Is The Pasco Police Department More Diverse Than Ferguson?

The police department of Pasco, WA, has released records showing that 13 out it’s 50 officers and detectives are Hispanic. Thirty-five of the officers are white, and two are Asian. The release follows a request from the Latin Times, who wrote the department after three of it’s officers killed an unarmed Hispanic man earlier this month.

The shooting of the man, Antonio Zambrano-Montes, has drawn strong comparisons to the Ferguson, MO police killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Among those comparisons is the racial makeup of both police departments, which do not reflect the communities that they serve. In Ferguson, around the time of Brown’s shooting, 67% of the city’s residents were black while only 29% were white. Meanwhile on 3 officers (6%) were black, while 50 (94%) were white.

In Ferguson, that racial disparity not only led to racial profiling and arguably the death of Brown, but also exacerbated the tensions that exploded in rioting after Brown’s death. One District Attorney called the disparity a “racial powder keg.”

However the Pasco officer data shows that it’s less racially skewed that Ferguson. Not only are nearly one third of it’s officers non-white, but only 56% of it’s residents are Hispanic. Also, it’s worth noting that Pasco’s Hispanic population majority is relatively new. Two Hispanic officers have also made the mid-level rank of Sergeant (the other 8 are white), but none have made top-level positions of Captain or Chief. Lastly, Hispanics make up the majority of new recruits to the department, according to a statement from Pasco PD spokesman Capt. Ken Roske.

That's not to say that racism isn't a problem in Pasco. However, it demonstrates it might be more prepared to handle it's problems as investigations are completed and the department charts it's course for the future.