Having more black officers not a 'direct solution' for reducing black killings by police, IU research shows

It's widely recognized that there are benefits to having a diverse police department, but reducing the number of black citizens killed by officers does not appear to be one of them.

New research from three Indiana University professors casts doubt on such efforts, which re-emerged in response to a string of high-profile shootings of unarmed black men dating back to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014.

"There's no evidence to suggest that increasing the proportion of officers that are black is going to offer a direct solution," said Sean Nicholson-Grotty, an IU professor who co-authored the study. Titled Will More Black Cops Matter?, it's set to publish in Public Administration Review next month.

He and two other IU professors — Jill Nicholson-Crotty and Sergio Fernandez — started their research nearly two years ago following the death of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man shot by police while running away from a traffic stop in North Charleston, S.C. The death, like several others across the country over the past three years, underscored that a disproportionate number of those killed by police are black.

The IU study, which the researchers say is the first to focus on the effect the hiring of black officers may have on police shootings, was previously impractical because government data on the topic is notoriously spotty.

That led the researchers to examine two sets of police shooting data that recently became available: 2014 data from advocacy group Mapping Police Violence and 2015 data from The Washington Post. They compared the shootings data to information about minority representation from police departments in the most populous 100 cities.

Finally, they accounted for a number of factors that would affect the numbers, such as the percentage of black population within a jurisdiction and the number of shootings overall. Simply put, it allowed the researchers to make comparisons of a city like Indianapolis (28 percent black) and a city like Baltimore (64 percent black).

"We tried to account for other factors that might explain how many black citizens were involved in fatal encounters with police," Nicholson-Grotty said.

Studying the 2014 numbers, the researchers did not see a significant difference in the number of African-Americans shot by police departments with high numbers of black officers. In 2015, however, they actually found that cities with more black officers experienced more police shootings of black people.

At least 35 to 40 percent of a department would need to be black before the numbers appear to reverse, Nicholson-Crotty said. This is described in the study as "critical mass." "Individuals may only begin to act in ways that help other minorities ... when they are empowered by a large enough number," the researchers wrote.

That's especially true within organizations with strong pressures to conform, the authors note, such as law enforcement agencies.

Still, Nicholson-Crotty cautioned that most departments don't have even 30 percent black officers. That was true of only 12 of the top 100 departments, according to the study, which was too small of a sample size to draw too many conclusions. And to expect most other departments to reach that percentage would create over-representation.

Nicholson-Crotty emphasized that the research doesn't address many questions surrounding police and race relations.

The IU research didn't surprise Jim Bueermann, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation and a former police chief in California.

"If a cop believes someone has a gun and is about to use it against them, they're going to defend themselves, regardless of the color of their skin," Bueermann said.

Most police chiefs and sheriffs recognize the shootings as a problem that needs to be fixed, he said, but identifying how to fix the problem is challenging.

"The federal government cannot even give you an accurate count of the number of fatal encounters," he said, a gap in data that can hold back important research in law enforcement.

Bueermann noted that until recently, officers in California were required to report every vehicular pursuit to the state, but not every officer-involved shooting.

He brought up several questions that generally go unanswered after fatal police shootings: Did the officer attempt to de-escalate the situation? Did the officer attempt to use less lethal tactics? What was the mindset of the officer? What is the policy for dispatching officers?

"If we don't understand what caused the shooting — what really caused the shooting," Bueerman said, "we're doomed to repeat them."

He urged police chiefs and sheriffs to focus their training around de-escalation, community policing and mental health. "Those are the kinds of things that should reduce the number of shootings," he said.

Indianapolis isn't immune. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers have shot and killed 37 people over the past 10 years. The city is 28 percent black, but half of those killed were black.

"Any time we take a life — black or white — that's a significant decision," said Sgt. Kendale Adams, IMPD spokesman.

He repeatedly spoke about the importance of forging stronger ties with all communities within the city. IMPD sees boosting its number of minority officers as key to that effort.

"Anything that builds relationships with any people helps in our efforts to reduce crime," Adams said. "When people trust the police, crime goes down."

But diversifying the force has been a nagging issue for the department. An IndyStar analysis last April found that IMPD was less diverse in 2016 than it was 25 years ago, even after numerous promises from city leaders. Only 14 percent of IMPD's officers are black. Hispanic and Asian officers account for another 3 percent of the force.

And as the department geared up for a round of police promotions in January, all but two of the 28 promotions were white. That prompted City-County Councilor Stephen J. Clay to criticize what he saw as a "commitment to preserving the status quo of lily-white officers."

Adams pointed to new steps the department has taken in recent years to help with recruiting. Most notably: IMPD re-established a dedicated recruitment unit in 2015.

"We've not consistently kept a recruiting unit intact. We'll never have a problem recruiting the majority, but a recruiting unit is essential because it specifically targets diverse communities," Adams said. "And even in that, it takes a number of years of consistency."

The unit's $65,000 annual budget helps with things like hiring videos, bilingual bus ads and recruitment visits to historically black colleges and universities. The City-County Council allocated another $50,000 in 2016 to help with recruitment, Adams said.

Adams noted that IMPD's policing method includes social services, including partnering with other organizations to serve neighborhoods in need.

While it may not reduce fatal encounters with black citizens, Adams said a more representative police force carries legitimacy with minority groups.

"The stronger our relationship is with the community," Adams said, "the stronger our resistance to crime becomes."

IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Ryan Martin at (317) 444-6294. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @ryanmartin.