http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/r ... for-police-officers/#fn-3

?The police department is representative of Newark in all races,? Detective Hubert Henderson said. ?The numbers we have in the department are representative of the demographics of our residents.? But he also said there is little the department can do to improve its demographics. Recruiting a diverse police force is challenging regardless of residency requirements.

Prospective officers in Newark apply for the job by taking a civil service test, Henderson said, and the department hires from the list based on the scores. ?We have no control,? he said. ?We start at the top and work our way down. If you?re number one, you?re number one. You can?t breach the scores. It doesn?t matter what their race is.?

Milwaukee doesn?t have a residency requirement and ranks 14th in terms of the largest disparity between the police and the city. While just 38 percent of the city is white, 68 percent of the police department is. But according to the police chief, that isn?t for lack of trying.

?When it comes to role models or empathy, it would certainly be extraordinarily valuable if the police force could reflect our communities,? Police Chief Edward Flynn said. Especially in professions called upon to deal with people in crisis, Flynn said, there is a strong case to be made for a police force that mirrors the population it serves.

But he said the civil service tests, originally put in place to fight corruption, have hurt minority placement, even as lawsuits have tried to make such tests race-neutral. ?We can?t hold spots for minorities, even if it?s an admirable social good,? Flynn said. There is also a preference for veterans, which takes up a number of spots, as well as an advantage for the college-educated. ?The test adds to the hurdles we face.?

?Believe me, someone shows me that solution, I?m there,? Flynn said. ?We all get it. I don?t know a big city chief who doesn?t want more African-Americans on the force. It is a constant discussion, how to diversify.?