Transparency and accountability have nothing to do with Delaware or national policing shortages. The shrinking applicant pools for law enforcement agencies have more to do with institutional biases and the subjective background checks during the hiring process.
Historically, policing in America has been and is still a profession dominated by White males. We have made great strides in ensuring that some police departments are representative and reflective of the communities they serve, but that is often not the case. Every year, qualified minority candidates are eliminated from the hiring process for law enforcement jobs for minor violations, nebulous infractions, subjective psychological exams and good, old-fashioned racism. These are issues that are well known and researched, with statistical data to support findings, and warrant a change in Delaware law enforcement hiring practices.
For example, Delaware’s only county police force — New Castle County police — still struggles with hiring and recruiting minority candidates, despite operating in Delaware’s most diverse county. It has been reported that as of May 2021, only 11.8% of the department is Black and 7.1% Hispanic.
If Delaware’s law enforcement agencies proactively address the hiring disparities amongst minorities in their hiring process, those agencies could drastically improve their rank-and-file membership.
Law enforcement is one of the few institutions and professions in America where transparency and accountability are frowned upon by many of its members. In a profession where trust and honesty are imperative to the public’s confidence in sworn officers to execute their duties, Delaware law enforcement officers appear to prefer to shroud their work in secrecy in a profession where we, the public, give police officers broad use and discretion of local, state and federal laws to ensure our collective safety and interests.
However, history has shown us that Delaware law enforcement agencies are ill-equipped to handle such responsibility without public oversite. We allow police officers to use a wide range of technology to conduct criminal investigations and for public safety. However, it appears our police officers want to be immune from those same mechanisms they use every day to enforce our laws. Why should we trust a profession to police themselves, when we have seen enough evidence throughout the years that suggests that police officers in Delaware have failed to discipline officers who violate laws?
If we want to ensure Delaware’s law enforcement agencies are above reapproach, then they must become more transparent with the investigation and adjudication of officers under investigation. I am not asking for access to active police investigations. However, I am asking for real-time transparency for officers suspected of misconduct.
In closing, I do not believe that transparency laws are barriers to recruitment for Delaware’s law enforcement agencies. I believe the slow progress in adapting to 21st-century expectations and new societal norms are the barriers to recruitment. These changes are here to stay, and in the era of information and accessibility, Delaware law enforcement agencies should get used to it.
Terrell Williams
Middletown
