ROANOKE, Va. — Through regional recruitment and forging ties with community leaders during the past five years, the Roanoke Police Department narrowed the gap between the number of minority and nonminority officers in the force, department numbers show. In 2007, less than 7 percent of the department's officers were minorities, according to information provided by the department at the time. Today, minority officers represent 13 percent of the department and include a variety of cultural backgrounds. On their own, women represent close to 12 percent of the department.
Those numbers came in the wake of a general report released by the Roanoke human resources department this month, which showed diversity across city staff at levels lower than the targeted goal. City officials said they aim for the staff to reflect the community's residents, of whom 38 percent are nonwhite.
New numbers released show racial minorities make up about 21 percent of the city employees. The report, presented to the city council, lists the Roanoke Fire-EMS department as one that faces challenges, though difficulties in minority recruiting can be found in other departments, too. Human Resources Director Carolyn Glover said the city analyzed the 2011 incoming hires in those departments when identifying them as areas needing improvement. According to Fire-EMS numbers, 8 percent of 244 sworn firefighters are members of a minority. Women represent 3 percent.
"We want to reflect the racial distribution of the community, whether it's in fire, or police, or in general across our overall departments," Glover said. "We close that gap by recognizing the fact that this is a journey."
Racial distribution across the city staff improved slightly between 2010 and 2011, from 20.97 percent to 21.06 percent. Meanwhile, in the private sector, numbers declined slightly, from 19 percent to 18.7 percent, according to the report. In an effort to change those statistics, Glover said, departments across the city employ tactics such as targeted recruitment, partnerships with city organizations and an unpaid summer internship program.
And while the city doesn't hand down mandated quotas to the individual departments, some recruiters have made it a mission to change the hiring landscape. Roanoke police Officer Nicholas Comas said he has worked as a full-time recruiter for about a year. Comas said his Greek heritage helps him spearhead the effort to bring more multiculturalism into his department.
"I'm a fisherman when it comes down to it, and when speaking about minorities, you have to consider where the applicant pool is," he said.
Comas said he spends much of his time approaching community and organizational leaders to get the word out about joining the police force, though his work also takes him throughout the region.
"I'm always looking for that honey hole of good, qualified applicants," he said, adding that he includes colleges and job fairs among his stopping places.
Comas said he thinks the focus on diversity is an important one, that it builds connections between city staff and private citizens.
"Everybody in the community might key onto somebody a little bit different," he said.
Police and fire officials said testing stands as one of the biggest obstacles for public safety departments seeking to increase the number of minorities in their ranks. Public safety employees are required to pass the Candidate Physical Ability Test, a federally approved test recognized as gender- and race-neutral. Fire-EMS Deputy Chief Billy Altman said that of the pool of people who sign up to take the test, few are members of a minority, sometimes as few as 30 percent.
"It's not a factor of being able to pass the test," Altman, "it's just lower turnout."
Glover said fire departments across the country have traditionally attracted white men, and that many communities face the same challenges as Roanoke. Even more irritating for recruiters, those interested in firefighting won't serve until they complete five months of unpaid training, and some people won't wait that long for steady work, he said.
"We hire people with no previous training just to help our recruiting," he said. "Recruiting itself is an uphill battle."