Minority Hiring Rates Rising in Police Force

The rate at which Denver hires Latino and black police officers and firefighters has increased over the past two years, even as the total number of minority hires has fallen slightly.

City officials credit the increasing rate to changes in hiring and recruitment practices.

"You have better functioning police and fire service when the departments reflect the community, and can better represent the concerns of the community from within," said Al LaCabe, the city's safety manager, who oversees the city's Police and Fire departments.

At the Police Department, the city doubled the percentage of Latino and black hires in two years.

In 2005, 16 percent, or 28 of the 171 police officers hired, were Latino. And 11, or 6 percent, of the hires were black.

This year those numbers jumped to 32 percent Latino, or 25 of the 77 hired. Another 10 of the hires were black, representing 13 percent.

Last year, the Fire Department more than tripled the rate of Latino hires - 33 percent, or 8 of 24 positions - over the previous year. And the city hired five black firefighters in the past two years, ending a long drought of no black hires at the Fire Department from 2000 through 2005.

Latino hires at the Fire Department declined to 14 percent this year from last year's numbers, but that's still above the rate in 2005 and 2004.

The Denver Post