We Spray the Flames but Ignore the Source

Before we recommend greater racial diversity within police forces, I-O psychologists should engage in further exploration of the various assumptions on which this recommendation is based. The recommendation to increase representation of minority officers as a means of quelling conflict between police and minority civilians relies primarily on the assumption that minority officers will demonstrate relatively less racial bias in their interactions with minority citizens. However, we may not have sufficient evidence that this is the case.

Unique features of police culture and police officers may greatly neutralize the potentially positive impact of racial similarity on police–civilian relations. For example, police culture explicitly promotes a uniquely strong and salient collective—a “brotherhood”—that binds employees together and overrides many of the apparent dissimilarities among individual officers (Crank, Reference Crank2014). As such, police officers tend to share similar values and traits that are distinct from the average Americans on whom much of our research is based. For instance, evidence suggests that police officers value conformity and power to a greater extent than the typical civilian (Bardi, Buchanan, Goodwin, Slabu, & Robinson, Reference Bardi, Buchanan, Goodwin, Slabu and Robinson2014). Evidence also suggests that relative to the average adult civilian, the average police officer has a more pronounced social dominance orientation (SDO) and stronger right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) beliefs (Gatto & Dambrun, Reference Gatto and Dambrun2012). These characteristics have been consistently linked to prejudice, and it would be premature to assume they are less pronounced in the typical minority (relative to White) cop.

According to system justification theory, members of low status groups (i.e., racial minorities) with high levels of SDO (as is common among police officers) tend to justify and support, rather than resist, the status quo even to the disadvantage of their own groups (Overbeck, Jost, Mosso, & Flizik, Reference Overbeck, Jost, Mosso and Flizik2004). As such, system justifying postures may result in similar behaviors between members of high and members of low status racial groups. This is bolstered by the fact that White officers and non-White officers demonstrate similar degrees of racial bias in shooter bias tasks (Correll et al., Reference Correll, Park, Judd, Wittenbrink, Sadler and Keesee2007, p. 1011, Footnote 3) and that Black participants display significantly more shooter bias toward Black targets who are high in stereotypicality (e.g., darker skin, wider nose) than Black targets who are low in stereotypicality or White targets (Kahn & Davies, Reference Kahn and Davies2011). Anecdotally, this notion is further supported by the fact that three of the six Baltimore City Police officers charged for their involvement in the death of Freddie Gray were Black.

We have long recognized that both surface and deep-level diversity have important workplace outcomes. Thus, it is critical to acknowledge that surface-level diversity among officers does not automatically equate to deep-level diversity among officers and to explore the possibility that deep-level characteristics (e.g., high SDO, RWA, power values, conformity values) may be equally significant sources of conflict between police and minority civilians. To the extent that minority officers share value profiles that are more similar to White officers than to minority civilians, efforts to increase racial similarity between officers and citizens may change the face of the American police force but have minimal impact on officer–community relations.

In preparation to partner with law enforcement agencies and diversify the American police force, I-O psychologists should be aware that the lack of deep-level diversity among police officers may warrant our greater empirical and theoretical consideration. If I-O psychologists focus our diversity management recommendations solely on race, we limit our opportunity to make a positive impact. If we fail to look beyond the surface, the fires between law enforcement and communities of color may continue to rage as we devote our attention to the flames but fail to put the fire out at its source.

We Turn Up the Heat for Minority Officers

Further, if I-O psychologists are insensitive to the unique context of law enforcement and the unique positions of the employees within them, we could also create new problems. As we propose increased racial diversity as a resolution to conflict between police officers and minority civilians, we put minority officers on the hook for righting an occupational and societal wrong. We apply the assumption (and impose the expectation) that their racial group membership endows them with the capacity to reverse a long history of racially biased policing. This is another dangerous assumption that could have significant negative consequences for minority officers.

If we look to minority officers to shoulder the burden of solving racism within the criminal justice system, we may increase the salience of their dual social group memberships and make them more keenly aware of potential conflict between the demands of their racial groups and their work groups. More clearly, minority officers are members of low status racial groups. As such, it is in the collective interests of their racial group that they advance the group's social position and focus on racial justice and equality in policing. However, political psychologists consider police work to be hierarchy enhancing work that is primarily aimed at protecting, serving, or benefiting society's elite (see Sidanius, Liu, Shaw, & Pratto, Reference Sidanius, Liu, Shaw and Pratto1994). As such, it may be in the collective interests of minority officers’ work groups to advance the social position of higher status racial groups (i.e., Whites) and deemphasize racial justice and equality in policing. Thus, the collective interests of their racial group and their occupational group may be at odds. For example, criminal justice research suggests that although many officers evaluate racial profiling as an appropriate and integral part of police work, many Black officers (particularly dark-skinned males) report personal experiences with being racially profiled themselves (e.g., Barlow & Barlow, Reference Barlow and Barlow2002). As such, Black male officers may have to reconcile the job demands of proactively identifying criminal suspects and the life demands of being unjustly stereotyped and targeted as criminals. By increasing the salience of this conflict, we may prompt system justifying motives among minority officers that are psychologically damaging. Evidence supports the notion that system justification is associated with increased depression and neuroticism for minorities (Jost & Thompson, Reference Jost and Thompson2000).

To better inform interventions for effectively managing racial diversity within police forces, it is imperative that I-O psychologists explore this line of inquiry in greater depth. While social and political psychologists recognize that some careers have social justice motives (e.g., Sidanius et al., Reference Sidanius, Liu, Shaw and Pratto1994), I-O scholars tend to pursue research as if jobs are neutral in this regard. That is often, but not exclusively, the case. As we offer insights to occupations with inherent social justice motives, we cannot fail to acknowledge those motives and their implications for minority employees. Then, we must adapt our recommendations and interventions accordingly. Otherwise, our efforts to extinguish the fires between law enforcement and communities of color may actually result in a work climate that turns up the heat on minority officers.

We Fan the Flames Between Officers and Minorities

Finally, I-O psychologists should also consider the possibility that increased diversity within law enforcement could result in increased tensions between officers and minorities. The American workforce is approximately 63% White and 53% male. However, the vast majority of the American police force is White and male. Thus, the demographic composition of law enforcement may also pose unique problems for diversity management efforts.

Research suggests that people in racially homogenous environments may construe the concept of “diversity” in ways that are consistent with their social dominance motives and may be more likely to resist race-based diversity efforts (Unzueta, Knowles, & Ho, Reference Unzueta, Knowles and Ho2012). For example, individuals with high SDO may be more likely to define diversity in terms of educational background or rural (versus urban) upbringing to justify their racially homogenous workplace as sufficiently diverse without increasing racial minority representation. Additionally, recent evidence suggests that members of high-status groups (i.e., White men) may perceive prodiversity messages as unfair and threatening to their group's status (Dover, Major, & Kaiser, Reference Dover, Major and Kaiser2016). In response to increased diversity, Whites may exhibit greater fear and anger toward minority groups (Outten, Schmitt, Miller, & Garcia, Reference Outten, Schmitt, Miller and Garcia2012), greater implicit and explicit bias against racial minorities (Craig & Richeson, Reference Craig and Richeson2014), and increased concern for their group's own position (Danbold & Huo, Reference Danbold and Huo2015). Accordingly, as we implement diversity efforts in this highly homogenous context, we must be mindful of how both internal and external race relations could be impacted.

Further, in light of the strong solidarity values among police officers (Crank, Reference Crank2014) minority officers who fear workplace rejection could be prompted to try harder to be accepted by their peers. This may be especially likely among newly hired minority officers who are recruited and selected as part of the implementation of our diversity recommendations (e.g., Matschke & Sassenberg, Reference Matschke and Sassenberg2010). Thus, increasing minority police personnel in response to turmoil between law enforcement and minority communities could also result in increasingly negative interactions between newly hired minority officers and minority civilians. Failure to consider the ramifications of diversifying the American police force without exploring these dynamics could fan the flames between law enforcement and communities of color.