NYPD Commissioner Says It's Hard To Hire Black Cops, Too Many Have Criminal History

1CK1S
1CK1S Members Posts: 27,471 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited June 2015 in The Social Lounge
bratton10n-1-web.jpg?enlarged

It’s hard for the NYPD to hire black officers because too many have spent time in jail — in part because of the department’s own stop-and-frisk policy, the city’s top cop said Tuesday.

NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said it’s a challenge to find hireable blacks because so many African-American men have criminal records.

“We have a significant population gap among African-American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can't hire them,” Bratton said in an interview with the Guardian, a British newspaper.

At least part of the blame fell to the NYPD and its use of “stop-and-frisk,” Bratton continued.

He said there were “unfortunate consequences (to) stop, question and frisk” policies that were applied most heavily among communities of color.

Many of the stops resulted in young men of color getting summonses for misdemeanors, the Guardian wrote.

A high-ranking police source said Bratton’s comments were taken out of context but declined to elaborate further.

An email to the Guardian was not immediately returned.

Because the NYPD requires a complete criminal background check for new hires, many black candidates got wiped out because of their histories, Bratton said.

The NYPD automatically disqualifies convicted felons, those with domestic violence charges and those with dishonorable miiltary discharges.

A summons is not an automatic disqualifier — but it is taken into account during the application process.
Judge Shira Scheindlin in 2013 put an end to the controversial “stop-and-frisk” police tactic that was a hallmark of the broken-windows approach to policing — developed by Bratton himself under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Scheindlin said the policy caused “indirect racial profiling.”

Officers regularly stopped “blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white,” Scheindlin said.

Bratton told the Guardian he is still a believer in broken-window policing, which advocates targeting small, quality-of-life crimes to prevent an increase in overall lawlessness.

“We will continue our focus on crime and disorder,” Bratton said in the May 20 interview with the Guardian.

“I make no apologies for doing that.”

In the wake of several high-profile deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white policers in Ferguson, Staten Island, North Charleston, and Baltimore, many police departments across the country have tried to boost their diversity.

The NYPD is comparatively diverse when compared to other departments nationwide — many of which are majority white in communities where African-Americans make up the largest population.

According to an a.ssociated Press analysis done last summer, the NYPD is 16% black in a city that’s 23% black.

Comments

  • skpjr78
    skpjr78 Members Posts: 7,311 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I still dont understand why a black person would want to be a cop. Thats like applying to be a slave catcher. Theres got to be a better way to make a dollar
  • Jabu_Rule
    Jabu_Rule Members Posts: 5,993 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2015
    Interesting. I see mostly Black Cops in Brooklyn. I feel more comfortable around them to be honest cuz they don't wild out trying to catch you out there. For the most part, they leave folks alone, and they're mostly young (30s). The White detectives (them jump out boys) are the ones that be ? with everybody.
  • MasterJayN100
    MasterJayN100 Members Posts: 11,845 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i thought cops are criminals themselves?
  • Brother_Five
    Brother_Five Members Posts: 4,448 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Criminalize blacks... Say they are criminals... Repeat...
  • leftcoastkev
    leftcoastkev Members Posts: 6,232 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2015
    Ironically if they all were hired prior to having records but "did" the same ? that got them arrested, they likely wouldn't have records....
  • Mister B.
    Mister B. Members, Writer Posts: 16,172 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I took that ? exam when I first moved to NY. Did it for kicks. Got a 89 on it.

    ? them anyway.
  • A Talented One
    A Talented One Members Posts: 4,202 ✭✭✭
    Y'all know what I'm gonna say, right?

    Racial profiling contributes to racial disparities in crime rates, but those disparities in part reflect real differences in criminality.

    Which is not surprising given socio-economic and other differences between blacks and people from other groups -- differences themselves rooted in racial oppression.

    I really hate how these confused militant want to deny something that, when you really check out the root causes, doesn't make us look bad.
  • Trollio
    Trollio Members Posts: 25,815 ✭✭✭✭✭
    but too many white cops are racist or kkk members
  • Kwan Dai
    Kwan Dai Members Posts: 6,929 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Whites perfected this system long ago. That's why it's imperative that they arrest, and convict Blacks at young ages. While, slapping white kids on the wrist and wiping their records clean. They know this disqualifies and puts Blacks at a disadvantage for opportunities later in their lives. These folks have the system down pat. They know what they are doing.
  • Kwan Dai
    Kwan Dai Members Posts: 6,929 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Y'all know what I'm gonna say, right?

    Racial profiling contributes to racial disparities in crime rates, but those disparities in part reflect real differences in criminality.

    Which is not surprising given socio-economic and other differences between blacks and people from other groups -- differences themselves rooted in racial oppression.

    I really hate how these confused militant want to deny something that, when you really check out the root causes, doesn't make us look bad.

    ? you annoying ? .

  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-bill-bratton-predicts-boost-hiring-black-cops-article-1.2253592
    NYPD's Bill Bratton predicts boost in hiring of black cops: 'We are really committed to increasing minority representation'

    Police Commissioner Bill Bratton expects to see a lot more black officers in NYPD blues — and soon.

    The city’s top cop, speaking one day after his controversial comments about the difficulties of hiring black officers were published, said he expects to see an increase over the next year.

    “I will be very comfortable saying, predicting, that we will double the number of candidates in our (Police) Academy classes who are African-American,” Bratton said Wednesday on radio station AM 970.

    “We just need to do a better job of keeping (African-Americans) in the process, and working harder to recruit them into the process,” Bratton told host John Gambling. “And I’m comfortable we can do that.”

    Mayor de Blasio offered the police commissioner a vote of support for both his job performance and his comments about the difficulties of recruiting black candidates. Some black leaders criticized Bratton for saying that hiring African-American officers was an issue because a large number were disqualified by criminal records.

    “I agree with his analysis,” said de Blasio. “This is a leader who has devoted his entire career to racial harmony and fairness.” De Blasio and the commissioner appeared together at the South Bronx’s 44th Precinct stationhouse to announce the return of a summertime anti-crime initiative.

    The mayor and the commissioner both noted that Bratton had removed a question from the police application asking candidates to check a box if they were ever part of a police stop-and-frisk.

    De Blasio added that he wanted to join Bratton in setting the record straight. “You can be a New York police officer even if you were once stopped,” said de Blasio. “You can be a New York police officer even if you once had a misdemeanor....We want to encourage all people in this city to be a part of this police force.”

    The 34,631-member NYPD is roughly 15% black, although just 10% of its January 2015 graduating class was African-American. Bratton said the department is reaching out to bring in more minority candidates.

    He added that dropping the minimum age for would-be cops to 21 was under consideration, but he had no plans to scratch the required two years of college.

    The department is also looking to shorten the length of time between test-taking and hiring and offering mentors to work with potential hires. “I think we have upward of 40,000 applicants in the process chain, in the process pool,” he said. “We don’t have a shortage of qualified applicants.”

    The rate of hire among new applicants was 4.8%, but 2.1% for black applicants, Bratton said in a statement Wednesday. Only 9% percent of black men who passed the test continued on to the academy.

    The commissioner said the department’s gap in matching the city’s racial diversity was also likely linked to policing controversies around the country like the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.

    Closer to home, the chokehold death last year of Eric Garner on Staten Island set off months of protests across the city.

    “It’s been . . . a tough couple of years for police, for anybody — whether it’s minority candidates, white candidates — thinking of coming into policing right now,” said Bratton. “People, I think, are thinking twice because of, ‘Do I want to subject myself to all this criticism? To all the potential risks and dangers?’

    While some critics suggested arrests stemming from stop-and-frisk were responsible for fewer minorities joining the NYPD, numbers from the Bloomberg administration present a different picture.

    Between December 2010 and July 2013, the percentage of blacks graduating from the Police Academy ranged from a low of 11% to a high of 15% — above the current level — while the number of stop-and-frisks were higher than they are today.

    Bratton blasted The Guardian, a British newspaper, for reporting that he blamed stop-and-frisk for disqualifying candidates from the NYPD.

    “The quotes are accurate, but the context in which they’re presented gives the quote an entirely different context,” Bratton said.

    He has demanded a retraction from The Guardian, which issued a Wednesday statement indicating it had no plans to acquiesce.

    “The Guardian has a strong commitment to reporting about police practices in America,” said a spokesman. “We stand by our reporting and our interview with Commissioner Bratton.”


    De Blasio starting look like a chump.. The pig unions have him shook...
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    gh0st wrote: »
    How many cops would have a records if they actually got charged and convicted for the foul ? we know they do? FTP

    They call em "mistakes" and yah i know of a few around the way that have those "mistakes"
  • Ubuntu1
    Ubuntu1 Members Posts: 852 ✭✭✭
    skpjr78 wrote: »
    I still dont understand why a black person would want to be a cop. Thats like applying to be a slave catcher. Theres got to be a better way to make a dollar

    There needs to be police officers. If racism (against black people) among police officers is an issue then wouldn't more black police officers help to curb that?
  • bgoat
    bgoat Members Posts: 4,339 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Look at the current cops records now. I bet they have all types of complaints filed on them, we see it all the time when a new brutality case hits the media.
  • SneakDZA
    SneakDZA Members Posts: 11,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    this dude on facebook said that's like like a serial ? complaining that there aren't enough virgins.
  • A Talented One
    A Talented One Members Posts: 4,202 ✭✭✭
    Criminalize blacks... Say they are criminals... Repeat...

    3rd Eye Blind, right?
  • taylornathaniel
    taylornathaniel Members Posts: 110 ✭✭
    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-bill-bratton-predicts-boost-hiring-black-cops-article-1.2253592
    NYPD's Bill Bratton predicts boost in hiring of black cops: 'We are really committed to increasing minority representation'

    Police Commissioner Bill Bratton expects to see a lot more black officers in NYPD blues — and soon.

    The city’s top cop, speaking one day after his controversial comments about the difficulties of hiring black officers were published, said he expects to see an increase over the next year.

    “I will be very comfortable saying, predicting, that we will double the number of candidates in our (Police) Academy classes who are African-American,” Bratton said Wednesday on radio station AM 970.

    “We just need to do a better job of keeping (African-Americans) in the process, and working harder to recruit them into the process,” Bratton told host John Gambling. “And I’m comfortable we can do that.”

    Mayor de Blasio offered the police commissioner a vote of support for both his job performance and his comments about the difficulties of recruiting black candidates. Some black leaders criticized Bratton for saying that hiring African-American officers was an issue because a large number were disqualified by criminal records.

    “I agree with his analysis,” said de Blasio. “This is a leader who has devoted his entire career to racial harmony and fairness.” De Blasio and the commissioner appeared together at the South Bronx’s 44th Precinct stationhouse to announce the return of a summertime anti-crime initiative.

    The mayor and the commissioner both noted that Bratton had removed a question from the police application asking candidates to check a box if they were ever part of a police stop-and-frisk.

    De Blasio added that he wanted to join Bratton in setting the record straight. “You can be a New York police officer even if you were once stopped,” said de Blasio. “You can be a New York police officer even if you once had a misdemeanor....We want to encourage all people in this city to be a part of this police force.”

    The 34,631-member NYPD is roughly 15% black, although just 10% of its January 2015 graduating class was African-American. Bratton said the department is reaching out to bring in more minority candidates.

    He added that dropping the minimum age for would-be cops to 21 was under consideration, but he had no plans to scratch the required two years of college.

    The department is also looking to shorten the length of time between test-taking and hiring and offering mentors to work with potential hires. “I think we have upward of 40,000 applicants in the process chain, in the process pool,” he said. “We don’t have a shortage of qualified applicants.”

    The rate of hire among new applicants was 4.8%, but 2.1% for black applicants, Bratton said in a statement Wednesday. Only 9% percent of black men who passed the test continued on to the academy.

    The commissioner said the department’s gap in matching the city’s racial diversity was also likely linked to policing controversies around the country like the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.

    Closer to home, the chokehold death last year of Eric Garner on Staten Island set off months of protests across the city.

    “It’s been . . . a tough couple of years for police, for anybody — whether it’s minority candidates, white candidates — thinking of coming into policing right now,” said Bratton. “People, I think, are thinking twice because of, ‘Do I want to subject myself to all this criticism? To all the potential risks and dangers?’

    While some critics suggested arrests stemming from stop-and-frisk were responsible for fewer minorities joining the NYPD, numbers from the Bloomberg administration present a different picture.

    Between December 2010 and July 2013, the percentage of blacks graduating from the Police Academy ranged from a low of 11% to a high of 15% — above the current level — while the number of stop-and-frisks were higher than they are today.

    Bratton blasted The Guardian, a British newspaper, for reporting that he blamed stop-and-frisk for disqualifying candidates from the NYPD.

    “The quotes are accurate, but the context in which they’re presented gives the quote an entirely different context,” Bratton said.

    He has demanded a retraction from The Guardian, which issued a Wednesday statement indicating it had no plans to acquiesce.

    “The Guardian has a strong commitment to reporting about police practices in America,” said a spokesman. “We stand by our reporting and our interview with Commissioner Bratton.”


    De Blasio starting look like a chump.. The pig unions have him shook...

    O ? , I am about to retake the test, pass it, and see if they hire me this time around. did the major just say, they are willing to hire black people with a Misdemeanor. It is on.
  • 5onblackhandside
    5onblackhandside Members Posts: 2,585 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2015
    put a hood on this ? , he gonna look like a grand dragon of a KKK chapter


    This ? face look like he not of this earth


    bratton10n-1-web.jpg?enlarged

  • DarcSkies
    DarcSkies Members Posts: 13,791 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So if they stop & frisk in white neighborhoods, how many white cops would have records? Smh. These cacs really hate ppl of color

    What I came in here to say. What he said wasn't racist on it's face. It's what he elected NOT to say that is racist.

    Whites commit more drug crimes than blacks but are prosecuted less. He failed to mention how blacks are stopped fr more than whites and Hispanics.

    So the problem isn't blacks having criminal records the problem is blacks are targeted unfairly by his department.
  • Louis Devinear
    Louis Devinear Members Posts: 1,641 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I asked a black cop why he became a cop and his answer was. What would you rather see a force full of them he pointed to his partners. Or at least some of us? I was young when he asked me that. And today I still feel the same way. I would like to see more black cops policing more black neighborhoods. But I would also like to see those same black cops be more proactive especially when they witness they fellow white officers doing the ? they do. Like if you see them ? being excessive, intervene. Not because you black and the suspect is black. But because it's the right thing to do.

    ? Nypd though. Corrupt ? .
  • R0mp
    R0mp Members Posts: 4,250 ✭✭✭✭✭
    skpjr78 wrote: »
    I still dont understand why a black person would want to be a cop. Thats like applying to be a slave catcher. Theres got to be a better way to make a dollar

    When ppl on here say "FTP", I don't believe they mean ? the idea of policing as a concept and a practice; it's more so "FTP" that clearly operate under the belief that we are the menaces that the good citizens need to be protected from.

    Having law and order & the enforcement of law and order to create stability in our community is just fine when we are the ones looking out for the good of our community and our people. ? would walk in this scenario, if all spineless, ? leadership was weeded out.
  • mysticmonroe7
    mysticmonroe7 Members Posts: 82 ✭✭
    Kwan Dai wrote: »
    Whites perfected this system long ago. That's why it's imperative that they arrest, and convict Blacks at young ages. While, slapping white kids on the wrist and wiping their records clean. They know this disqualifies and puts Blacks at a disadvantage for opportunities later in their lives. These folks have the system down pat. They know what they are doing.

    ^THIS!! They know what they're doing. Jesse Williams was talking about how in elementary school they are more likely to suspend black kids than white ones. And statistics say that if a black child is suspended a lot in school they're more likely to end up in jail. They suspend the black kids more and if that happens a lot they can fall behind in school and can possibly not graduate on time if at all.

    Also certain records can prevent you from getting financial aid for school, minimum wage jobs,military.