I guess if the police chief is happy, we should be happy:
Mixed in with the many white male faces that seem to dominate the applicant pool every year, the number of Hispanic and Asian faces jumped out at York.
“This year, I was really impressed with the diversity of the turnout,” said York, who noted he did not have any numbers on the ethnic makeup of the applicant pool. “If anything, I was disappointed in how few African-American females showed up, but as far as male Hispanics and male Asians, I was really impressed.”
According to data provided by police, as of August, 16 of the department's 422 patrol officers and officials were Hispanic. Three were Asian or Pacific Islander.
Since York became chief in 2000, pushing for a diverse force has been a priority for the department. For the past year and a half, long before the current recruiting tryouts were set to begin, more steps were taken to get minority candidates to apply for a career in law enforcement.
I am sorry that it appears I will have such a slim chance of getting a speeding ticket from an African-American female officer, but I look forward to having a Pacific Islander tell me to "move it along, sir, nothing to see here." It gets so tiresome having people who look just like me being the only ones who can remind me of all the laws I can't keep track of.
I do hope, as Neanderthal as it might sound, that our officers, as diverse as they are, will be mostly aware of the blue of their uniforms and what that represents.
