Minneapolis Chief Harteau: “We need officers that are more diverse, not just in ethnicity but in their way of thinking,”
Diversity is often seen in terms of demographics and checkboxes but what departments need is a diversity of ideas and approaches that serve the broad range of individuals in our cities and towns. Read about Minneapolis Police Chief Harteau’s diversity vision here: KARE 11: Harteau pushes for change as police chief professor.
Departments have long sought women and minorities to work in their ranks but some claim that pressures to conform to the middle class, largely white cop-culture in departments force “diverse” officers to leave their real diversity at the door. Some say that officers of all backgrounds are pressed to the traditional ideas and approaches that are prevalent among officers. Anyone can bring diverse ideas to the table, regardless of gender, ethnicity or other factors related to one’s background. Read more here: Discover Policing: The value of workplace diversity in policing and law enforcement.
Your thoughts?
CJS-360 Diversity Issues 
Yes there needs to be something to help officers an the people benefit more in their actions towards one another but I feel it should go both ways for whatever the solution is. Officers need to do something to ,make them better officers an the people have to be willing to except it an help in this as well. In the altercations ive seen online, or personal; the officer might have been in the wrong but in most cases it didn’t start like that, there was conflict started by the people also. Now im not agreeing with any of the officers actions when there in the wrong, im just saying things need to work both ways to help everyone.
In every situation, theres 2 sides to the story an the truth…so lets all find a way to always make the truth, the main situation to solve.
After reading that MPD Chief Harteau wants more diverse officers in her department it really got me thinking more about this class and why future police officers should be required to take it. Being a diverse officer doesn’t mean that you can’t be a white male (most police officers are white males) but it means that you have to understand diversity and all of the issues around it. Just because an officer is a white male doesn’t mean they aren’t diverse enough. If you are taught about diversity and the issues around it, it can better help you understand why some cultures and races are the way they are. Being a minority would better understand this, but that’s not the only person who can understand this. However, in our book it states it’s shocking to see the low number of black students attending college. If this trend continues this will lead to less and less blacks being educated. With police officers needing some sort of post-secondary education now days this will also lead to less black police officers. Which will mean that the white police officers will have to become more educated on diversity issues.
You are right about police officers, It doesn’t matter if they are diverse themselves but as long as they have or and understand diversity; and use it on the job every day. I believe that all police officers should have diversity training and ethical training. These two classes should be a part of the two year degree all colleges offer for police officers since this is the minimum for Minnesota to become a police officer. This should be a standard for all states. Minnesota police department need to start having regular training on diversity and ethical issues so they can understand them.
NK. I agree with some of the things that Jeremy said. I believe he is right you do not have to be a minority to understand diversity. Sometimes minorities aren’t always as diverse as some may think. As far as blacks not attending school, that is correct however history also plays a role in those blacks that do seek education, Law Enforcement is not a highly sought out career of choice. Furthermore, I see no change in the near future on how some white officers approach or view the topic of diversity or people of color. In my opinion Chief Harteau is headed in the right direction by making the issue of diversity a vocal point in her administration.
I think Chief Harteau is on the right path, seeking more diversity in her department. Like Jeremy said, it doesn’t mean that a Caucasian male (stereotypical police officer) cannot be diverse but being knowledgeable of diversity and cultures outside one’s own is critical to policing. Knowing some cultural norms or even cultural history of the region which one works can only benefit both the community and the department. However, I do believe having quotas for diversity in hiring negates a “best candidate for the job” function of department hiring procedures and may not positively contribute to the community or agency. Assigning officers of the same culture or ethnicity as the community they work in appears to be a double edged sword. In one sense, it would appear to be confirmation of such things as white officers in a black neighbor hood being prejudice, so a black officer is assigned and reinforces this potential assumption. If police departments were to fully embrace an unbiased, non prejudiced approach to law enforcement they would seemingly assign officers based on skill set or experience not ethnic relations.
JG… I can understand why you say that. I’m not sure if your a person of color but history have shown that law enforcement never tried to be diverse or welcomed it with open arms. I would not want to be in a community with all black officers because thats not America, but we do have communites with all white officers in black communties. I feel what she is saying is we need to be more responsive and reflective of the communities we serve. Just a FYI police Dept are ran like a business and 90% of PB charges are from white officers involving people of color and the way to stop that and save them money is to become more reflective of the people we serve.
I think Chief Harteau is doing the right thing and getting involved with teaching it shows that she motivated for change in the police department. No matter what the police officers background is as long as they are knowledgeable in diversity issues and understand them; this will go a long way in policing our neighborhoods. Bottom line is we need training for diversity and ethical issues. We need to change the old habits of our old police officers and make them more diverse or have them retire. We need to look forward, not back. Our police officers need to be aware of diversity problems, they might not realize what has been happening around them, this is why we need training for all police officers and a class like diversity to be taught in the two year degree school and make it a part of the core classes. Chief Hardeau is making the rights decision in creating a diverse police force, moving forward in changing our police departments for the more diverse and ethical police departments.
Upon reading that Chief Harteau had become the Chief of Police for the Minneapolis Police Department, I was ecstatic. Then, to read this article, I am even more excited for the future of Minneapolis Police as well as the City of Minneapolis. I whole-heartedly agree with Chief Harteau’s stance on MPD becoming a more intellectually diverse police force. I truly believe that over the course of her tenure as Chief she will do great things for that Department. I’m hoping that other departments follow her lead. It’s one thing to have a diverse work-force, of course you want your police officers to look like the community they serve. It’s another thing to take that further and incorporate a diverse way of thinking when it comes to policing. Every call is different. Every person is different. Those facts alone require different ways of thinking on how to handle each situation individually and getting the best results possible, all while earning the community’s trust.
I was very impressed with the role that Chief Harteau took on within the Minneapolis Police Department. I believe that every police force should have a very diverse department. Our country is considered to be a melting pot full of different people with different cultures. One way for the community to be able to trust our police departments is if the police departments have officers that can relate to different individuals in the community. I think that by combining the police department with a variety of cultures could really help with communit oriented policing as well. It is alot easier to trust someone that you are familiar with. Therefore, if we have police departments made up of officers with different cultures and that speak different languages it could really benefit the community and the department as a whole. I personally do not think training officers about diversity issues will be effective. If an officer already has an underlying bias no amount of training will actually make that bias completely dissipate. However, if we incorporate many diverse individuals into the police departments there could be some hope in eliminating discriminatory incidents.
Since Chief Harteau took the position of chief, I have been nothing but impressed with her decisions. I like where she is going to take the department, and I also like where she is going with this topic. Instead of focusing solely on diverse officers in an ethnic sense, she is suggesting that we look for officers that are intellectually diverse.Of course it is important to have a police department that reflects the community they serve. However every call is different, and requires a different response. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how racially diverse you are, when it comes down to making the split second decision on what to do on a call, you have to have both critical thinking abilities, and a strong intelectual ability. This doesn’t mean that officers don’t need to be diverse, they do. They need to be open minded and accepting of others now more than ever, and they need to police in a un-biased way.
F.Barukzoy
Sept 10, 2013
It’s imperative to expand the diversity perspective in the field of law enforcement and it’s equally important to implement policies that would respect the cultural, social and religious differences that exist among diverse group.
We’ve seen enough of a one dominant group that controlled the law enforcement entities for generations; it’s incumbent upon us citizenries to encourage our legislative body to legislate laws that would prevent and prohibit discrimination in the field of law enforcement.
I am truly happy to see that the chief of Minneapolis Police department through her experiences in the community has sought to bring a change that diversifies the police force which in turn equips the police officer to grasp the essence of dealing with people that are culturally, socially, religiously different than the predominate class.
According to Chapter 8 of the text book “Investigating Difference” it’s crucially important to understand the racial and cultural significance within the criminal justice system.
I think, the police are one of the important braches of the criminal justice system which directly deals with the citizens on the street. I like what the chief of Minneapolis pointed out that
“”In policing that is what we deal with. We deal with people that are like us and then not like us and as our community gets more diverse we need officers that are more diverse, not just in ethnicity but in their way of thinking,” Harteau said of her class.
Changing is something Harteau is also trying to do back at the department, revamping it from the inside out to be better and to gain the public’s trust.
She is so right, the only way the police can gain the public trust is to by changing their perspective, their philosophy, and their approach in dealing with people on the street. Law enforcement is not Only about going out and making arrests; it’s about serving the Community in a way that would psychologically be powerful to invite positive changes in the mind of the people.
I completely agree with Chief Harteau’s statement for wanting diversity, both physically and mentally in law enforcement. Communities and cities keep changing, and law enforcement and criminal justice personnel have to change with it. Chief Harteau is a perfect example of change by being the first female police chief in Minneapolis. Bringing in officers that think differently and are diverse will only make the communities better and bring trust, respect and better communication and understanding between officers and citizens.
I agree with the chief too. I think that there needs to be a change in the police force just how the world changes and things and crimes get worse or there are more drug crimes now then there were ten years ago. Things change people change and certain crimes change and being an officer there will be a lot of change in your own life but also in the world that you are going to have to deal with too. I would think that they need to have classes or updates or something for the officers so they all know that there are going to be changes or help the officers that have been on the force for 25 years already deal with the changes that we are all dealing with living in America.
Yes, true what the article said about “anybody can bring diversity to the table, but they are really leaving it at the door.” I believe as well that although agencies hire minority or female officer to mix up the dynamic of diversity and cultural but one in the system they are trained to follow the typical white-male cop role. How does this make any differences in our community?
If we are going to train our officers on diversity, I think that it should first start off within the system first before we look to just making the picture colorful. With that being said, once new hires come on, they won’t be contaminated with the old beliefs and cultural.
One interesting thing I thought that Police chief Harteau mentioned was diversity. Now when most people think of this, the first thought is ethnicity. She brings up a very good point that the Minneapolis police department needs officers that think different and perform their duty in diverse ways. This was something I have always agreed with. When you see or think of police officers you think of the same hair cut, same attitude, and same demeanor. Well this is not putting many different views on the subject matter they are faced with, there is no room for creative thinking. I think in having diverse officers such as officers that do not look like officers or are retired veterans will be effective. It’s okay to have this type but it is a people’s job and the police need to be people persons. With all of the different fashion trends today police officers are going to have to look past the traditional style of clothing and take in what society has to offer. The perfect example is looking at the state troopers. They are all rigid and straight forward and try to come off very intimidating, this is not a very effective way to build community relationships. No one wants to talk to robots. My second thing that I found interesting, was that the chief also is a professor. That is a very dedicated individual to take on that heavy of a work load to influence her community into a better place, we need more people like her. Really this whole subject relates to my class, it specifically talks about diversity. In addition, it brings light on the fact that diversity is also not limited to ethnicity.
I do agree that in order to have real diversity in a department there has to be diversity in the way people think. The easiest way for people to see diversity is the ethnicity of the person, but even if two people have different ethnicity they may think the same way. Finding out how people think is a different process than to just looking at them. But when a person joins a department they are taught how that department operates and therefore how it thinks. This influence takes away some of the diversity way of thinking that person had. The department has to work together to enforce its policies, but why and sometimes how the polices are followed can differ from person to person. I think that if a person thinks entirely like the department wants them to think or if they think their own way depends on the individual regardless of gender or race. Thinking that one person will bring diversity to a department because of the visual differences will only show diversity without actually having it. To encourage people to think differently is the best way to start to make sure there is diversity in the law enforcement.
i really like the bath the Minneapolis chief is taking regarding diversity in her department. as we know, in the twin cities, there are thousands of minority groups from all over the world. Police officers, black or white need to be educated on diversity and how to be sensitive to certain groups. A police officer who really understands diversity can deal with any minority group without any problems. now a days people who want to become cops are required to take diversity classes and i think its very benificial to both the individual and the departments that they will work for. diversity in the criminal justice system is very important because the system is created to be fair. the system can not be fair if the people who for it do not know about diversity.