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Tensions between police and diverse communities in both the US and UK require innovation about ways to improve relations. While police diversity is often discussed as a potential solution, these discussions lack theoretical and empirical support.
This volume presents an original discussion of race, gender, sexual orientation and class diversity and shows that police diversity can have meaningful impacts on the decision-making, outcomes and legitimacy of police forces.
Drawing on theoretical and empirical research including interviews with diverse police leaders, this book examines how police diversity can help shift traditional policing cultures. It also considers obstacles to police reform, revealing how championing meaningful diversity can positively impact the lives of policed communities.
“The demographic makeup of the police compared to the population policed has always been seen as a key factor in the legitimacy and effectiveness of policing. As this vital book discusses, in the recent decades of increasing socioeconomic and cultural conflict, police legitimacy has been in a state of permanent crisis. Closing the gap between the population and police in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and education has been one of the most commonly suggested reforms. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the likelihood that increasing police diversity could significantly enhance their legitimacy in particular by changing traditional police culture. It covers the recent debates and research on this issue comprehensively and lucidly. An impressive scholarly achievement, it will be of great value to police scholars, practitioners and policy makers.” Robert Reiner, London School of Economics and Political Science
1. Understanding and Defining Police Diversity
2. Police Culture
3. Police Legitimacy, Culture and Representativeness
4. Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Policing
5. Women in Policing
6. LGBTQ+ Officers in Policing
7. Social Class in Policing
8. Diversity and Representative Bureaucracy
9. Conclusion