Latino police officers: Patterns of ethnic self-identity and Latino community attachment

Abstract

It is argued that increased employment of Latino officers will enhance policing in Latino communities based on assumptions that Latino officers share a common ethnic identity and have positive attitudes toward Latino community members based on identification with the coethnic communities they police. These assumptions, however, remain largely untested. Through interviews with 100% of Latino police officers in a large midwestern city, this study investigated the officers' ethnic identification and attachment to the Latino communities they police. Contrary to public policy assumptions, although most expressed a strong Latino identity and community attachment, many did not, and a small number self-identified as exclusively "White/Anglo." © 2008 Sage Publications.