EDITORIAL: Report shows State Police needs review

Jun. 8—Earlier this year, law enforcement agencies across the state were scrutinized by local committees to see how they could police better in light of the death of George Floyd at the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

A notable exception to Executive Order No. 203 issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, requiring every community in the state with its own police force to conduct a "comprehensive review of current police force deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices," was the New York State Police.

While many rightly questioned the exception, a new report by The Associated Press shows even moreso why the exception shouldn't have been granted.

The report wasn't on law enforcement actions by the agency, but the makeup of those who serve and reports of racism within the ranks.

Of more than 4,700 state troopers, only 4% are Black and 6% are Hispanic —much below the 16% and 19% of the state population those groups constitute.

Some troopers quoted by the AP said the hiring disparity was based on an imbalance rooted in a legacy of racism.

A half-dozen minority troopers told The AP discrimination has flourished within the ranks, despite the agency having been ordered to diversify by a judge in the 1970s.

The U.S. Justice Department sued New York in 1977 for discriminating against minorities in promoting and hiring troopers. At the time, just 13 of the agency's 2,712 troopers were Black. A federal judge mandated that 40% of recruits entering the State Police training academy be Black or Hispanic, seeking to bring minority representation in line with the state's workforce.

The same judge dissolved the remedial hiring goals in 1989 after the agency managed to increase its Black and Hispanic representation to 9% and 6%, respectively. The consent decree was quietly lifted in its entirety in 2015 after the state argued it had made "great strides."

The percentage of Black troopers had fallen to 6% by mid-2014 and has continued to decline.

One Black former State Police investigator, Michael Marin, recalled a white colleague admonishing him in 2008 to "take the cotton you've been picking out your ears."

"It was like I was still on the farm," said Marin, who retired in 2019. "It didn't seem extraordinary to me because that's how that job was."

Current leaders acknowledge the agency's lack of diversity has become more urgent amid a national reckoning over racial injustice.

"You can't just keep doing the same thing and expect different results," acting Superintendent Kevin Bruen said in an AP interview. "We patrol the state, so our ethnic breakdown should roughly mirror that. To say it's a priority for me would be an understatement."

State Police brass acknowledge change won't come easily, particularly at a time when law enforcement agencies seek to rebuild trust in minority communities. The same challenges exist within the agency.

We can't help but think if there is racism among the ranks that it would easily bleed through into enforcement.

This is where a Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Committee could have helped.

But it's not too late for the State Police to do this on its own.

If there is racism rooted in the hiring practices and beyond, as some troopers claim, a committee can help shine a light on it, and help develop a way to move forward.