Prior to beginning work on this discussion read Chapter 14 in your textbook and the three articles provided in the Week 6 Resources which examine diversifying police forces across the United States. Research at least one additional scholarly and/or professional sources on recruitment strategies for law enforcement personnel. (Access the MSCJ Professional Sources guide (Links to an external site.) for assistance with finding appropriate resources.)

As indicated by Attorney General Holder, police departments should reflect the communities they serve in terms of the racial balance. Clearly, police departments in at least 49 communities in the United States need to recruit more Hispanic officers to balance their departments. Even diverse police departments can still be found to be discriminatory. Focus your research and discussions on the difficulties of solving centuries’ long racial disparities in police forces around the country. If merely hiring a more diverse police force does not solve racial policing issues, come up with original solutions to the problem to be implemented nationwide.

Utilize your required and researched sources to create an initial post that assesses the impact of human resources issues by proposing recruitment strategies to hire Hispanic law enforcement officers in at least one community of your choice that has a large Hispanic population. Examine whether or not simply hiring more Hispanic officers will address racial disparity issues with contact with the public. Include at least two strategies for your chosen community.

Guided Response: Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion forum.

Consider the community your peer chose and pose specific questions about your peers’ recruitment strategies that relate to the current population. Suggest areas where your peer’s strategies might be improved and recommend additional elements he or she might consider. Evaluate the impact of professional development issues by suggesting training opportunities within the current organization that might help lead to the elimination of discriminatory hiring practices within the community. Evaluate the Hispanic population’s general perception of law enforcement in the community your peer chose. Recommend specific options for community outreach that would encourage Hispanic members of the chosen community to consider a career in law enforcement.

Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7, and respond with robust dialogue to anyone who replies to your initial post.