(See pdf here.)
If Meghan Sahli-Wells had double-checked the diversity of the community against the ethnic mix of the model Police Dept., the City Council watchdog may not have critically grilled Chief Scott Bixby at yesterday’s opening budget hearing.
As the most prolonged questioner on the Council, Ms. Sahli-Wells blistered Chief Scott Bixby for surrounding himself with too many white guys and not enough minorities.
Ms. Sahli-Wells’s criticism appeared to have been misjudged.
To be succinct, if the department were to be any more astonishingly accurate mirror of the community, some white residents might have to be killed off to keep the scales balanced.
Here are numbers to spark discussions and possibly cause some persons to admit “Ooops.”
- 47 percent of the department are white. City: 48.8 percent.
- 13 percent of the department are black. City: 10 percent.
- 30 percent of the department are Hispanic. City: 22.9 percent.
- 5 percent of the department are Asian. City: 15.5 percent.
- 4 percent of the department are Pacific Islander. City: Unknown.
Perhaps even more complimentary to the Police Dept. is the diversity among supervisors:
- 39 percent are white.
- 25 percent are Hispanic.
- 18 percent are black.
- 7 percent are Pacific Islander.
- 4 percent are Asian.
