How Important Is Racial Diversity in Community Policing?

To help police departments nationwide develop best practices for community policing, the UCLA Center for Policing Equity is undergoing a large-scale project to compile data from local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies that could help them draw conclusions about issues such as racial profiling and police diversity. Accurate data for things such as police-related shootings has been inconsistent among agencies, and little research exists to say for certain if race relations with police improve when make-ups are similar, said Meredith Gamson-Smiedt, executive director of the Center for Policing Equity. Read more here.