Why Fort Worth And Other Big Cities Struggle With Police Diversity

About 40% of Fort Worth residents are white, but 65% of Fort Worth police officers are white.

By Christopher ConnelyDecember 16, 2019 2:26 pm, , , ,

From KERA:

Like a lot of cities, Fort Worth has been working to recruit and hire a more diverse police force.

Researchers have found strong support nationwide for the idea that a police department should look like the city it serves, but most departments don’t — they’re a lot more male, and a lot whiter.

After a string of controversial policing incidents in recent years involving people of color in Fort Worth and elsewhere damaged trust in police, building a more diverse police force has been seen as a way to restore trust and strengthen ties between officers and the residents they’re sworn to protect.

About 40% of Fort Worth residents are white, but 65% of Fort Worth police officers are white. In 2010, nearly 70% of the department was white.

An analysis of the last 10 years of Fort Worth Police Department staffing data shows the department growing more Latino as it becomes less white. Latino representation on the force has grown from 16% to 21%. In 2017, 35% of Fort Worth residents were Latino.

In that same time period, the police force has seen a small decrease in the number of officers who are black, from about 12% to 10%. Black residents represent about 19% of the city’s population.

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