
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 13, 1993                   TAG: 9312130091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE POLICE STEP UP EFFORT TO RECRUIT WOMEN, MINORITIES

The Virginia State Police is targeting minorities and women in a new recruitment drive to improve its effectiveness.

As of Sept. 30, the agency had 1,624 sworn positions, most of them state troopers, with 7.3 percent of them minorities and 2.8 percent women.

"We want to build a good, good applicant pool of minorities and females that will stack up against the majority so we can have a good balance," said Danny Blankenship, human resources director for the state police. "By having a better-diversified work force, it makes a better relationship between the police and the citizens."

The department has tried to reach out to minority and female applicants in recent years, advertising in such publications as the Washington Afro-American, a black-oriented weekly newspaper, and making presentations at such schools as Hampton University and Howard University.

The results have been mixed. The 89th Basic Class of state troopers, which graduated in May after a 26-week session, had 73 troopers, including five blacks and two Hispanics but no women.

The 90th session, which started training in November at the State Police Academy in Chesterfield County, started with 80 members, including four blacks, one Asian-American and 12 women. About five members of that class, all of them white males, have dropped out.

"It was a gigantic step to have 12 women," said Lt. Eugene Stockton, a recruiting officer. "We hope to keep going."

The current drive is aimed at a 91st session of troopers to start training Oct. 3, Blankenship said. The current recruitment effort will run through Jan. 28, Blankenship said.

Generally, the agency receives thousands of applications for a class. The current class, which started with 80, was drawn from about 3,800 applicants, Blankenship said.

While they want to raise their numbers substantially, officials said they have set no quotas or targets for recruitment of minorities and women, or for the composition of the force itself.

Candidates must be at least 21, U.S. citizens and have high school diplomas or equivalency degrees.

by CNB