Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.
What would have been considered a disadvantage to Metro Police Capt. Gary Schofield decades ago is now a valued quality at the police department.
Schofield, who is half Japanese and half white, represents a diversity that Metro wants to promote by encouraging more minorities to join the police force. Schofield and six of his colleagues spent several hours last weekend with a handful of potential recruits during Metro's first Asian Symposium at Chinatown Plaza.
"Our department is trying to reach out to different ethnic groups to better reflect the community," said Schofield, who works in the training bureau and is the highest ranking Asian American in the department.
"My background has let me stand in two worlds. It would have been considered a curse before, but now it's an asset to be multicultural."
The number of Asians working in Metro does not represent the percentage of Asians living in Las Vegas, Rowena Kothe, who works in Metro's employment diversity section, said.
The Asian and Pacific Islander populations have more than tripled in the past 10 years, now representing 5.2 percent of Las Vegas residents, according to the 2000 Census. At Metro, on the other hand, only 3.2 percent of the full-time employees are Asian, Kothe said.
"We need more Asians to serve our community better," Kothe said.
But finding Asian Americans who are interested in a law enforcement career can be hard because many Asian immigrants developed a fear of police while in their native countries, Steve Yuen, an analyst in the personnel department at Metro, said.
"A big percentage of Asians are from another country and are tainted by their opinions of the police from the other country," Yuen said. "In many cases, the police are a tool of oppression and use autocratic rule."
Sgt. Ronna Wiseman, a corrections officer, said she experienced communication problems with inmates at the jail. Wiseman is the first female sergeant, and is half Japanese and half white.
"Because we're such a tourist town, we get all kinds of people in the jail," said Wiseman. "We're a diverse population. As police, we represent the community and our department needs to reflect the community."
The most under-represented minority group in the police department is Hispanics, which comprise only 7.4 percent of full-time workers at Metro, Kothe said. The Census reports that 23.6 percent of the Las Vegas population is Hispanic.
Whites represent 78.2 percent of full-time workers at Metro and 70 percent of the total Las Vegas population. Blacks are the most equally represented out of the community, comprising 10.2 percent of Metro employees and 10.4 percent of the overall population.
Schofield, who works in the training bureau, said the police department has taken a stronger approach to minority recruiting since 1998, when Sheriff Jerry Keller made cultural diversity a priority.
Metro has recruiting counselors for the Asian, Hispanic and black populations. The counselors coordinate outreach efforts to encourage minorities to apply for a job and to help residents feel more comfortable with police.
Interested applicants must be at least 21 and a U.S. citizen, have no felony convictions or domestic violence record, possess a high school diploma and pass a written, video and polygraph/psychological test.
"We're never going to get too perfect of a reflection of the community," Schofield said. "All you can do is make sure the door is always open."
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