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January 1990
THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA
By
Robert C. Trojanowicz, Ph.D.
and
David L. Carter, Ph.D.
In the next century America's population will change
considerably. According to demographers, in less than 100 years,
we can expect white dominance of the United States to end, as the
growing number of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians together become
the new majority. (1) As we approach the 21st century, we already
see white America growing grayer. In the past decade, there has
been an estimated 23-percent increase in the number of Americans
65 and older. (2) In fact, more people of retirement age live in
the United States now than there were people alive in this
country during the Civil War. But while the average age of all
Americans is now 32, the average age of blacks is 27; Hispanics
23. (3) By 2010 more than one-third of all American children will
be black, Hispanic, or Asian. (4)
These dramatic changes in the overall make-up of American
society have profound implications for law enforcement,
particularly because many of the legal and illegal immigrants
flooding into this country are of different races, ethnic groups,
religions, and cultures. Many do not have even a rudimentary
knowledge of the English language.
To understand fully what such immigration will mean for
policing in the 21st century requires exploring some crucial
questions. Who are these new immigrants? How many are there?
Why do they come here? What new demands will they place on law
enforcement in the future? How can the police prepare today to
meet these changing needs?
THE NEW IMMIGRANTS
For many of us, the word ``immigrant'' evokes two vivid
images: 1) The wave after wave of Europeans flooding through
Ellis Island, and 2) the metaphor of the ``melting pot.'' These
two memories often converge in a romanticized view of the past as
a time when those ``poor, hungry, huddled masses'' from other
countries required only a generation or two for their offspring
to become full-fledged Americans. However, a closer look shows
that many immigrant groups found the path to full assimilation
difficult. For many this meant struggling to find ways to blend
in without losing their unique cultural identities.
Our past experience should also forewarn us that race
constitutes the biggest barrier to full participation in the
American dream. In particular, the black experience has been
unique from the beginning because most African Americans did not
come here seeking freedom or greater opportunity, but were
brought to this country as slaves. And the lingering problem of
racism still plays an undeniable role in preventing blacks from
achieving full participation in the economic and social life of
this country.
De facto segregation persists in keeping many minorities
trapped in decaying crime- and drug-riddled, inner-city
neighborhoods. Though blacks constitute only 12 percent of the
total U.S. population, as a result of ``white flight,'' many of
this country's major cities have minority majorities, while the
suburbs that surround them remain virtually white.
The role of race as an obstacle to full assimilation and
participation is of obvious concern since almost one-half of all
legal immigrants over the past decade have been Asians Chinese,
Filipino, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Kampucheans
(Cambodians) and slightly more than one-third have been from
Latin America. (5) Though 9 of 10 Hispanics are counted as
``white,'' (6) there is no doubt that they face discrimination
because of their Hispanic ethnicity. At the same time, only 12
percent of the immigrants since 1980 have been Europeans, whose
experience would be likely to mirror more closely those of their
counterparts in the past. (7)
Because minorities are expected to continue to exhibit
higher birth rates than whites, demographers expect minorities to
constitute an even larger percentage of young people in this
country in the near future. By 2020 a majority of children in
New Mexico, California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Louisiana
will be minorities blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. (8)
White males have traditionally dominated our society, in
power and wealth as well as sheer numbers. Over the past few
decades, both minorities and women have made significant gains,
particularly in the business world. Yet, both groups still earn
significantly less than their white male counterparts, and they
have yet to attain leadership roles in the public and private
sectors equal to their respective numbers in society.
Certain questions naturally arise. In the future, will the
power and wealth of white males erode as their numbers decline?
Will minorities band together as a new coalition or splinter
apart into competing special interests? How will mainstream
attitudes change along the way? Are we embarking on a new era of
tolerance and cooperation or a new era of hostility, in which
various groups will battle each other for status, dollars, and
power?
THE NUMBERS
When we look at the number of legal immigrants arriving each
year, their overall numbers appear deceptively small compared to
the more than 255 million people who already live here. In fiscal
year 1988, a total of 643,000 newcomers arrived, (9) but their
potential impact becomes clearer if we remember that would mean
roughly 6.5 million new residents in just the next decade, even
if immigration rates did not rise. And the picture becomes
clearer still when we consider that many immigrants often cluster
in specific areas, which makes their combined impact on certain
communities far greater than if they were dispersed evenly
nationwide.
Shortly after the turn of the 21st century, Asians are
expected to reach 10 million. (10) Today's 18 million Hispanics may
well double by then. (11) Included in such totals, of course, are
the illegal immigrants who find their way into America each year.
While the actual numbers are unknown, the 1987 law that granted
amnesty to those undocumented aliens and agricultural workers who
qualified allowed roughly 3 million to stay. (12)
Another indicator is that the Border Patrol now apprehends
roughly 900,000 people who try to enter illegally each year, down
800,000 from 1986, the year before the employer sanctions of the
new Federal immigration legislation went into effect. (13) Again,
we most often think first of undocumented aliens as being Mexican
nationals and other Latin Americans who penetrate our southern
borders; but these figures also include substantial numbers of
people from the Pacific Rim and the Caribbean, as well as the
Irish, Canadians, and Western Europeans who often come in as
tourists and then decide to stay.
WHY THEY COME
Current U.S. immigration policy gives highest priority to
reuniting families. Among the 265,000 legal immigrants in 1988
subject to limitations (quotas based on country of birth), almost
200,000 were admitted on the basis of ``relative preference,''
that is, they were related to a permanent resident or citizen of
the United States. (14) Immediate relatives (spouses, parents, and
children) of U.S. citizens are exempt from restrictions, and in
1988, they constituted approximately 219,000 of the 379,000 in
the exempt category. (15)
The next largest category of legal immigrants admitted is
refugees and those seeking asylum, roughly 111,000 in 1988. (16) To
qualify under these provisions, applicants must persuade the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that they are
fleeing persecution at home, not that they are simply escaping
poverty. An article in the Wall Street Journal alleged that the
INS routinely rejects applicants from Haiti and El Salvador and
that it is also difficult for Nicaraguans, Ethiopians, Afghanis,
and Czechs to qualify. (17)
The fourth largest category of legal immigrants includes
those given preference on the basis of their education and
occupation, less than 54,000 in 1988 only 4 percent of that
year's total. (18) Morton Kondracke in an article in The New
Republic notes, ``...this tiny number provided 52 percent of the
mathematicians and computer scientists who came in and 38
percent of the college teachers.'' (19)
Chances are, however, that the immigration policy will not
change dramatically in the near future, though efforts will be
made to allow more people with preferred job skills to immigrate.
The question is whether they should be admitted in addition to or
instead of those scheduled to be reunited with their families.
This also has racial implications, because shifting from family
to occupational considerations would mean a shift from Asians and
Latin Americans toward more Europeans.
THE LAW ENFORCEMENT CHALLENGE
All of these issues have obvious implications for law
enforcement, but perhaps the first challenge is to remember that
generalities tend to be false. Each immigrant, whether legal or
illegal, arrives not only as part of a larger group but also as
an individual with unique gifts and faults.
Particularly where newcomers cluster together in poor
neighborhoods with high crime rates, the police, perhaps even
more so than the population at large, must guard against
stereotyping. Some newcomers may be too timid to interact widely
in their new communities; yet, they may contact the police. The
police, therefore, have a tremendous responsibility because those
first impressions matter, not just in terms of how new arrivals
will see the police but how they view the entire society.
Imagine how much Asians and Latin Americans have to learn,
especially if they are not proficient in English. Who will
assure them that the public police do not use torture or keep
files on their activities? Will they understand the difference
between the public police and private police? Will they really
believe we have no secret police? Many of today's new arrivals
come from places where the police are feared, not respected, and
the last thing they would be likely to do is ask an officer for
help or share any information. We have had our whole lives to
understand the written and unwritten rules of this society, with
all their nuances. It is unreasonable to expect immigrants to
absorb these cultural characteristics in even a few years.
Police officers so often see people at their worst, not
their best. And because police officers focus so much attention
on crime, there is always the danger that they will have a
distorted view of who the ``bad guys'' are and how many there are
of them. This temptation to generalize from a few to the many is
a particularly critical problem for the police in the case of
immigrants.
A small fraction of the immigrants coming in will be career
criminals, eager to ply their trades here. The police have had
to battle Asian drug gangs and Jamaican posses, as well as the
alleged hardened criminals that entered this country as part of
the Mariel Boat Lift.
Moreover, there will always be the larger group that turns
to crime when faced with economic hardship. Police departments
must take steps to ensure that officers remain sensitive to the
reality that the majority of the newcomers are law-abiding
people, eager to build a new life.
Because police departments are a microcosm of a larger
society, it would be naive to assume that everyone who wears the
uniform is free of bias. In addition, the statistics verify that
there is a link between race and crime, but the mistake lies in
seeing this as cause and effect.
Studies show that blacks are arrested for violent crimes at
rates four times higher than their overall numbers would justify;
Hispanics at rates two and a half times what they should be, even
though they are often poorer than blacks. (20) But we have only to
look at the rates of violent crimes in the black-run nations of
Africa, which are nowhere near as high as they are here, to see
that our problems are not caused by their genes but by our
culture. Perhaps the increasing minority numbers will help make
this society more color blind.
Unfortunately, many of these new immigrants will become
victims, particularly of violent crimes that disproportionately
afflict minorities. Ignorance of our laws and customs can make
them easy targets for all kinds of predators. Fear of the police
will also work against them. And if they cannot speak the
language, at least not well, it may be difficult for them to
share information.
TOWARD A SOLUTION: COMMUNITY POLICING
As even this cursory analysis shows, immigrants face all the
problems, and more, that everyone in this culture faces. The
primary challenge for law enforcement will be to find ways to
meet their needs with special concern for their racial, ethnic,
cultural, and religious diversity--and their specific
vulnerabilities.
A community policing approach offers law enforcement
officers unique flexibility in tailoring their response to meet
local needs in ways that promote sensitivity and respect for
minority concerns. This new philosophy and organizational
strategy proposes that only by decentralizing and personalizing
police service will law enforcement be able to meet the needs of
an increasing diverse society.
Community policing rests on the belief that no technology
can surpass what creative human beings can achieve together. It
says that police departments must deploy their most innovative,
self-disciplined, and self-motivated officers directly into the
community as outreach specialists and community problem-solvers.
Only by freeing these new community policing officers (CPOs) from
the isolation of their patrol cars, so they can interact with
people face-to-face in the same areas every day, can departments
develop the rapport and trust necessary to encourage people to
become active in the process of policing themselves.
In addition to serving as full-fledged law enforcement
officers, CPOs would work to reduce fear of crime and the
physical and social disorder and neighborhood decay that act as
magnets for a host of social ills, including crime and drugs.
They also can serve as the community's ombudsmen to city hall, to
ensure prompt delivery of vital government services, and as the
community's link to the public and private agencies that can
help.
Particularly in the case of immigrants, community policing
allows the department an opportunity for mutual input and
enrichment. CPOs can help educate immigrants about our laws and
customs and how to cope with our culture. Equally important,
this grass-roots, two-way information flow allows immigrants the
opportunity to teach the department how to take their particular
concerns into account, with dignity and respect for their
cultural identities.
THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE JOB
One of the more difficult problems that police departments
will continue to face is how to develop the capacity to speak to
new immigrants in their native tongues. It is often easier in
theory than in practice to recruit qualified bilingual candidates
from immigrant populations, especially since many come from
countries where police work may not be a respectable career.
This issue raises more questions than answers. How many
officers should be bilingual? How proficient must they be?
Should foreign language be a requirement for college degrees in
criminal justice? What will it cost police departments to meet
this need? Is this an opportunity to use civilian volunteers?
Can a department develop the capacity to speak to all in their
native tongues?
Such a changing society also will demand that the police
remain sensitized to the issue of how to serve people who
exhibit racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity. This
is a two-fold concern. First, it implies that departments must
establish and enforce guidelines to ensure existing officers
discharge their duties with care and concern. Second, it means
that departments must recruit candidates who are the best capable
to handle the increasing challenge posed by the future.
To recruit officers from minority populations is a logical
response to this challenge. However, a study by the Center for
Applied Urban Research on the Employment of Black and Hispanic
Officers shows recent efforts aimed at minority recruiting have
produced uneven results. Almost one-half of the big city police
departments made significant progress in hiring black officers;
yet, 17 percent reported a decline. Forty-two percent of the
departments made gains in hiring Hispanics, but almost 11 percent
reported a decline. (21) Part of the reason related to whether the
departments pursued affirmative action plans, but there are also
concerns that some minorities leave because of better career
opportunities elsewhere, often because policing is perceived as
falling short in providing meaningful career development.
Overall, however, a 1989 study by the Police Executive Research
Forum (PERF) found that in cities with a population of 50,000 or
more, the number of black and Hispanic police officers was
generally proportionate to the population. (22)
The PERF study also indicated that college-educated officers
exhibit the greatest sensitivity to the diversity that will
increasingly become the hallmark of this society. The study also
verified that the officers with at least some college education
are not only increasing in numbers in the rank and file but also
in police management as well. (23) But again, retaining these
officers can be difficult. Therefore, research supporting the
widespread perception that community policing not only makes
officers feel safer but also that it provides job enlargement and
job enrichment, indicating that community policing may be a
potent new way to keep the best people for the challenges that
lie ahead. (24)
POLICE POLICY TOWARD ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The obvious obstacle in building trust between the police
department and immigrants who are here illegally stems from their
fears that the police will inform INS officials about their
status. One chief of police in a border city wrestled with this
issue and decided that the police must serve the needs of all
members of the community. The depart-ment's policy is that it
will not inform INS about undocumented residents except, of
course, in cases where the police arrest someone for a crime.
The chief based his decision on the argument that it is the
job of the INS, not the police, to track down and deport
illegals. He also believes that this policy has helped his
department gain the trust of the entire community, so that people
in the community are now far more willing to share the
information that the police need to do their best job. This is a
decision that more chiefs will face in the future, and they must
weigh the best interests of the department and the community
within the dictates of their individual consciences.
SERVING THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY
The successful assimilation of new immigrant groups,
particularly those of different races, will depend on changing
attitudes in mainstream society. This is of particular concern,
because current trends portend a society in which the youngest
members will increasingly consist of minority youths, while the
ranks of the elderly will remain far whiter.
These trends also show that younger workers, many of whom
will be minorities in lower-paying service jobs, increasingly
will be asked to pay for the needs of primarily white retirees,
whose health care costs alone may prove staggering.
Adding to these generational tensions is the incendiary
issue of crime, with its overlay of age and race considerations.
The bulk of the crimes committed in this society are perpetrated
by the young, at rates far beyond what other industrialized
Western nations endure. Though the elderly exhibit
lower-than-average rates of actual victimization, they rank among
the groups with the greatest fear of crime. In some
neighborhoods, we see the elderly becoming virtual prisoners of
fear. Indeed, this self-imposed imprisonment which reduces their
exposure to the threat explains in part why they are not
victimized more often.
Because crime and youth are so strongly linked, perhaps our
aging society foretells a steep decline in our overall rates of
crime. Crime rates have already begun to fall as the bulge of
the ``baby boomers'' continue to grow out of their most
crime-prone years, but not as much as had been anticipated.
Various factors raise concern that we may not soon see a
dramatic drop in crime the growing gap between rich and poor,
drugs, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy, high unemployment among
minority youths, the continued proliferation of guns, and
alarming rates of child abuse and neglect. Even if we are
fortunate enough to see a substantially safer future during our
lifetime, we can also expect that people will begin to demand
more. For example, the police will be asked to pay more
attention to other wants and needs that are now often ignored or
given short shrift because of the current crisis posed by serious
crime.
CONCLUSION
Community policing offers an important new tool to help heal
the wounds caused by crime, fear of crime, and disorder. In one
community that might mean a community police officer recruiting
elderly volunteers from a senior center to help immigrant youths
become more fluent in English. This offers the hope that those
retirees will overcome their fears, while at the same time
enhancing a young person's opportunity to perform well in school
and on the job.
In a different neighborhood, the challenge could be for the
CPO to encourage blacks, Hispanics, and Asians to cooperate
together in persuading area businesses to help provide
recreational activities for juveniles. The possibilities are
bounded only by the imagination and enthusiasm of the officers
and the people they are sworn to serve, if the police are given
the resources, time, and opportunity to work with people where
they live and work.
It would be naive to suggest that community policing is a
panacea that can heal all the wounds in any community. But it
has demonstrated its ability to make people feel safer and
improve the overall quality of community life. Today's challenge
is to find new ways for law enforcement to contribute to make the
United States a place where all people have an equal chance to
secure a piece of the American dream for themselves and their
children. Therefore, the urgent message is that we must begin
preparing now, so that we can do even more toward that worthy
goal in the ever-changing future.
FOOTNOTES
(1) U.S. Census Bureau projections on future trends.
(2) Thomas Exter, ``Demographic Forecasts On to Retirement,''
American Demographics, April 1989.
(3) Reported on the NBC special, "The R.A.C.E.," hosted by
Bryant Gumbel, September 6, 1989.
(4) Joe Schwartz and Thomas Exter, "All Our Children," American
Demographics, May 1989.
(5) John Dillin, "Asian-American: Soaring Minority," The
Christian Science Monitor, October 10, 1985.
(6) Supra note 4.
(7) Supra note 5.
(8) Supra note 4.
(9) "Immigration Statistics: Fiscal Years 1988 - Advance
Report," U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, Series IMM 88, April 1989.
(10) Supra note 5.
(11) Thomas Exter, "How Many Hispanics?" American Demographics,
May 1987.
(12) Morton Kondracke, "Borderline Cases," The New Republic,
April 10, 1989.
(13) Ibid.
(14) Supra note 9.
(15) Ibid.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Supra note 12.
(18) Supra note 9.
(19) Supra note 12.
(20) Charles E. Silberman, Criminal Violence, Criminal Justice
(New York: Random House, 1978), also Report to the Nation on
Crime and Justice - Second Edition, U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 1988.
(21) Samuel Walker, Employment of Black and Hispanic Police
Officers, 1983-1988: A Follow-up Study, Occasional Paper,
Center for Applied Urban Research, University of Nebraska at
Omaha, February 1989.
(22) David L. Carter, Allen Sapp, and Darrel Stephens, The
State of Police Education: Policy Direction for the 21st
Century, Police Executive Research Forum, Washington, DC, 1989.
(23) Ibid.
(24) Robert C. Trojanowicz and Dennis W. Banas, Job
Satisfaction: A Comparison of Foot Patrol Versus Motor Patrol
Officers, Community Policing Series No. 2, National Neighborhood
Foot Patrol Center (now the Center for Community Policing),
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 1985.
About the authors:
Dr. Robert Trojanowicz and Dr. David Carter are professors in
the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University,
East Lansing, MI.