KC police efforts to recruit minorities off to slow start

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police recruiters here said they're trying to recruit more minority candidates, but their efforts are meeting with indifference -- or outright suspicion.

"I heard some people may not show up because they'll think our event is a sting," Capt. Darrel Chism said Friday, when no prospective officers showed up for a recruiting event. "That's the level of distrust out there."

A little more than 11 percent of the department's 1,300 officers are black -- in a city where the 2000 census found that 31 percent of the population is black.

Kansas City's problem recruiting minorities is no different than that of other cities, said Bill Geller, a consultant on police issues.

"Any positive exposure like this is good. Part of the distrust comes from a power discrepancy between police and the community on the streets. As you change the location of these get-togethers to their turf," he said, "the power shifts.

"One of the reasons I like this proposal is it puts police outside the police house," Geller said.

Deputy police chief George Roberts came up with the idea to put officers and recruiters in the community rather than wait for them to come to the department or a job fair.

Roberts said the purpose of his plan was twofold: to build a better relationship with minority communities and to recruit more minority officers.

Roberts said officers would be at the Move Up community center offices or with Move Up staff at various community events for four hours each week. He also planned to send officers to a Hispanic community center and to Hispanic events in the coming months.

The department has about 3.8 percent Hispanic officers, compared with city's 6.9 percent Hispanic population.

16 percent minority

Kansas City has made strides in recent years by bringing the number of minority officers up a few percentage points to 16 percent, said Nick Nichols, human resources manager for the department.

But, Nichols said, the increases were from Hispanic, Asian and American Indian officers rather than blacks. He said the department's 11 percent black representation has stayed about the same in the past five years.

The current academy class of 46 recruits, however, includes nearly 25 percent minorities -- eight blacks and three Hispanics.

The amount of recruiting Kansas City can do is restricted by resources, Nichols said. The department has two recruiting officers and a $25,000 annual budget for its events and advertising.

JT Brown, president of Move Up, said he was pleased with the progress the department has made so far, specifically the black representation in the latest academy class.

"We're going to lock arms and do it together," he said.