Sheriff urges Hispanic leaders to help Metro diversify

By Ana Ley

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 | 10:25 p.m.

Denouncing the lack of racial diversity among Metro Police officers as "deplorable," Sheriff Joe Lombardo on Tuesday urged a group of Hispanic community leaders to help the department recruit more minorities to join the agency's ranks.

At a meeting organized by the Metro-led Hispanic Coalition, Lombardo highlighted a stark disparity between the demographic breakdown at Metro and the community it serves. While white residents make up only 46 percent of Clark County's population, 77 percent of officers at the police department are white, a Sun analysis found in September.

"Our biggest recruiter is you," he told the crowd, which included leaders from local churches and charity groups. "We have to convince (young minorities) that this is a great place to work.”

Staffing a diverse police force is an ongoing challenge here and nationwide, one brought to light by a recent spate of controversial shootings involving unarmed black men and white officers. The first was the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, whose death triggered protests, riots and tense confrontations between the predominantly black residents of Ferguson, Mo., and it’s nearly all-white police force.

Metro officials have said they want their department to reflect Las Vegas’ diversity, but cultural and financial barriers have hampered their efforts. Budget cuts triggered a four-year hiring reduction that ended in 2013, when the department’s academy began launching police academy classes again. Since then, of at least four pools of about 50 recruits, about 16 percent have been Latino. That’s up from the department’s average of 11 percent Latino recruits. Clark County is 30 percent Hispanic.

The most recent class graduated last month, and out of 48 recruits who graduated then, 27 were minorities, Lombardo said.

“Diversity is very important to us,” said Kristen Alexander, a program coordinator with local youth-based nonprofit 10,000 Kids. “We want our police department to reflect the community more. It helps people relate better to officers.”

Lombardo said most Hispanics seem to lose interest in joining the department in their late 20s. While Latinos only make up about 12 percent of its academy recruits, more than 50 percent of youth ages 16 to 20 enrolled its Law Enforcement Explorer Program are Hispanic.

“We have to help to bridge that gap,” Pastor Troy Martinez told the group. “We have to help them learn that they can not only report crime — because we know that it’s underreported in minority communities — but they can also have aspirations to be part of the department.”