Rochester Police Department seeks to diversify its force

The Rochester Police Department's demographics don't represent the community, but that's no surprise to Chief Roger Peterson. The department has been aware of the issue for a long time, and it's been a struggle to address it, he said.

"We need to be more diverse. That's not just a philosophical statement. A police department relies on credibility and trust, and if you don't reflect your community, the chances of that are pretty slim," Peterson said.

The Rochester Police Department employs only three black officers, none of whom are female, out of its 148 civil service positions, according to department data. There are 23 women total. There are seven Hispanic civil service employees, three of whom are female, one Asian male officer and two Native American male officers.

U.S. Census figures from 2010 show Rochester's population to be 81.4 percent white, 6.8 percent Asian, 6.3 percent black, 5.2 percent Hispanic and .3 percent Native American.

"I think the police department knows that as well, and so does the mayor of the city, that there is not diversity within the system," said Kolloh Nimley, a community program specialist in Rochester with the Council on Black Minnesotans.

Riots after the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., called for changes in the police force there to represent the community better. In Ferguson, only three police officers out of 53 are black, while Ferguson's population is about two-thirds black.

Duluth has a similar makeup of police diversity as Rochester. Duluth's population is 86,265 as of the 2010 census and has a police force of 148 sworn officers. Two of them are black, one is Asian, two are Hispanic and four are Native American, said Officer James Hansen, Duluth Police Department Public Information Officer. Twenty-two officers are female.

According to the 2010 census, Duluth's population is 89.5 percent white, 2.3 percent black, 2.5 percent Native American, 1.5 percent Asian, 1.5 percent Hispanic and 2.7 percent identified as two or more races.

The Austin Police Department is much smaller than Rochester's, but the lack of diversity is even more stark for the town of about 25,000. The police force has 32 sworn officers, with one Asian officer and two females, said Tricia Wiechmann, city of Austinhuman resources director.That's for a population of which 15 percent is Hispanic and 3 percent is black, according to 2010 census figures.

In St. Cloud, with a population of about 65,000, the police force has 98 sworn officers. Of those, 19 are women, said St. Cloud Police Department Administrative Secretary Lee Ann Justin. Two officers are Hispanic males, three are black male officers and there is one black female, Justin said.

St. Cloud's population is 7.8 percent black, according to 2010 census figures. With four black officers, that puts the St. Cloud Police Department's representation at about 4 percent. Hispanics make up 2.5 percent of St. Cloud citizens and about the same percentage of the police force. St. Cloud's population is made up of 3.7 percent Asians, but there are no Asian officers at this time.

Finding a solution

The tensions in Rochester don't reach the level of Ferguson, but there are definitely issues that should be addressed, Peterson said.

"If your community really doesn't trust because you don't share the same background, the same culture, the same level of trust … it's going to be really tough to do business there," he said. "If a police department lacks credibility, you got nothing. If something goes bad and you don't have any credibility in your response to that, things are going to get worse."

For Nimley, in order to call Rochester a truly inclusive community, the police department needs to reflect the demographics of the community.

"We need to look at the desire and the intention of the city … Do we intend to create a diversified community?" Nimley said. "The city of Rochester has a slogan to create an inclusive community. If you look at the employment labor force for the city, it's a no brainer. It is not being met."

Addressing the problems before a Ferguson-like incident is crucial, Peterson said. The police department's first step is to get more minorities and women into the applicant pool. After that, the department needs to have a way to move under-represented candidates up in the hiring pool in order to fill areas where diversity is needed, Peterson said. That can be difficult with state and federal laws on civil service hiring, Peterson said, and to some extent, the department can't do a whole lot to change that.

"If IBM needs to hire a programmer for a certain program, that's who they go get. They don't go recruit a broad range of people. They hire for their needs; that's why they're successful," Peterson said. "We're aware of our needs, but are we at liberty … to go out and hire people to fill these needs? No."

The department is looking to revise its Equal Employment Opportunity plan that green-lights moving people up the list of applicants to fill needs and to more accurately show what those needs are, Peterson said. In the past, the plan would compare the department's demographics to the demographics of law enforcement hires in the area. Now, Peterson hopes the plan will compare its demographics with the latest U.S. census figures instead. The plan will go before the Police Civil Service Commission on Thursday.

Previously, the department found a good way to bring in minority applicants through the Community Service Officers program and then provide training to potentially make CSOs police officers, but funds for those positions were cut, Peterson said. He'd like to get some of those back to start chipping away at the diversity problem, he said.

The police department also is putting together an oversight committee to monitor police activity and hiring practices and raise concerns. That committee will be representative of the community and ideally tell the police how to do their jobs better, Peterson said.

"I think we're very fortunate that we're not dealing with a crisis situation that would make that conversation difficult, if not impossible, to have," he said.

The Rochester Police Department is lucky to have the time and energy to put together a commission now, with the ultimate goal of having a more representative police force that reflects how the community wants to be policed, Peterson said.

"That makes policing a heck of a lot easier, and it ultimately makes the community a lot safer. That's a win-win," he said.

Nimley said she recognizes that revamping hiring practices and building a demographically representative police force takes time. It's a marathon, not a sprint, she said.

"We do need to see the results, and results do not happen overnight," Nimley said. "We hope that at the end of the day, we will have the inclusive community that Rochester is looking for."

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Rochester Police Departmentminorities

(148 total Civil Service positions)

23 women — 15.5 percent

3 Black — 2.03 percent

7 Hispanic — 4.7 percent

1 Asian — .7 percent

2 American Indian — 1.4 percent