NAACP criticizes lack of black cop hires

Sixty new recruits were sworn into the Suffolk County Police Department this week.

That none is black is a major misstep for a department working on diversity, according to the Islip branch of the NAACP.

"If the model is to be community policing, then in order for community policing to be successful, it has to reflect the community," said the Rev. Roderick Pearson, president of the Islip NAACP. He added, "I think it's an indication that there needs to be a greater effort."

Mark Smith, a spokesman for outgoing County Executive Steve Levy, said the numbers were "troubling."

The new recruit class consists of 51 whites, six Hispanics, and three officers of Asian, South Asian or Middle Eastern descent.

"While a 17 percent Hispanic representation in the class is promising, the lack of African-Americans in this class is troubling, especially after our intense recruitment efforts had doubled the number of minorities taking the 2007 exam," Smith said. "Future classes will come off of the exam given in 2011 which will hopefully show greater diversity."

In data provided by Suffolk police, the 68 African-Americans in the department make up about 2.7 percent of the 2,492-member force. African-Americans make up about 7.2 percent of Suffolk County's population, census data show.

"When we get these kinds of results, our young people are now discouraged from becoming police officers," Pearson said. He said the tests prospective officers take were "biased" and that local NAACP leaders will meet soon with incoming County Executive Steve Bellone.

In a statement, Bellone pledged to work on "having a force that is reflective of our County's diversity."

This year, federal authorities criticized the Suffolk police department for not working with Hispanic constituents effectively amid several hate crimes.

Since then, the police commissioner and Levy pledged to improve police relations with Hispanic neighborhoods, an effort that Pearson salutes.

"I believe the police department has taken steps in their sensitivity training and their Spanish culture and education. They've taken steps we're certainly in favor of," he said. "I do think that as part of the entire process though, they need to look at all minority groups. They need to be fair to everybody."