Law enforcement in the United States at many times serves as the foundation of a free democracy. Law enforcement tasks are meant to enforce the laws and directives assigned to it by our governing elected officials using the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights as a guide. Our country is made of an immigrant cross-cultured population that requires a diverse law enforcement force to relate, communicate, understand and respect our divergent population.

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police supports diversity within law enforcement organizations in a continued attempt at committing to the people within the borders of out country a law enforcement force made up from the people they serve. Policing in our country requires a bonding of trust between citizens and their law enforcement officers, and that trust is amplified and can be shown through a diverse work force; and

WHEREAS, a diverse law enforcement agency makes a good law enforcement agency better, it also allows for better decision making and allows trust to be built, which is the foundation for the communities which law enforcement serves. A diverse law enforcement agency must also maintain a canon of ethics, quality hiring standards, training, proper disciplinary systems to be effective and useful; and

WHEREAS, diversity within law enforcement agencies means a cultural mix of employees who reflect the gender and ethnic population of our country. Law enforcement also has a responsibility to the citizens they serve to ensure that standards of hiring and employment are high, a diverse work force must be able to answer to those same standards; and

WHEREAS, a diverse law enforcement agency can, within its own membership, develop diversity training and improve conduct, and performance standards to successfully allow any person within the agency, regardless of culture, to deal effectively with all aspects of the population they serve; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), duly assembled at its 103rd annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona, pledges that law enforcement set an example for all society to develop a diverse work force that mirrors the society we serve, and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that IACP recognizes the difficulty in hiring, training, retraining, and promoting a diverse work force and will lend its offices to support efforts in developing a diverse work force; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that IACP calls upon law enforcement executives to lead by example in developing policies and procedures to assist law enforcement in continuing the development of a diverse work force.