Cultural Revolution in the Police Departments

A new police program has been adopted across the country - and it needs scrutiny now

I suspect that many people in law enforcement have never heard of the 30x30 Initiative, even those within the agencies that have taken its pledge. That’s the nature of bureaucratic programs. They may begin modestly, but they have a propensity for growth and their initial missions often expand in unexpected directions.

Just what is the 30x30 Initiative?

“Our ultimate goal is to increase the representation of women in police recruit classes by 30% by 2030, and to ensure police policies and culture intentionally support the success of qualified women officers throughout their careers.”

Such bold moves deserve careful examination. You’ll note that the goal not only involves increasing the number of female police officers, but also involves policies and culture.

I confess that when I first learned of this program, the 30% goal threw me off. As a former EEO Administrator for the City of Phoenix back in the now innocent Eighties, I assumed that the program was an ambitious but ham-fisted effort to gin up the recruitment of female police officers.

With that perspective, I immediately began jotting down why a “one size fits all” recruitment goal for law enforcement agencies around the country was unrealistic. After all, the workforce availability of women in Salt Lake City or Yuma is unlikely to be the same as that for Los Angeles or New York City. A flat, across-the-board 30% goal was likely to create discrimination problems if departments stressed female recruitment far beyond actual availability. I wondered if there was some sort of availability calculation wizardry that I’d overlooked.

My reservations also extended to the Initiative’s descriptions of the advantages that women bring to police work. The 30x30 Initiative argues that “Research has shown women officers are associated with more positive outcomes for communities. Women officers use less force and less excessive force; are named in fewer complaints and lawsuits; are perceived by communities as being more honest and compassionate; see better outcomes for crime victims, especially in sexual assault cases; and make fewer discretionary arrests.”

The fact that there are more men than women in policing may account for some of those figures. The idea that using less force and making fewer discretionary arrests are inherently better is questionable. You may well find male officers who argue that there are times when the female officers should use more force and make more discretionary arrests. The use of the examples appears to be making the argument that women make better police officers and thus should be given a preference.

Besides that, when making hiring decisions, it is the individual applicant, not group abilities and characteristics, that should be considered.

At that point, things became very interesting. I delved into the origins of the 30% goal and found an item that is much more troubling than a faulty recruitment program.

The 30x30 Initiative’s Retention & Culture publication states: “The Initiative is based on the importance of achieving at least 30% representation to empower a group to influence an organization’s culture. This 30% threshold is where change begins to happen, but it is not our end goal. 30x30 is working with policing agencies to improve recruiting practices and establish community partnerships so that agencies become truly representative of the jurisdictions they serve. While 30x30 is focused on advancing women in policing, these principles are applicable to all demographic diversity, not just gender.”

Whoa! What they are saying is that the 30% goal has nothing to do with the availability figures of qualified women in the appropriate recruitment pool. It has instead been chosen because the 30x30 team believes that a 30% threshold is needed to make cultural change in the organizations.

In another section of the same report, it states in bold: Departments must recognize the influence of male-dominant culture on organizational values and obstacles to retaining women.

This is far more than a recruitment program. If you have not heard its adoption openly debated in your community, that would not be a surprise, but the program deserves more attention because of its scope. After all, changing the culture of the FBI, the Secret Service, or your local police department is not a minor decision. Just what is the evidence behind the finding of a male-dominant culture, what are the details of any proposed replacement, and who elected the 30x30 Initiative to change the culture of anything?

Furthermore, the 30x30 website’s description of the necessity for its program uses terms such as equity (instead of equal opportunity) and intersectionality. Both are strong hints that this program seeking to change the culture of law enforcement agencies tilts to the left side of the political spectrum.

Which is more than troubling.

Regardless of any ideological slant, however, cultural change is the sort of decision that goes far above the job level of an FBI Director, police chief, or even a U.S. Attorney General. Bring on the legislative hearings so bipartisan perspectives can be obtained on whether the deliberate crafting of a culture is desirable, especially one with an ideological bent.

Over 300 law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Marshals Service have taken the 30x30 pledge. A partial listing of the city police departments includes Anchorage, Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tucson.

The effort has received funding from the following organizations: Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative; Arnold Ventures; The Bureau of Justice Assistance; The National Institute of Justice; Mark 43; Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP); and the National Association of Women in Law Enforcement (NAWLEE).  

In other words, this is not a minor effort.

There has been much discussion in recent years about the circumvention of the legislative process by the managerial or administrative state. Not only should there be more viewpoint diversity and transparency in such decisions, there should also be more deference to the democratic process itself.

When I initially heard about the 30x30 recruitment goal, I thought that one of its bugs was the danger that publicizing the pledge could discourage male applicants from applying for those already hard-to-fill law enforcement jobs. After considering the statement that the motive of the female recruitment goal is to move law enforcement from a male-dominant culture, I am wondering if discouragement of male applicants would be regarded as a welcome by-product.

The fact that the United States is adopting a major national change in law enforcement without examining the results of test cases or engaging in a healthy debate should ring alarm bells. It is an invitation for unintended consequences.