Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 8, 1993 TAG: 9308080032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Beatty spotted a sharply dressed security guard in the lobby and approached him to make a sale.
As Roanoke's chief recruiter, Beatty saw his job: to convince the man that he might want to become a Roanoke police officer.
Beatty knew the predominantly black convention in Washington, D.C., could be fertile ground for quality candidates.
"We are making sure that we are providing the city every opportunity to reach its diversity goals," Beatty said.
Statistics show that the city Police Department is heading in that direction.
In the past three years, Roanoke was No. 1 in increasing black police officers among eight Virginia cities surveyed.
In 1990, 3 percent of the city's officers were black, the lowest percentage among those cities. While it is still the lowest, just below Virginia Beach, it raised the percentage of black officers to 7 percent this year.
Alexandria and Norfolk actually lost 1 percent of their black officers and Virginia Beach had only a 1 percent gain.
The statistical area used by the federal government in evaluating Roanoke's hiring practices - mainly Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem - is 12 percent black.
If that percentage were the goal, the city already would be more than halfway there.
But the city has set its sights higher, hoping to hire a work force that is roughly equivalent to the minority population of the city, about 22 percent.
Roanoke, which had only eight black officers on its police force three years ago, now has 19. That comes despite the departure of four black officers in the past three years.
In the past two police academies, minority candidates filled at least half the positions. The quality of those candidates is reflected in the academic standing of the latest academy - the best in history.
Still, Beatty is aware that there's more to do before he'll feel comfortable that the city's black community is sufficiently represented.
When he retires in several years, Beatty hopes the city will have 65 black officers filling its 258 police billets.
"I feel responsible for reaching that goal," Beatty said.
The push by the city began in earnest in 1990, when city officials decided that the number of blacks on the department was not acceptable.
"I think we were basically depending on walk-ins," Beatty said. "We were just laying back in the comfort zone."
In August 1990, a series of newspaper articles jostled city officials by reporting that only eight of the city's 244 officers were black, while the black population of the city was roughly 25 percent.
That's when Beatty and black police officers were dispatched on recruiting trips to unconventional places such as military bases, with an eye on increasing the number of blacks in the Police Department.
"It's miles and miles of driving," Beatty said. This year he has already been away from home 23 days.
His biggest successes have come at military bases, which have yielded recruits already operating in a high-discipline environment. The city's recruiting effort benefits by the meltdown of many military jobs.
The city also has been successful in getting other police agencies throughout the state to refer candidates to Roanoke if those agencies aren't hiring.
Three years ago, Roanoke was out of the loop in recruiting seminars and job fairs that targeted minority recruits.
"We now have contacts at colleges and universities," Beatty said. "We have contacts at Army bases. We have contacts in different cities."
The Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he's pleased with the progress.
"They are moving in the right direction," he said. "I hope they will continue."
Green said the addition of black officers should help ease tensions between black citizens and police.
"Black officers understand much better than a white officer," Green said. "White officers don't understand our culture."
Beatty said he believes that inattention, not racism, was at the core of the Police Department's lack of diversity.
Chief M. David Hooper said the "racist" tag attributed to his department by segments of the community was not based on fact.
"Assessments of the internal atmosphere were wrong," Hooper said. "It was never a situation of the rank and file not wanting blacks. It was never a situation of blacks being mistreated."
Still, it was left to officers on the street to live with the stigma, Hooper said.
"They felt that some misinformation had been circulated," Hooper said. "They didn't want it to continue."
Beatty, who is tracking the success of black recruits, said the veteran officers are working hard to make the recruits feel welcome.
"I feel people are reaching out to them," Beatty said. "I think they are being accepted by the department."
One black officer, who asked not to be named, agrees with Beatty.
"The veteran officers have never had to interact with black officers on a large scale," the officer said. "It is developing into a situation where black and white officers are accepting each other and working together. I think it's characteristic of what you can expect in the future."
The officer credits Beatty with taking the lead in the recruiting effort.
Hooper also credits the department's veterans with bolstering the recruiting effort.
"The present officers are the most effective recruiting agent," Hooper said. "The last year . . . [has] been almost a phenomenal success. When we get more black officers, it will help attract more black officers."
by CNB