The history of policing impacted and developed the way policing is done today. All over the U.S. the police begin to learn new ways from the past without major laws or practices being enforced. We still face the issue of racial profiling and injustice within our system Out of the many issues within the criminal justice department, including police departments; diversity is a major issue in both today. Culture diversity is important to get over and respect other people because of the cultural and religious differences it brings. Talking to those of other cultural or religious backgrounds helps with cultural diversity and brings you a better understanding. The more information we understand about other cultures and religions, the more accepting people become. With good policing and training, we can knock out he corrupt officers and begin to develop a successful way of policing.
Looking back to our nation’s history in law enforcement, all policemen were white, and there were no police women. Police departments were guilty of employment discrimination by not hiring minorities and women during the 60’s. Police departments also required applicants to be a certain height to keep African Americans from applying and didn’t hire nonwhites.
After reading “The Jackson Sun”, James Cherry who was one of the first African Americans to be hired in the United States as police officer was in Jackson, Tennessee in 1960. When James Cherry was hired as a police officer he began to wonder whether or not he would be welcomed by the white community. In addition, James Cherry was rejected by the black community. Although James Cherry was a police officer he still had to follow the segregation rules (Morris, 2003). Mary Owens was the first woman police officer to be found in Chicago in 1893. After World War II, the hiring of women as police officers doubled. In the 1960s women were allowed to expand their abilities having proved themselves to be equal to the men to go out on patrol (womenandpolicing.org, 2009). Due to all of the hiring issues of race and gender by police departments, the hiring process began to change.