How Central Florida law enforcement agencies are working to add diversity the force

Diversity in policing. 9 Investigates crunched the numbers and found it’s a problem for nearly all of our local sheriff’s offices and major police departments across Central Florida, particularly when it comes to hiring Black officers.

Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray looked into why recruiting efforts have not been enough to bridge the cultural divide between law enforcement and the Black community.

As a high school cross-country athlete, a then-teenage Fred Jones says he was stopped by police, on mile six of an eight-mile run.

READ: Orange-Osceola state attorney releases list of names of police officers, deputies with possible credibility issues in court

“I was 17 years old, and they said I fit the description of someone who broke into a lady’s house,” Jones, who is now a sergeant at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said.  “So, they put me in the backseat, they took me to her house, and they brought this elderly lady out, and I thought, ‘I’m about to go to prison for something I didn’t do.”

Now one of the most public faces of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Jones said one of his first experiences with law enforcement was like that of many other Black men and teens.

“I cried the whole way home. I was angry. And ever since that time, when I see cops, I would go the other way,” Jones said. “So I understand now why people are fearful. They were not mean to me, there wasn’t excessive force, it was a lack of empathy at that time. So, I had an image of law enforcement, up until I became one.”

Despite a push to increase diversity in the agency, fewer than 4% of the county’s sworn deputies are Black, compared to 11% of the population. The number of sworn Hispanic deputies is higher, at 7%, but still below the approximately 17% of county residents who identify as Hispanic.

“If you look at the history of law enforcement and the Black community, it’s not a pretty one,” Jones said. “You go back as far as the Civil Rights time; cops were used to enforce Jim Crow laws.”

The disparities exist in nearly every county. 

In Seminole, just under 10% of deputies are Black, compared to 13% of the population.  And 11% are Hispanic, compared to 22% of the population.

The gap is wider in Osceola County, where more than half the population, 55%, is Hispanic, but only about a third of sworn deputies are. Only 4% of deputies are Black there, compared to 14% of the population.

Central Florida’s largest, best-paying sheriff’s office doesn’t match its community, either.

“Going back decades, there has been mistrust between the African American community and law enforcement,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.  “It’s something we work really hard at.”

Sheriff John Mina says more than half of the hires he has made have been minorities, but Black deputies still make up less than 14%of the agency, compared to 22% of the county’s population. And though about a third of the population is Hispanic, just more than one in four deputies is.

“I’m recruiting all the time, that’s why I’m doing this interview with you, because I want our African American community, our Hispanic community, to know, I want to be a diverse agency,” Mina said.

Research shows wanting a diverse agency is likely not enough to bridge the cultural divide with the Black community. A 2016 Pew Research survey found only about a third of Black adults said police did an excellent or good job when it comes to use of force, treating racial and ethnic groups equally, and holding officers accountable for misconduct.

Jones points out the distrust is often generational.

“If you think about it, it’s like throwing a pebble into a lake,” Jones said. “That ripple effect keeps going until you do something to change it.”

Brevard County’s makeup most closely reflects its community, with 13% of its sworn deputies being Black compared to 11% of the population, and 11% of its deputies being Hispanic, which is right in line with the population.

The agencies Channel 9 spoke with said they are recruiting at community events, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and even through school resource deputies in high schools.

Channel 9 looked into Orlando Police Department’s demographic breakdown as well, as it is larger than many of the sheriff’s offices in Central Florida.  As of July 1, around 14% of officers there were Black, 22% Hispanic; both figures are approximately 10% less than that of the population the agency serves.

Cox Media Group