necessary but you erred when you inferred that just because you look like a certain race or come from that background you must speak the language. Short sightedness.

Observer, What the heck are you trying to say? Your post made no sense what so ever. Sorry.

What is wrong with a litttle debate?

[mikegee]

"puzzled"- I hope I ddin't make you think I was picking on you for having your own opinion.Is the hiring process for law enforcement always "Fair". NO! Some agencies indeed do play the "race" card in hiring, and it is because they in fact discriminated for soo many yrs, that now they have the virtual reverse discrimination thing going on to make up for the yrs they should have done the "right thing"by hiring qualified people of deverse ethnic and social back grounds( I know of one agency in the L.A. area notoriously known for the above problem). What I'd hope for you to do is to study,study,study, and PREPARE yourself for the process ( ride alongs,classes in the local Jr.College,citizen/volunteer academy,etc)-anything that makes your contention better than the next guy/girl. When you make it- and if you have the desire and patience,you will- then you'll care less what the other appplicants do or are to to get hired! you'll know that you and only you got yourself in that uniform, and you can stand proud on that.............