June 2015

Laurie Christensen, Cassi Fields, and Sabrina Rhodes/Guest Editors

There are many forms of diversity—the world is made up of people from different races, ages, genders, religions, backgrounds, and income levels, and they bring varied abilities, skills, and views to their communities. This issue offers information, ideas, and best practices for both improving diversity within police departments and increasing law enforcement’s ability to respond to all people effectively and impartially.

Articles

• Fair and Impartial Policing: A Science-Based Approach

  By Lorie Fridell, PhD, Associate Professor, University of South Florida and  Sandra Brown, Lieutenant (Ret.), Palo Alto, California, Police Department
  The fair and impartial policing (FIP) perspective–based on the modern science of bias—is consistent with the profession’s current emphasis on evidence-based policing, whereby policies and practi...

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• Recruiting a Diverse Law Enforcement Workforce

  By Cassi L. Fields, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Fields Consulting Group, Inc.
  The discussion about recruiting, hiring, retaining, and promoting minorities and females in law enforcement has been going on for the last two decades. Even so, many departments still lack needed dive...

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• The Multnomah County Experience: Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice

  By Brian Detman, System Change and Community Initiatives Manager Christina McMahan, JD, Juvenile Services Division Director, Department of Community Justice, Multnomah County, Oregon
  Diversity, racial, and ethnic disparities and fairness in the U.S. justice system are complex issues that present challenges to police chiefs, line officers, public safety leaders, policy makers, stak...

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• Eliminating Gender and Racial Stereotypes in Police Culture through Stakeholder Collaboration

  By Lisa R. Grace, MPA, Sergeant, Michigan and  Dr. Christopher Petras, Management, Media, and Public Policy Consultant
  From childhood onward, people, including police administrators and officers, are taught by their parents, teachers, and peers the appropriate roles (according to these influences) of women and minorit...

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• Tactical Social Interaction Training: Innovation in Multi-Cultural Adaptation and Communication Programs

  By Ruth Zschoche, PhD, Researcher and Evaluator, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSJTC);  Tony Anderman, MS, Ed, DARPA Principle Investigator (former), Assistant BLEA Commander, WSCJTC; and  Steve Lettic, PhD, DARPA Principle Investigator (former), WSCJTC, Criminal Justice Faculty, Highline College
  The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) was recently funded under a U.S. Department of Defense project, known as Strategic Social Interaction Modules (SSIM), to develop and ...

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• Citizen Perceptions of Online Crime Reporting Systems

  By Travis Taniguchi, PhD, Research Criminologist, RTI International and  Christopher Salvatore, PhD, Assistant Professor of Justice Studies, Montclair State University, New Jersey  
  Can technology be used to improve the process of submitting crime reports to law enforcement agencies? In the last 20 years there has been a radical change in the way technology is utilized in most pe...

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