Lack of Diversity in Fire, Police Forces Cited : Demographics: Women and minorities are underrepresented in Southland departments, ACLU study finds. Area officials say progress is being made.

Despite some improvements, fire and police departments in Southern California remain overwhelmingly segregated by race and sex and are largely the domain of white males, according to a study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The report, released today, found large disparities between the racial and gender makeup of departments and the populations they serve.

“It was even worse than I thought it would be,” said Allan Parachini, who oversaw the study as director of public affairs for the ACLU of Southern California.

The report, which surveyed 107 police departments and 80 fire departments in eight Southern California counties, concluded that:

* Although some fire and police departments have made modest gains in recruiting African Americans, they have for the most part failed to keep pace with ethnic changes that are reshaping the region.

* Women are “woefully underrepresented” on forces.

* Although police departments have very poor rates of sex and race integration, fire departments are substantially worse.

* Command structures of police and fire departments are more segregated than the rank and file.

Using a measure of integration common in research, the ACLU ranked departments on how well their composition reflected that of their communities. Thus, a diverse force such as Compton’s--which is 59% African American--is still considered segregated by that standard because there are significantly fewer Latinos and women in the Police Department than in the city.

In four cities--Burbank, Compton, San Gabriel and Indio--both the fire and police departments appeared on the ACLU’s “most-segregated” list. Both the fire and police departments in Pasadena and Los Angeles, on the other hand, made the best-integrated list. The Santa Monica and Laguna Beach police departments also ranked high.

Of the police forces surveyed, 33 had no Asians or Pacific Islanders on the force, 24 had no African Americans, six had no women and three had no Latinos.

Antony Pate, director of research for the nonprofit Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., said the regional portrait of predominantly white male police forces is “not unlike what we and others are finding around the country.”

Latinos and women in particular are underrepresented, Pate noted.

At the same time, Pate pointed out that many forces are far more diverse than they used to be. “If you look where they started from 20 or 30 years ago, many departments have made notable progress,” he said.

“It’s not going to happen as a matter of course,” Pate continued. “The departments that have made the most significant progress are the departments that have made the most concerted efforts to recruit women and minorities.”

Local officials say it will take time for their departments to adjust to the massive demographic shifts of the 1980s, and argued that the ACLU study does not accurately reflect the efforts they are making to keep pace. Many departments say many of their white male personnel were hired more than 20 years ago, when their communities looked different.

“You don’t throw out all the police department you have now and hire all Mexicans,” said William F. Reed, chief of the Huntington Park Police Department, which has seen its community evolve from a white, middle-class suburban enclave in the 1950s to a largely Latino city that is frequently the first stop for newly arrived immigrants from Mexico.

Indeed, Reed said the ACLU would probably file a suit against his department if it simply laid off its veterans because they are white.

“The ACLU’s time would be better spent targeting agencies they know have discriminatory hiring practices, rather than just issuing broad statistical statements,” Reed said.

Half of the new sworn officers hired by the South Gate Police Department since 1990 have been Latino, said South Gate Chief Ron George, who lamented that the ACLU used the term “segregated” to describe the departments.

“It makes it sound like it’s being done on purpose and it’s part of a plan,” George said. “We’re all trying the best we can.”

He added that small departments are at a competitive disadvantage when recruiting highly sought-after minority and women applicants. Larger departments, he said, can offer more money, better benefits and hiring incentives.

George said many of the non-sworn police personnel, from desk assistants to the entire Explorer squad, are Latino. “That’s what we see as our officers of the future. As the older officers retire they’re being replaced with younger Latinos,” he said. “People just need to be patient and see what our progress is.”

Michael Paules, city manager of San Gabriel, said budgetary pressures coupled with low turnover have virtually frozen the composition of his city’s fire and police departments.

“It’s hard to diversify when you’re not hiring,” Paules said, adding that three Asian American police officers and two Latino firefighters had just been hired. He said that the chief of police has spent time recruiting outside a shopping center popular with Asian Americans.

Capt. Tom Lazar of the Costa Mesa Police Department faulted the ACLU numbers, naming three Japanese American officers on a force that the ACLU study says has no Asians or Pacific Islanders.

Saying he had never before heard a complaint about the department makeup, Lazar added, “Obviously, when it comes down to the actual hiring process, those individuals who score highest, regardless of sex or color, are the ones we hire.”

Costa Mesa officers are hired through the city’s personnel department. “I’m black, and I’m the personnel manager,” said Howard Perkins, “and we have two recruiters who are Japanese, so this is not an area that we take lightly.”

Police Demographics

An ACLU study of fire and police departments in eight Southern California counties found that many are segregated by race and sex. While some police departments in L.A. County, such as Pasadena and the LAPD, were praised, others--including Burbank, San Gabriel and Whittier--were found not to reflect their communities’ changing demographics.

% Male % Female % White % Latino % Black % Asian Burbank PD 94% 6% 87.3% 8.6% 2.6% ---- Community 50% 50% 60.4% 30.8% 2.7% 5.7% San Gabriel PD 90.4% 9.6% 75% 21.2% ---- 3.8% Community 50% 50% 30% 36.3% 1.1% 32.4% Whittier PD 96.7% 3.3% 87% 10.9% 1% 1.1% Community 50% 50% 56.3% 39% 1.3% 3.3% Pasadena PD 88.1% 11.9% 44.5% 29.8% 21.6% 3.7% Community 50% 50% 46.7% 27.3% 19% 8% LAPD 84.7% 15.3% 56.2% 24.4% 14.8% 4.2% Community 50% 50% 37.3% 39.9% 14% 9.8%

NOTE: Numbers may not add to 100% because of rounding and because “other” category is not shown.

SOURCE: ACLU of Southern California