Scant diversity in Pennsylvania State Police
Mensah M. Dean
The Philadelphia Inquirer
HERSHEY Walking the halls of the Pennsylvania State Police Academy where troopers are made is like walking through history.
Inside the main building, portraits of 36 directors of the training facility are mounted on a wall, spanning more than 100 years of leadership. All, except one, are white men.
Down another corridor in the spartan, 1950s-era building, hang the portraits of most of the 111 troopers who died in the line of duty from 1906 to 2017. All, except one, are white men.
As of this month, the 4,588-employee state police force was 92.8% white and men make up 86.5% of that, according to agency statistics. Of the 1,170 who’ve obtained the ranks of major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant and corporal, 94.1% are white.