The next San Diego Police Department Academy class will be 65 percent minorities and women, making it more diverse than the last six academy classes in 2014 and 2015.
One of the recommendations a federal audit in March handed down to the police department was to boost its diversity to better serve residents. The Police Executive Research Forum, an independent auditing agency contracted by the U.S. Department of Justice, did the audit after a string of high-profile misconduct cases.
Forty-five percent of the 105th academy class are minorities, and 29 percent are bilingual. That's more diverse than the previous academy class, but still not the highest percentage of minorities in recent years. The six-month academy class that began in February 2015 was 48 percent minorities.
The new class of 51 recruits is one of the largest date, according to Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman. Other facts about the class are:
- Twenty-two of the new recruits are women, 29 are men
- 84 percent have a college degree
- 17 percent have served in the military
The new recruits will start a six-month training program on Monday before they become police officers.
"This group of individuals has journeyed through an extensive hiring process and is now poised to begin the next chapter in becoming San Diego Police Officers," Zimmerman said in a statement. "I wish them all the best in this next step of their journey to become San Diego Police Officers serving the citizen’s of America’s Finest City.”
