Amid existing hiring shortages, the Phoenix Police Department is struggling to hire diverse officers.
A report given to the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee earlier this month put the current number of sworn officers at about 1600, nearly 500 short of ideal operations, according to Assistant Chief of Police Bryan Chapman.
But the shortage is even more critical among officers of color.
Four-and-a-half percent of current sworn officers are Black, according to the department’s most recent quarterly demographics report from 2021. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 data found that 7% of Phoenix residents are Black, showing a gap in representation. And the gap has only grown with a worsening staffing shortage.
This sort of problem isn’t unique to Phoenix.
Police departments across the country are facing staffing shortages coupled with a lack of diversity. Last year, the Atlantic reported a 14% decline in Black police officers in the New York City Police Department since 2008 and a 19% decline in the Philadelphia Police Department.
Michael Scott is a clinical professor with Arizona State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and a former liaison between ASU and the Phoenix Police Department.
“A police department ought to reflect the demographics of the community it serves,” he said. “My perception is that Phoenix PD is probably, like many departments, still somewhat disproportionately white.”
Ed Maguire, a fellow criminology professor at ASU, agreed.
A police department’s primary goal is to “generate and sustain trust,” he said. “When a community is more diverse than the department, there can be trust issues.”
Maguire added that these trust issues could cause people not to call the police when they need help.
Lorenzo Melvin is a Black officer raised in South Phoenix. The percentage of Black residents in this area has increased to nearly 12%.
“Diversity is always at our forefront,” said Officer Lorenzo Melvin, who is part of Phoenix Police’s recruiting unit. “We need officers who are not only qualified but match our population. “We want a familiar face, attitude and culture when interacting with the community.”
Melvin’s father was also a police officer, and said he feels that the department is inclusive of diverse populations.
“This opportunity has been extremely welcoming for me,” Melvin said.
From coworkers to bosses higher on the chain of command, he said it’s always been a welcoming environment, and he never felt treated differently. His identity is “out of mind, out of sight.”
Michael Scott explained why diversity is important.
“In any workplace, we want to feel like we belong there, we’re welcomed there, we’re valued there,” Scott said. “The worst thing you can feel is people really resent you and do not want you there.”
He said Phoenix PD is trying to fix the problem.
“To their credit, you do see that Phoenix is making an effort to recruit officers and there are officers assigned to their recruiting unit that showcase demographic diversity,” Scott said. “Even if a police agency isn’t explicitly…doing that, there are lots of ways which it signals to people that this is a place for you or this is not a place for you.”
Contact the reporter at mariellerua@gmail.com
