10+ Cities Tackle Police Diversity
“We need a police force that looks like the citizens it serves.”
— Andy Berke, Mayor of Chattanooga, TN
There’s a lot at stake for police departments working to rebuild trust with their communities following incidents like officer-involved shootings. Many forces are committing to recruiting more diverse forces that are reflective of the communities they serve. What Works Cities partner the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) is supporting more than 10 cities across the country to use randomized control trials to determine what recruitment messaging is most effective in getting more people of color and women to apply.
In Chattanooga, the first city to partner with BIT on this work, Mayor Andy Berke strongly supported the effort. Trials revealed that messages emphasizing the challenge of the job and the career benefits of joining the police department tripled the likelihood of applying compared to the control. These messages were especially effective for people of color, quadrupling the likelihood that they would apply. This resulted in the most diverse pool that Chattanooga had experienced.
The opportunity for departments to work with one another provides advantages, such as messaging that’s successful in one city being tested in another. The cohort also includes Fort Worth, Little Rock, Scottsdale, South Bend, Tacoma, and Washington, D.C., to name a few.
The above profile is an excerpt from “What Works Cities: How Local Governments Are Changing Lives,” a new report showcasing accomplishments from cities participating in the What Works Cities initiative over the past two years. Read more profiles and city success stories here.
