Understanding minority recruitment to the police: beyond systematic review

Figures & data

Table 1. Study characteristics.

	Intervention	Participants	Study Country	Unit of analysis	Sample details	Research design	Time period	Summary of data used	Maryland Scale position
Skogan (1976)	Increased minority share	Police employees & officers	USA	City (population 50,000+)	386 cities	Cross-sectional	1970	Crime/arrest: 1970 UCR. Police employees: 1970/71 Municipal Yearbook.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and arrest/CE measure, single time point
Lovrich and Steel (1983)	Increased minority share	Municipal police chiefs	USA	City (population 25,000+)	299 cities (254 Police Departments completed survey from which 136 were assigned to high/low affirmative action).	Panel	Crime rates: 1966-1980. Minority employment: 1969 & 1981.	Crime/arrest: 1970 and 1980 UCR mean clearance rate by arrest. Minority employment: National police chiefs survey 1969 and 1981.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and arrest/CE measure, single time point
Lott (2000)	Affirmative action consent decrees	Police officers of differing race and gender	USA	City	331 cities with consent decrees, 21 cities without.	Time series	1985–1994	Police employees: LEMAS 1987, 1990, 1993. Crime/arrest: UCR 1985-1994. Population: City Population Survey 1987-1993. Consent decrees: DoJ 1972-1994.	2 =  Arrest/CE before/after programme, no comparison locality
Donohue and Levitt (2001)	Increased minority share	White and non-white officers	USA	City (population 100,000+)	122 cities	Panel	1977, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1993	Crime/arrest: UCR & LEMAS 1987, 1990, 1997. Police employees: EEOC 1977, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1993.	2 =  Arrest/CE before/after programme, no comparison locality
McCrary (2008)	Court-ordered affirmative action	Black officers	USA	City	314 cities with the largest police departments in quinquennial municipal government census 1972 - 1997 (92 Litigated and 222 unlitigated).	Panel	1960–1999	Crime/arrest: UCR 1975-1999. Police employees: EEOC 1973, 1974, 1980-1997. City: Decennial Population Censuses 1960-2000. Litigation: 1,300 + published decisions.	2 =  Arrest/CE before/after programme, no comparison locality
Hur (2012)	Increased minority share	Police officers	USA	Municipalities (population 50,000+)	464 municipalities	Cross-sectional	2003	Crime: UCR. Police employees: LEMAS 2003. Sociodemographics: Decennial Population Census, 2000.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and Arrest/CE measure, single time point
Sharp (2014)	Increased minority share	Black officers	USA	City (population 100,000+)	180 cities	Cross-sectional	2003	Police employees: LEMAS 2003. Crime/arrest: FBI 2003, author request data. Black political representation: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies 1993 ‘Black Elected Officials’.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and Arrest/CE measure, single time point
Skogan (1979)	Increased minority share	Citizens	USA	City (population 13 ‘large cities’)	10% sample of Census Bureau attitudinal survey, total circa 12,000 respondents.	Cross-sectional	1975	Attitudinal: Census Bureau survey 1975. Police employees: Municipal administrative data.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and Arrest/CE measure, single time point
Decker and Smith (1980)	Increased minority share	Citizens	USA	City (population 150,000+; most considerably larger)	Citizens aged 16–69 (2,809 black, 2,950 white).	Cross-section-al	1968	Attitudinal: Primary survey.	1 =  Correlation between a programme and Arrest/CE measure, single time point
Weitzer (2000)	Increased minority share	Citizens	USA	City (Washington, DC).	Three neighbourhoods (one white, middle class; one black, middle class; one black, lower class)	Semi-structured interviews	1996–97	Attitudinal: Primary interviews.	N/A; CASP criteria used
Brunson and Gau (2015)	Increased minority share	Black citizens	USA	City (East St Louis, Illinois)	44 black citizens (25 female, 19 male) who had interacted with black officers	Semi-structured interviews	2009	Attitudinal: Primary interviews.	N/A; CASP criteria used

NOTE: CE: Community Engagement.

LEMAS: US Department of Justice Survey – Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics.

UCR: Federal Bureau of Investigation – Uniform Crime Reports.

EEOC: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Table 2. Study quality summaries.

	Crime rates and Arrest rates							Public Satisfaction
Key: 1 Yes    2 No    3 Not applicable    4 Not clear in paper	Skogan (1976)	Lovrich and Steel (1983)	Lott (2000)	Donohue and Levitt (2001)	McCrary (2008)	Hur (2012)	Sharp (2014)	Skogan (1979)	Decker and Smith (1980)	Weitzer (2000)	Brunson and Gau (2015)
1. Was there a clear statement of the aims of the research? Was it related to the SR questions?	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
METHODOLOGY
2. Was the methodology chosen appropriate?	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
RESEARCH DESIGN
3. Was the research design appropriate to address the aims of the research? Is there a discussion of the choice of research design?	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
SAMPLING
4. Was the recruitment strategy appropriate to the aims of the research? If representative sampling was used, was the sampling frame (selection of participants) representative of the population being studied?	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
DATA COLLECTION
5. Were the data collected in a way that addressed the research issue? Were the methods chosen clear and were they justified?	1	1	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
6. If there was a comparison or control group, were they similar enough to the intervention group to be comparable?	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
7. If qualitative research design, has the relationship between researcher and participants been adequately considered?	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	1	1
ETHICS
8. Have ethical issues been taken into consideration? Whether consent was obtained from participants and information sheets provided.	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	1	1
DATA ANALYSIS
9. Was the data analysis sufficiently rigorous? Was it sufficiently described and an appropriate sample analysed? For quantitative analysis, are enough data presented for results to be valid and useful (i.e. on both the dependent and independent variables).	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
10. Is there a clear statement of findings? Whether the studies gave enough depth and detail to give confidence in their findings. Whether the studies assessed the relevance of their findings to the wider population and/or context.	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Adapted from http://www.casp-uk.net/#!casp-tools-checklists/c18f8

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