LAPD achieves racial diversity

As the Los Angeles Police Department enjoys a resurgence of its public approval, one of the key factors has been a sharp increase in the diversity of the force, to nearly match the texture of Los Angeles itself.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

A Harvard University study released last week found a wide variety of factors playing a role in the "staggering scale of change" in the LAPD over the past decade. But one of the most visible changes according to the study's authors - and according to Police Chief William Bratton - was significantly increasing the diversity of the LAPD to match the city it's sworn to protect.

In 1990, according to the report, 45 percent of graduates from the Police Academy were white; 30 percent were Latino and 19 percent were black.