Study Finds that Most Cops in Massachusetts are White
The state’s eight most ethnically and racially diverse communities are still policed by a predominantly white corps of officers, despite years of efforts to dispel perceptions of racism and diversify their ranks.
The Globe examined eight Massachusetts communities where a majority of the population is neither white nor Hispanic.
Some departments have grappled with accusations of racial profiling, an issue compounded by lack of diversity.
The town of Randolph, for example, was forced by the US Department of Justice a decade ago to provide cultural training for officers and build better community partnerships after two high-profile allegations of racial profiling: In one case, a black off-duty Boston police officer said he was harassed and mistaken for a shooting suspect as he was leaving a sandwich shop. In another case, officers allegedly used racial slurs and roughhoused young black men during an altercation at a fast-food restaurant.
The population of black residents in Randolph, a town of 32,383, nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to Census figures, but the police force remains 81 percent white. The town is 38.4 percent white.
Randolph Police Chief William Pace said the town has tried to hire people of color into the department, but the number of open positions has been outpaced by the town’s rapidly changing demographics.
“It’s just taking time to filter through,” Pace said.
David Harris Jr., a Randolph civil rights activist who founded and once chaired the police advisory council, said that residents see “a disconnect between the police and the community of color.”
“The power structure is mostly white, and you have this tremendously diverse community. And [the police department] is not a reflection of the community itself,” Harris said.
James Madden, who interviewed dozens of Randolph residents for his 2010 MIT thesis for a master’s degree on city planning, said that people of color reported avoiding Route 28 heading into Randolph because they feared being stopped by town police. That practice has stopped, he said, but the memory lingers.