ST. LOUIS (AP) - The city of St. Louis on Tuesday announced a new effort to boost minority recruiting in its police department, prompted in part by the increased public scrutiny that followed several recent fatal police shootings of black men by white police officers.
The city is teaming up with the local NAACP chapter and the Ethical Society of Police, which represents black officers in St. Louis, in search of recruits for a 10-week mentoring program. Officials hope the effort will increase the number of minority officers, who account for 34 percent of the 1,200-officer department in a city where nearly one out of every two residents is black.
"The more people in a neighborhood who have trust in the police officers who protect them, the better they will work together to root out criminals and reduce crime," Mayor Francis Slay said. "The better police officers understand the dynamics of the neighborhoods they patrol, the better they will be at differentiating the good guys from the bad guys."
The program will cover report writing and interview skills, fitness, professional etiquette, and community-oriented policing strategies. Participants will also get help applying to the city's police academy. The effort will be funded with $50,000 in city money to allow off-duty police mentors to work part-time. The society has about 250 members.
In July, the organization of black police officers issued a "no confidence" statement in Chief Sam Dotson in response to a police exam in which just one black sergeant among 25 to 30 aiming for promotions to lieutenant advanced to that level. The organization railed against Dotson's "administrative antics" and "blatant disregard the chief exhibits toward African-Americans."
The tenor was much more congenial Tuesday at City Hall, where Dotson was flanked by the ethical society's top leaders as well as local political leaders.
Sgt. Darren Wilson, the ethical society's president, said that while the group remains concerned about the police department's efforts to promote black officers, its members are also heartened by the city's new outreach campaign.
"It starts right here," he said.
Wilson is not related to Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb in August. That shooting led to weeks of protests and touched off a national conversation about race and policing.
Slay acknowledged the city's efforts to boost minority recruitment in public safety - which also extend to jobs such as firefighters, park rangers, jail guards and court marshals - took on added urgency after Brown's death, as well as the subsequent police shootings in the city of 25-year-old Kajieme Powell and 18-year-old Vonderrit Myers Jr. Both were black men killed by white officers.
All three shootings remain under investigation, with a St. Louis County grand jury expected to decide soon whether Wilson should face charges in Brown's death.