Effect change – become an officer

If you want something better, you have to work for it. That old truth represents a new new opportunity for young people in our community. Law-enforcement agencies are looking for recruits and there’s an effort to make those agencies look more like the communities they serve.

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams says increasing racial and gender diversity could help reduce tensions.

We know about the tensions.

On a national level, police shootings of unarmed black men led to the Black Lives Matter movement. It prompted some NFL players to take a knee during the national anthem, spawning a fight over patriotism that missed the point about the violence the players were protesting.

In the Valley, demonstrations and counterdemonstrations during President Donald Trump’s visit in August climaxed in actions that left some people denouncing the crowd-control steps taken by Phoenix police.

Protesters commandeered a subsequent Phoenix City Council meeting charging excessive use of force against largely peaceful protesters, even though police videos showed some protesters threw things at officers.

The atmosphere was thick with distrust.

Bubbling in the background is the deep resentment planted in the years when the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was headed by Joe Arpaio, whose racial profiling of Latinos was found unconstitutional by a federal judge.

So much tension. So much resentment.

So much opportunity.

Yes. Opportunity.

Law enforcement is hiring. Black, Latino and other minority recruits could become trusted peace officers in the neighborhoods where they grew up. That could make a big difference.

“You’ll have someone who looks like you, who thinks like you and who processes information like you do,” Williams told Cronkite News.

To paraphrase Gandhi: This is a powerful invitation to Valley youths to become the change they want to see in the world.

Currently, the makeup of law enforcement does not reflect the community.

In Phoenix, for example, nearly 50 percent of people are women, but women make up only 13 percent of the force.

Latinos make up 31 percent of Phoenix’s population, but only 18 percent of the police force. Blacks make up 5 percent of the population, and 4 percent of the Phoenix police force.

Valleywide, Latinos constitute 24 percent of the population of the metro area’s biggest cities, but average just more than 12 percent of the police officers in those cities, according to an analysis by Cronkite News.

When residents recognize themselves in the faces of police, the result can be increased trust. That has benefits for the larger community because crime decreases when people feel comfortable calling the police and testifying.

The value of a diverse police force cuts both ways. Police who understand the neighborhoods they serve from personal experience can better relate to the needs of the people.

Former Dallas Police Chief David Brown put it eloquently following the massacre of five white police officers by a black gunman in July 2016.

The apparent motive was anger over police shootings of black men.

Chief Brown, who is African-American, issued a heartfelt challenge.

“Serve your community; don’t be a part of the problem,” he said. “We’re hiring. Get off of that protest line and put your application in.”

At a time when protesters were expressing a deep distrust of law enforcement and some were insisting the incident was part of a “war on police,” Brown offered a clear way forward. Become an officer.

Change the system from the inside. It was a timely reminder of the power of individuals to shape their world.

It remains timely today as Arizona law-enforcement agencies echo that invitation.