Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006150042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER and LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Eight out of 244 officers is a disproportionately low number, and I am sure the city is going to make a sincere effort to attract more minorities," Garland said.
The issue of minority recruitment in the police department was raised this week in reports about problems on 11th Street.
Police estimate that at least a dozen cars in the past week have been pelted with bottles and rocks thrown by black youths who gather on the 500 block of 11th Street.
Some black citizens say police do not have enough minority officers to adequately deal with the black community. They say the lack of minorities on the police force leaves blacks frustrated when police are called in to deal with problems.
Although the bottle-throwing has been described by police as racially motivated, some citizens cite other contributing factors such as drug and alcohol abuse, a lack of places for young people to go, and peer pressure that is often amplified by the large crowds that congregate in the area.
Kenneth Cronin, city personnel manager, said Thursday that city officials were trying to recruit more blacks for the police force and other departments. He said this was the reason the city held a job fair earlier this week at High Street Baptist Church.
Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said he does not believe the violence on 11th Street was due to racial unrest, and that it has nothing to do with the minority makeup of the police department.
"The real problem you've got here is a bunch of hoods on the street," Caldwell said. "Apparently they're picking on some whites at this particular time, but if they run out of those they'll start picking on other people."
Caldwell says he tries to follow that philosophy in hiring practices for his office, which includes two black prosecutors out of a staff of 10 prosecutors.
Having more blacks on the police force "may not stop a situation like what's going on on 11th Street," Caldwell said. "But it will help in a more general sense."
Roanoke's problems in attracting black applicants for police jobs is part of a national trend and sharp competition between cities for black applicants, Cronin said.
Harold Frederick, who is studying minority representation in police agencies for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, says having an adequate number of black officers is crucial to developing trust between the black community and police departments.
"I think a lot of times we understand the problems, the situations, better," he said. "We're part of that community in a way."
Frederick, a former Washington, D.C., officer now on leave from the U.S. Secret Service, said many cities were having problems recruiting black officers. But police departments can recruit blacks if they make the effort, he said.
"It's just a matter of going out and finding these people. They're out there and they're looking for jobs. . . . It takes a concerted effort. It takes a city council and mayor and a chief of police to let it be known: `Hey, we're looking for you.' "
A job fair sponsored in March in Washington by the black police executives organization drew more than 2,000 potential recruits, he said. Police officials from several Virginia cities, including Richmond and Norfolk, participated. Police departments in Houston, Dallas and Denver that weren't invited contacted the organization and asked to attend.
Roanoke wasn't invited, but "we would love to have Roanoke involved" in next year's job fair, Frederick said.
Councilman Howard Musser said he thought the violence in the 11th Street area probably involves more than just alcohol and drugs.
"I am not sure what the problem really is, but I think that there is more to it than drugs. Until we really know what the problem is, it is hard to say what the solution is."
Councilman David Bowers said he was concerned about the lack of black officers, adding, "I think that there should be some accountability about why there are not more minorities in the Police Department."
But Bowers said he feared that the timing of a news story in Wednesday's edition of the Roanoke Times & World-News reporting the city has only eight black police officers has "helped to inflame" the tensions on 11th Street.
"I was a little disappointed that the [newspaper] chose this particular time to focus on the lack of black police officers. The timing was very inconsiderate and fueled the flames. I thought it was poor judgment," he said.
The problems on 11th Street and the small number of black police officers are "both important and need to be addressed, but I don't think they should be linked," Bowers said.
Overall, blacks and other minorities make up 24.2 percent of Roanoke's municipal workers, according to a report presented to council last year.
But Police Chief M. David Hooper said it was not fair to compare the Police Department with other city departments because the standards for becoming a police officer are different.
Staff writer Mike Hudson contributed to this story.
by CNB