The Michigan State Police suffers from a lack of diversity. | Canva
The Michigan State Police suffers from a lack of diversity. | Canva
Sixty-five Michigan State Police (MSP) cadets celebrated their graduation from trooper school on June 17.
Four of them are black, or 6% of the class. This is a reflection of overall force’s complete makeup, which an MSP spokeswoman acknowledged could take years to diversify.
Earlier this year, MSP launched a plan to increase its minority trooper applicant pool to 25%. Department director Col. Joseph Gasper said the strategic plan hoped to accomplish what his predecessor, Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, could not: improve racial diversity.
The death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody last month has prompted many law enforcement agencies to take a good long look in the mirror at their apparent failures to achieve diversity. Floyd was the 46-year-old black man who perished while a white officer pressed his knee against his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Rep. Leslie Love (D-Detroit) expressed concern over the latest MSP workforce numbers. "It's not the progress on the level that we would like to see," Love told the Detroit Free Press.
MSP spokeswoman Shanon Banner told the Detroit Free Press that the agency’s plan could take years to come to fruition.
“Also, it probably goes without saying, but the current state government hiring freeze and the nationwide policing climate will both work against us in reaching our recruiting goals in the short term, but we remain hopeful that through our consistent efforts we will overcome these challenges,” she told the Detroit Free Press.
Banner noted that the percentage of minorities in the recruiting pool for a trooper school is not necessarily similar to the percentage of minorities who graduate.
Next year’s batch of applicants also appears to fall short of what the plan is striving for. The Detroit Free Press reported that nearly 14% of the 370 who applied belong to a racial minority.
Alerts Sign-up