Why more diverse police forces may not solve the problems which exist between police and disadvantaged communities of color

In the wake of the tragedies of the past year in places such as Ferguson and New York and Baltimore where black men have been killed by police officers, many have called for reforms to the police, pushing for greater diversity among police departments. But do black officers have an advantage over white officers in building relationships with black citizens? In new research which examines police–community relations in East St. Louis, Jacinta M. Gau and Rod K. Brunson find that the black community expressed concern over under-policing, slow response times, and police misconduct both on and off duty, even though the city’s police department also reflected the population’s black majority.