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Michigan State Police leaders should act decisively to add more ethnic diversity and cultural sensitivity to the mainly white and male force, critics say.
"They have to recruit and hire minorities," Detroit employee rights attorney Leonard Mungo tells Ken Coleman of Michigan Advance, a week-old Lansing news site.
Coleman's also speaks with Wendell Anthony, president of Detroit's NAACP branch, who hopes Gov.-Elect Gretchen Whitmer replaces the state police director next year:
"With a new administration coming in, there is an opportunity now for the governor to make some appointments and some changes in that department that speak to the issues and communities across the state, particularly communities of color. We have a new opportunity to have a new beginning."
"we have worked extremely hard to improve our recruiting and selection process," the state police director says.
(Facebook photo from MSP Troopers Association)
The current recruit class, which finishes a half-year at the Michigan State Police Training Academy next April, has 128 members -- with just two from Detroit, both men. One is white and one is black, the Advance says.
The class has 23 women (the most in nearly 20 years) and two dozen prospective troopers who identifiy as a racial minority, officials say.
The latest annual figures show that 6.4 percent of Michigan troopers in 2017 were from a racial minority. The force has 2,032 troopers now. About 19 percent of them are people of color and women.
"It's not acceptable," says state Rep.-Elect Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, a retired Wayne County sheriff deputy. . . "MSP doesn't do a great job with outreach to the black community." . . .
Since 2017, MSP and Detroit NAACP officials have met and discussed the branch's concerns about diversity. But Anthony says not enough has been done to address the problem.
The chapter says in a 2017 statement that "out of 36 Michigan State Police officers with a rank of inspector or higher, only one . . . is African-American."
Coleman's in-depth report is a 1,400-word overview with historic context and quotes from nine people. It has this response from Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, the state police force's first female director:
"At a time when police agencies nationwide are struggling to find qualified candidates, we have worked extremely hard to improve our recruiting and selection process to attract the most qualified women and men who best reflect the communities we serve."
-- Alan Stamm
