Minorities hired but not advanced
The police departments in the state’s 10 most populous cities have added 168 minority officers since late 2007, but the number of minority supervisors has remained stagnant, according to figures provided by the departments.
Law enforcement officials from those cities attribute the increase in the number of minority officers to recruitment efforts, and they offer a variety of reasons for why more rank-and-file minority officers have not been promoted to supervisory positions such as sergeant, lieutenant, or captain. In October 2007 there were 1,064 minority police officers, 103 of whom were supervisors. Now, there are 1,232 minority police officers (up about 16 percent), 106 of whom are supervisors (up about 3 percent).
Sergeant Thomas Mauretti, a spokesman for the Fall River Police Department, said officials have “been very proactive in recruiting minorities to join the department, and have put up many, many billboards around the city seeking minority applicants.’’
The department has one minority supervisor.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/27/police_brass_diversity_lagging/