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More Latino police needed, but at the top

The Philadelphia Police Department, like the Pennsylvania State Police, and no different from the New Jersey and Delaware State Police, is in full search of…

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The news is good, and yet could be better. 

The Philadelphia Police Department, like the Pennsylvania State Police, and no different from the New Jersey and Delaware State Police, is in full search of Latinos and Latinas who may want to join the force.

With only 536 members of Latino descent, the local Philadelphia police force is lagging behind the numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau last year.

(Read Spanish version / Lea versión en español: Hacen falta más policías latinos, pero en los puestos de autoridad)

Latinos comprise almost 13 percent of the population of the city, and yet only 7 percent of the force is of Latino descent.

In other words, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey now has the opportunity to help close the gap, literally doubling the force of Latino men and women in uniform.

But the politics of such an incremental change have yet to be figured out by our only voice in city council, the Hon. María Quiñones-Sánchez. It may be possible that there hasn't been money to pay for that number of new officers, or that there is a paucity of qualified candidates in the city of Philadelphia, where the police force is required to reside. Or perhaps better advertising is required, to let Latinos know they are welcome to fill out an application. And to warn them about the long process of becoming a policeman or woman in the city — prolonged and trying but not impossible if faced with consistency and sincerity. 

The objective is noble, and, as with any other act of parity in this city, could have amazing consequences. Imagine the increasingly Hispanic neighborhoods being patrolled by Latinos and Latinas in uniform who understand the Spanish-speaking residents … and also understand them culturally, making deadly mistakes things of the past.

Above all, Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey need to prove that when they decided to suppress the career of Inspector Daniel Castro as a result of an investigation no one has thought to question, that it was because they wanted to get rid of a bad apple, and not simply eliminate the only Chief Police Inspector with the possibility of becoming one day Police Commissioner himself. 

Chief Commissioner Joe Meléndez retired, and Inspector Castro was sent to jail.

Who is going to be, then, the first Police Commissioner of Latino descent in Philadephia?

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