In the wake of two more high-profile police killings of Black men – one, an attempted tasing of a 20-year-old man in suburban Minneapolis, the other a shooting of a 13-year-old Chicago boy who had just dropped a weapon – more questions are being raised about racial dynamics between white police officers and Black Americans. Although Blacks account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, they’re twice as likely as White Americans to be killed by police.

A Social Explorer analysis of Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) data found that 120 of 496 law enforcement agencies tracked had a greater percentage of White officers on their force in 2016 than in 2007. The Camden County, N.J., Police Department saw its percentage of White officers climb from 35 percent in 2007 to 53 percent in 2016, even though Whites made up less than 6 percent of the population. On the other end of the scale, the Clayton County, Ga., Police Department’s percentage of White officers fell from 68 percent in 2007 to 40 percent in 2016, even as the county’s White population fell by 49 percent.

Check out the racial representation of your local law enforcement agency and compare it to your community’s demographics with Social Explorer’s easy-to-use, flexible maps.

Change in Full-Time Sworn Officers (White), 2007-16. Click here to explore further.

Author: Frank Bass