Minority Recruiting in the New York City Police Department

The Police Department increased the proportion of minority group recruits from 8 percent in 1957 to 18 percent in 1969. Nonetheless, since the city population is 31 percent black and Puerto Rican, further efforts at minority recruiting are required. Advertisements in the [Daily News] and on subway posters, use of existing organizations of minority group policemen, and greater personal contact with applicants by the Police Department appear to be the best approaches. Minority group candidates are more interested in the service aspects of police work, as opposed to pay or fringe benefits, than their white counterparts. They are also more likely to drop out of the lengthy and somewhat confusing appointment process. This attrition seems to result from the individual's lack of motivation rather than from outright rejection. Among candidates who completed all the steps in the application process, the fraction accepted by the Police Department did not differ by race.