African American police executive careers: influences of human capital, social capital, and racial discrimination

Abstract

The study focused on the relationships between human capital, social capital, and perceptions of racial discrimination on the careers of a representative sample of 224 male African American police executives, the first such statistical study in the literature. In‐depth interviews were conducted with six executives. The vast majority had strong mentors. Nearly all indicated that they had experienced racism and most indicated that racism had influenced their careers. Executives in command positions tended to be more highly educated and trained and had stronger mentors than those not in command positions. Police departments should develop on‐the‐job training (OJT) programs that cultivate minority police executives.

Keywords:

• African American
• law enforcement executives
• race and racism
• education
• training
• mentoring