Today we ran a story about diversity within the Minneapolis Police Department. The short version: the MPD has about half as many black and Hispanic officers it needs to mirror the city's population, but has sufficient numbers of Asian and Native American officers to match the city.
Across the country, the story is much the same. This fascinating Washington Post graphic shows how numerous police departments across the country have fared when it comes to hiring a force that matches their city's diversity. In some places, the police force is shockingly out of synch with the city's makeup. Camden City, NJ, is six percent white, but its police force is 68 percent white. Several small cities in the shadow of Los Angeles have 100 percent white police forces, despite white populations of less than 10 percent. Detroit has three times the percentage of white officers on its force as in the city.
Duluth, according to the graphic, is 90 percent white and has a 90 percent white police force, but it's not clear what minorities make up the remaining 10 percent.
