A Double-Edged Sword: The Place of African American police officers in America and possible

ways to alter their condition

Levi Bernhard
Race and Ethnicity-AC
Dr. Richard Anderson
December, 2016
 Bernhard 2

One of the racial issues which has received special attention in recent years is the

relationship of race to the American criminal justice system. While the idea of African

Americans and the criminal justice system has been considered in the past, recent events have

brought it under closer scrutiny. The most prevalent of these events if the Michael Brown

shooting of August 9, 2014, 1 which also led to questions about the integrity of U.S. police

officers.2 Many studies have been written concerning whether African Americans are more prone

to crime, or if they are more likely to be the victims of an unjust system; however, fewer studies

have been dedicated to seeing how they interact with the system as officers and criminal justice

workers. The prejudices and racial turmoil African American police officers experience as law

enforcement workers hinder their ability to properly serve the community and the criminal

justice system; to remedy this, new tactics must be designed to combat racism on the individual

and institutional levels. Current research on this topic is not as significant as some would like,

but it still indicates the need for change.

In the law enforcement workforce itself, African American officers and commanders face

a kind of racial bigotry different from the racism experienced by African American civilians.

Because of how black law enforcement agents are forced to interact with a predominantly white

subculture, the officer subculture, they experience racism in a different manner than civilian

workers.3 This subculture, according to authors Charles P. Wilson and Shirley A. Wilson,

1
Eliott C. McLaughlin, What we know about Michael Browns shooting, CNN, CNN, August 15, 2014,
pp 1, on-line: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-what-we-know/.
2
Larry Buchanan, Ford Fessenden, K.K. Rebecca Lau, Haeyoun Park, Alicia Parlapiano, Archie Tse, Tim
Wallace, Derek Watkins, and Karen Yourish, What happened in Ferguson?, New York Times, The New York
Times Company, updated 2016, pp 1, on-line: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-
missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html.
3
Charles P. Wilson and Shirley A. Wilson, Are we there yet? Perceptive Roles of African American
Police Officers in Small Agency Settings, Western Journal of Black Studies, Summer 2014, Vol 38, Iss 2, pp 124,
on-line: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=d87d819f-663c-4a61-95d1-
54cf87ba65ab%40sessionmgr102&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=987821
65
 Bernhard 3

includes the idea of white male power, and until recently precluded the idea of African

Americans becoming officers in anything other than as tokens to maintain race relationships in

the community.4 While that has been changing in recent years, racial disparity is still considered

to be a problem in the law enforcement workplace.5 The way in which officers work with each

other and those of other races in the police force is one indicator of the racial disparity which

exists in police agencies.6 In the first case, their interactions with other officers has something to

do with the racial tension they experience. Because of their skin color, they are forced into police

assignments and workgroups that do not always work for them. According to one study

performed by Wilson and Wilson, over eighty percent of black police officers in small agencies

of one hundred staff or less in the Northeastern United States felt that they were not given the

assignments that they were capable of, in spite of the fact that they were generally well-educated

and had work experience.7 This means that, when they requested to be placed on assignments

other than regular patrol work, they were primarily denied the opportunity, or at least that was

the impression given through the study.8 The assignments included everything from detective

work to special operations, and generally any other form of assignment on the force that did not

involve working on a patrol route.9 While confined to the Northeastern United States, Wilson

and Wilson did make an effort to have the survey be representative of the population by

randomly selecting the officers who would take the survey and by employing a five-point Lickert

4
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 124.
5
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 124-125.
6
Salomon Alcocer Guajardo, Workforce Diversity: Assessing the Impact of Minority Integration
on Intra-workgroup interaction, International Journal of Police Science and Management, Fall 2014, Vol 16, Iss 3,
pp 205, on-line: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=ec0d19c7-2e9b-4a91-a7af-
87d117e5974e%40sessionmgr4009&vid=0&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=98126
721&db=a9h.
7
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 128-129.
8
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 128-129.
9
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 128-129.
 Bernhard 4

scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) to arrive at a better analysis of

their opinions.10 At the same time, some studies argue that interactions with other officers on the

force also indicated that racial tensions exist in the police subculture. Based on a study of the

New York Police Department and other northeast police agencies by Salomon Guajardo, the

interaction of officers in work groups can not only impact the jobs officers perform, but can also

indicate the effectiveness of integrating police agencies around the country.11 One of the results

he discovered was that, in workgroups that had higher levels of minority employment diversity,

there were lower levels of intra-group communication, meaning that racial barriers kept the

officers from properly building off each other to be effective in police work.12 That is, even with

more diverse officers in certain working relationships, the white subculture precluded that idea

that minorities could fit in, and so communication broke down, resulting in continued animosity

and ineffectiveness.13 The results of the two studies thus demonstrate how black officers and

workers face discrimination because of their race, even in the case of more ethnically diverse

police agencies.

A second way in which blacks face discrimination in law enforcement is through the

advancement of blacks in the agencies themselves. As an example of this, one study, conducted

by Felix Jollevet II, mentions the idea that, while there is some room for advancement of African

Americans in police forces, they ultimately reach only a middle management position on either

the beat or in the office, and end up stuck there, in spite of their education and experience.14

10
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 127.
11
Guajardo, Workforce Diversity, 205-206.
12
Guajardo, Workforce Diversity, 217.
13
Guajardo, Workforce Diversity, 217.
14
Felix Jollevet II, African American police executive careers: Influences of Human Capital,
Social Capital, and Racial Discrimination, Police Practice and Research, March 2008, Vol 9, Iss 1, pp 17-19, on-
line: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=d87d819f-663c-4a61-95d1-
 Bernhard 5

Following his own study, he concluded that, while his results turned out a more fair distribution

than he had anticipated, there were still racial factors which contributed to the ways blacks

advanced to executive positions.15 One of the ways this happened, he learned, was in the area of

education: on average, most of the individuals studied in executive positions had a Bachelors

degree minimum, and almost all participants had an associates degree or higher.16 At the same

time, he argued that, in order for officers to advance, they had to have social capital in the form

of good mentors; while blacks could acquire relationships with good mentors, they were mostly

informal, and their career advancement could have been limited on this factor.17 That is, blacks

were not provided with the same institutional resources as whites, and he said this could

negatively impact their career advancement.18 Another issue in regards to advancement is

tokenism, or the idea that, since there are a few minorities in important positions, it stands to

reason, then, that integration has occurred, and as such the agencies do not need to make any

extra effort to integrate those of other races.19 The problem with tokenism is that it does not just

exist in the outside world; it forms a part of the institutional racism within police departments

themselves, and is thus discriminatory towards African American officers, who are attempting to

promote justice by being in the police force.20 Even with individuals such as Burtell Jefferson,

who overcame racism at its height to become the first African American police chief of

Washington, D.C. during the late 1970s, there still exists a divide between white police

54cf87ba65ab%40sessionmgr102&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=313143
27.
15
Jollevet, African American executives, 26-29.
16
Jollevet, African American executive, 27.
17
Jollevet, African American executive, 27.
18
Jollevet, African American executive, 27.
19
Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer, Chapter One: Racism in the Twenty-First Century, Race in
America, (W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York: 2016): 8-9.
20
Desmond and Emirbayer, Chapter One, 8-11.
 Bernhard 6

executives and black police executives.21 In spite of other examples that were discussed in the

article about Jefferson, including the black chiefs and executives that he influenced, they still

discovered that the problem was widespread, and might need to be addressed.22 At the same

time, the source did not set out to study the actual impact he had; while the article discussed what

conditions were like before and during his tenure, they only noted what a few fellow officers had

to say about him, and did not seem to acknowledge the idea that not much may have changed

since Jefferson broke ground decades ago.23 In the end, the problems facing African Americans

in regards to promotions and advancement still exist, and based upon Jeffersons example, the

issues need to be confronted on the institutional level. The difficulty of changing things on an

institutional level, however, has been a setback,24 and few recent studies into the matter have

been conducted.25 Therefore, while change is encouraged, no one really knows how best to go

about it on the institutional level.

As can be seen, the institutional effects of racism are especially felt by African American

police officers. However, police officers face a second, yet no less serious form of racism: the

community at large. Obviously, part of this comes from the white community, who in some cases

still see blacks as being inferior, and thus unworthy to serve the public as police officers. This is

especially seen through the lens of an article written by Simon Hosken, which details the

desegregation of the West Memphis police force by introducing African American police

21
Brian N. Williams and J. Edward Kellough, Leadership with an Enduring Impact: The Legacy
of Chief Burtell Jefferson of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., Public Administration
Review, November/December 2016, Vol 66, Iss 6, pp 813-822, on-line:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=13&sid=5339fe63-3efd-4135-8932-
bc09d7bb077f%40sessionmgr106&hid=122&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bsh&AN=230721
26
22
Williams and Kellough, Leadership, 821-822, 813-822.
23
Williams and Kellough, Leadership, 818-822, 813-822.
24
Desmond and Emirbayer, Chapter One, 10-11.
25
Williams and Kellough, Leadership, 822.
 Bernhard 7

officers.26 Hosken briefly discussed the idea that the officers were only appointed in order to

serve the black community in West Memphis, Arkansas, and that as such there were still forms

of racism performed by the white community against them.27 That is, while blacks were allowed

to become police officers, they could only police the sections of the city that contained African

Americans, and so they were stigmatized by the community of whites.28 Minority groups may

also distrust African American officers due to the fact that they are continuing to perpetuate the

white power structure. As such, even though they are of the same race as those whom they arrest,

there is the possibility that African American police officers will instead continue to perpetuate

the white power structure, and so are still regarded with animosity by the surrounding

community.29 While some may argue that African American officers may instead get along

better with their own races, there is no empirical proof of this, as the relationships between the

minority community and police forces are still understandably strained, particularly after the

Michael Brown shooting and other incidents of the preceding years.30 In fact, Brunson and Gau

attempted to study this relationship in their research, and discovered that, race of the officers

26
Simon Hosken, Policing the Blues: Remembering the Desegregation of Law Enforcement in
West Memphis, Arkansas, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Summer 2013, Vol 72, Iss 2, pp 120-138, on-line:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=5339fe63-3efd-4135-8932-
bc09d7bb077f%40sessionmgr106&hid=122&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=896531
60.
27
Hosken, Policing the Blues, 120-138.
28
Hosken, Policing the Blues, 135-136.
29
Christopher Chapman, Use of force in Minority Communities is related to Police education,
age, experience, and ethnicity, Police Practice and Research, October 2012, Vol 13, Iss 5 pp 421-422, on-line:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=6b1e5eec-42de-4019-b489-
0662b0eec61f%40sessionmgr4008&vid=0&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=79830
502&db=a9h.
30
Rod K. Brunson, and Jacinta M. Gau, Officer race versus Macro-level Context: A Text of
competing hypotheses about black citizens experience with and perceptions of black police officers, Crime and
Delinquency, 2015, Vol 61, Iss 2, Linfield College: Sage Publishing, pp 214-215, on-line:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=d57208cb-eeb4-4e6d-9d75-
f35369bceb49%40sessionmgr105&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=100948338&db=
afh.
 Bernhard 8

aside, minorities still did not have much confidence in the police force that they studied.31 As a

result of this, it was confirmed that African American officers did not necessarily endear

themselves to the community, and instead suffer the consequence of racial tension between

themselves and the community of which they assumed they were a part.32 There is also the risk

that black officers will unintentionally become a part of the problems in the system, and thus the

stereotype of bad police officers, even of the same race, still exists.33 For example, Christopher

Chapman studied several police departments in New Jersey to conduct research on the use of

force by various ethnicities, to see if a difference existed among officers of separate races.34 His

final results indicated that, while many African American officers say they do not enjoy using

force, they are second only to whites in the total amount of force they utilize.35 While some may

see this as hypocritical on the officers part, Chapman explains the idea that there could be

disconnection between idealism and reality, and the times and places of force use are complex,

meaning that they may be forced to use it when they would rather not.36 Black officers, because

of their race, thus face repression from the community at large in addition to the institutional

racism they face inside the police force itself.

In order to respond to these issues, it is necessary to introduce change through policies on

the institutional level. One of the suggested changes is through Representative Bureaucracy

Theory, a form of affirmative action which states that, in order to properly address issues in the

community and in the institution, it is necessary to balance the racial makeup of the law

31
Brunson and Gau, Officer race, 224.
32
Brunson and Gau, Officer race, 224-229.
33
Chapman, Use of Force, 421-423.
34
Chapman, Use of Force, 421-423.
35
Chapman, Use of Force, 430-433.
36
Chapman, Use of Force, 421-422, 434.
 Bernhard 9

enforcement agency with that of the community.37 That is, in order to have the agency not only

become used to a variety of races, but to adjust the community to the idea that police officers can

be helpful and are there to protect, it is necessary to change policies so that it is racially balanced,

without having each race merely assigned to its own people.38 It is argued that the attitudes of

officers will additionally change, as they will experience new dealings with other ethnicities and

the weakening of the dominant police culture.39 Through this process, it is argued that the

bureaucracy, specifically the police force, will become more sensitive to the needs of the

community, and will become more effective overall in dealing with crime and community

safety.40 Lasley and his associates attempted to determine whether this theory was effective by

conducting a study in the Los Angeles Police Department to see if the strategy would work.41

They discovered that the increase of racial diversity in the department did in fact positively

impact the relationships between officers in the community, as well as among the officers

themselves.42 The Representative Bureaucracy theory is argued to be among the best systems for

change, then, because it would allow the officers to adjust to the new racial situation, yet still

maintain a sense of urgency in the change. A second major policy theory that has been proposed

is the idea of increasing the educational and experience levels of police officers.43 According to

Chapman in his article, this involves not only requiring police officers to have higher degrees

37
James R. Lasley, James Larson, Chandrika Kelso, and Gregory Chris Brown, Assessing the
Long-Term Effects of Officer Race on Police Attitudes towards the Community: A Case for Representative
Bureaucracy Theory, Police Practice and Research, December 2011, Vol 12, Iss 6. pp 474-475, on-line:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=63a3830c-0557-427f-a4b8-
87a060bd75fd%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4202&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=67344072&db
=a9h
38
Lasley, et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 474-475.
39
Lasley, et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 475.
40
Lasley, et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 475.
41
Lasley, et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 477-478.
42
Lasley, et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 489-490.
43
Chapman, Use of Force, 423-424.
 Bernhard 10

before entering the police force, but also so that they better understand diversity and will be more

likely to use problem-solving skills instead of taking using excessive force against criminals.44

While he did admit that there was a negative correlation between education and prejudice, he

also cited examples of studies which seemed to support the idea that further education would at

least help officers behave better towards members of the minority community.45 Another

possible negative, however, is the idea that increased diversity may only create problems, as

suggested by Guajardo in his article when he mentioned the breaking down of communication as

a result of increased diversity in certain working groups.46 This would of course make officers

and law enforcement workers ineffective, and cause even further strain on current racial

relationships. There are likely other ways in which to address policy change, but according to the

articles, they still require further research before they are enacted. As a result, the two major

ideas listed have been cited as ways to approach racial issues inside and outside police

departments.

While it seems as though African Americans face a lot of problems in the police force,

there are those who argue that it is not a problem that needs to be solved. They argue that the

police forces in the United States are already integrated enough that problem solving is not

necessary, and so fight against the possibility of policy changes targeted at the institutional level.

First of all, they argue that, in reality, African American members of law enforcement can

change and significantly improve conditions in law enforcement operations around the country.

They point to such examples as Burtell Jefferson, who not only helped integrate the Washington,

D.C. police force, but also gave guidance to other black officers so that they could effectively

44
Chapman, Use of Force, 423-424.
45
Chapman, Use of Force, 423-424.
46
Guajardo, Workforce Diversity, 217
 Bernhard 11

combat racism in their own departments.47 In addition, based upon the Jollevet study, African

Americans are still making progress in administrative positions, so there is no need to remove the

glass ceiling, because they argue that it does not exist anymore.48 A second major argument

against policy changes is the idea that current policies are not working to alter the conditions of

blacks, and may only be making things worse. As mentioned by Guajardo in his study of racial

diversity, the increase in a variety of races in workgroups can actually slow down progress,

especially since it has not worked to change any of the officers minds and decreases effective

communication.49 Thus, so they argue, the affirmative action or other policy changes currently in

effect do not work, and so it would be a mistake to think that doing anything more would change

things for the better. Another argument against policy changes is that there is more integration in

police forces than ever before, so we have already achieve our goals. In this case, they point to

the Lasley study, since it was based upon the premise that the LAPD had come close to

achieving Representative bureaucracy, and it seemed to have a positive impact on the racial

circumstances surrounding black officers.50 Instead of digging in further, they argue that this is

proof of the changes in police forces, and so any further policy changes would be unnecessary. In

the end, any kind of policy change would be unnecessary, as there seems to be overwhelming

evidence that everything is just fine, with African Americans making strides in police agencies

and integration already here.

There are several ways to refute these counterarguments concerning needed policy

changes in law enforcement agencies. In the first case, there are still problems with officers

reaching a glass ceiling in their jobs, and so to argue otherwise does not hold water. According to

47
Williams and Kellough, Leadership, 818-820
48
Jollevet, African American Executive, 26-29.
49
Guajardo, Workforce Diversity, 217.
50
Lasley et al, Assessing Long-Term Effects, 474-490.
 Bernhard 12

the Jollevet study, the lack of African Americans in leadership is still an issue, in spite of the fact

that they have made strides in achieving higher ranks in police departments.51 He based his entire

article upon how race influenced the career paths of black police officers, and as such they were

forced to deal with negative stereotypes within the police department for most of their lives.52 He

thus refuted the argument that African Americans could advance easily, and provided some ideas

on how to change the current situation.53 In regards to integration of police forces, Wilson and

Wilson mention the fact that, as late as 2007, only about eleven percent of all police officers in

the United States were African American, and that candidates were often discouraged because of

the culture that exists in police stations.54 One could go into more detail about these arguments,

but they are sufficient enough to refute the counterarguments presented.

In the modern criminal justice system, African American police officers face different

kinds of prejudice and racial turmoil than African American civilians, and this can impact their

effectiveness. These forms of prejudice arise from both the police subculture and the public at

large, which makes correcting them a challenge. While few studies have been conducted into the

matter, the ones that have indicate that a problem does exist, and that more research should be

conducted to find a proper solution. That way, the criminal justice system can be improved so

that it serves all Americans, not simply those in a position of power. Following the Michael

Brown shooting of 2014, many agree that the criminal justice system needs to be looked at, but

not many are aware of where to look. After considering the studies mentioned above, one can

conclude that a person needs to make changes inside the institution as well as outside of it.

51
Jollevet, African American, 26-27.
52
Jollevet, African American executives, 17-29.
53
Jollevet, African American executives, 17-29.
54
Wilson and Wilson, Are we there yet?, 124.
 Bernhard 13

Works Cited

Brunson, Rod K., and Gau, Jacinta M. Officer race versus Macro-level Context: A Text of
competing hypotheses about black citizens experience with and perceptions of black
police officers. Crime and Delinquency. 2015. Volume 61. Issue 2. Linfield College:
Sage Publishing. pp 213-242.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=d57208cb-eeb4-4e6d-9d75-
f35369bceb49%40sessionmgr105&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=100948338&db=afh.

Buchanan, Larry, Fessenden, Ford, Lau, K.K. Rebecca, Park, Haeyoun, Parlapiano, Alicia, Tse,
Archie, Wallace, Tim, Watkins, Derek, and Youris, Karen. What happened in
Ferguson? New York Times. The New York Times Company. Updated 2016. pp 1. On-
line: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-
siege-after-police-shooting.html.

Chapman, Christopher. Use of force in Minority Communities is related to Police education,

age, experience, and ethnicity. Police Practice and Research. October 2012. Volume 13.
Issue 5. pp 421-436. On-line. Link:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=6b1e5eec-42de-4019-b489-
0662b0eec61f%40sessionmgr4008&vid=0&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl
2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=79830502&db=a9h.

Desmond, Matthew, and Emirbayer, Mustafa. Chapter One: Racism in the Twenty-First
Century. Race in America. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. New York: 2016. pp 2-45.

Guajardo, Salomon Alcocer. Workforce Diversity: Assessing the Impact of Minority Integration
on Intra-workgroup interaction. International Journal of Police Science and
Management. Fall 2014. Volume 16. Issue 3. pp 205-220. On-line. Link:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=ec0d19c7-2e9b-4a91-a7af-
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 Bernhard 14

Hosken, Simon. Policing the Blues: Remembering the Desegregation of Law Enforcement in
West Memphis, Arkansas. Arkansas Historical Quarterly. Summer 2013. Volume 72.
Issue 2. pp 120-138. On-line. Link:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=5339fe63-3efd-4135-8932-
bc09d7bb077f%40sessionmgr106&hid=122&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=a9h&AN=89653160.

Jollevet II, Felix. African American police executive careers: Influences of Human Capital,
Social Capital, and Racial Discrimination. Police Practice and Research. March 2008.
Volume 9. Issue 1. pp 17-30. On-line. Link:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=d87d819f-663c-4a61-95d1-
54cf87ba65ab%40sessionmgr102&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=a9h&AN=31314327.

Lasley, James R., Larson, James, Kelso, Chandrika, and Brown, Gregory Chris. Assessing the
Long-Term Effects of Officer Race on Police Attitudes towards the Community: A Case
for Representative Bureaucracy Theory. Police Practice and Research. December 2011.
Volume 12. Issue 6. pp 474-491. On-line. Link:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=63a3830c-0557-427f-a4b8-
87a060bd75fd%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4202&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3
d%3d#AN=67344072&db=a9h.

McLaughlin, Eliott C. What we know about Michael Browns shooting. CNN. CNN. 15
August 2014. pp 1. On-line: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-
michael-brown-what-we-know/.

Williams, Brian N., and Kellough, J. Edward. Leadership with an Enduring Impact: The Legacy
of Chief Burtell Jefferson of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C.
Public Administration Review. November/December 2016. Volume 66. Issue 6. pp 813-
822. On-line. Link: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=13&sid=5339fe63-
3efd-4135-8932-
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%3d#db=bsh&AN=23072126.

Wilson, Charles P., and Wilson, Shirley A. Are we there yet? Perceptive Roles of African
 Bernhard 15

American Police Officers in Small Agency settings. Western Journal of Black Studies.
Summer 2014. Volume 38. Issue 2. pp 123-133. On-line. Link:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=d87d819f-663c-4a61-95d1-
54cf87ba65ab%40sessionmgr102&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=a9h&AN=98782165.