Workforce Diversity: Downsizing in the NYPD and its Effect on Minority Integration

Abstract

Workforce downsizing (ie, the reduction or elimination of positions) may have a significant positive or negative impact on minority employment and the level of diversity that exists within a public agency. This study examines the impact that downsizing has had on the employment of minority police officers and civilians, and levels of diversity in the New York City Police Department (NYDP) from 2000 to 2012 as the agency has reduced its workforce. The findings show that minority integration has increased despite the workforce downsizing. As the NYPD reduced the number of police and civilian positions since 2000, the number of minorities the agency hired increased, while the number of White employees declined, contributing to an increase in the level of workforce diversity.

Ethnic diversity in policing: An application of quantile regression to the New York City Police Department

“…Similar to Carter (1986), , ), Guajardo (2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2015a, & 2015b, Raganella and White (2004), and Winters (1991) who have analyzed a single police agency, this study examines how well minority men and women are integrated within the hierarchical structure of a single police agency. Specifically, this study examines how internal organization-based covariates influence ethnic diversity within the NYPD's police and civilian workforces (see Figure 1).…”

“…Police Department (NYPD) has shown that minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in the police force and overrepresented in civilian positions (e.g., Guajardo, 2014aGuajardo, & 2014b. However, the NYPD employment data for 2012 revealed that the level of diversity was generally higher within policing-based ranks in comparison to the level of diversity within the civilian-based job classifications (e.g., Guajardo, 2014c).…”

“…These findings are consistent with prior studies which have found that minority men and women have made marginal progress with respect to entering into policing and subsequently ascending to supervisor and command positions (e.g., Bolton, 2003;Franklin, 2005;Martin, 1991Martin, , 2004Polisar & Milgram, 1996;Raganella & White, 2004;Riccucci & Saldivar, 2014;Schroedel et al, 1996;Shelly et al, 2011;Stokes & Scott, 1996;Townsey, 1982;Warner et al, 1989;Zhao, Herbst, & Lovrich, 2001). Since few studies on ethnic and gender integration into policing have utilized diversity indices to assess the overall level of workforce heterogeneity in police and civilian positions, the extent to which police agencies are diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender is not fully known (Guajardo, 2014a(Guajardo, , 2014b(Guajardo, , & 2015a. In addition, since the majority of the studies have used regression models (e.g., ordinary least squares (OLS) and…”

“…Few studies on diversity in policing have examined whether differences exist between police and civilian workforces in terms of whether demographic heterogeneity can be attributed to the type of workforce. In contrast to the majority of the prior studies on workforce diversity in policing, Guajardo (2014b) examined changes in the level of ethnic heterogeneity in the NYPD's police and civilian workforces from 2000 to 2012. When the level of ethnic diversity in the police and civilian workforces were compared, the police force had a greater level of ethnic heterogeneity in comparison to the civilian workforce.…”

“…Finally, demographic diversity in police agencies is influenced by the size of the police agencies and the workgroups within their police and civilian workforces (e.g., Guajardo, 2014aGuajardo, , 2014bGuajardo, , 2014cGuajardo, , 2015aGuajardo, , 2015bGuajardo, , & 2015cGustafson, 2013;Hochstedler & Conley, 1986;Martin, 1991;McCluskey & McCluskey, 2004;Poulos & Doerner, 1996;Warner et al, 1988). The rationale for using agency size as a covariate is based on the assumption that large organizations will generally have more job openings that may be filled by minority men and women in comparison to smaller agencies.…”