The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

93
The final question asked in this section was if the youth wanted to be a police
officer. Neither race desired to be a police officer. From the self reports, 65 percent of
whites said they almost never to never desired to be a cop. Eighty-five percent of the
blacks responded in a similar manner. A higher percentage of whites desired to be an
officer (35 percent), as opposed to only 15 percent of the black youth. The theme
emerging from the interviews is that youth of both races do not desire to be a police
officer. The sentiments of those individuals who did not want to be a police officer are
presented below.
Black
No, because that’s something where you’d put your life on the line. You
could arrest somebody, and they didn’t like it, so then they’d have to put a
hit out for you.
No way, cuz the police are my enemies.
No because knowing me and how the blacks do things a lot, like if they
see a cop they gonna run if they doing their selling or whatever. I probably
couldn’t pick up a live person. It’d be kind of hard seeing your own color
going down.
No, because they (police) are unfair.
White
No, because I hate them (police), I wouldn’t want to join them.
No, because most people don’t like them.
Overall, the findings suggest that most youth felt they were treated fairly. The
youths unanimously believed that the police do not treat all people alike, especially those
of a race other