San Mateo police chief shines light on hiring practices and diversity

Twenty years go, 91% of the department’s staff was white and male, which means just 9% of the department was female or nonwhite.

Today, female and nonwhite representation in the department has grown to 22% and 35% respectively, which is well above the national average for police departments serving populations similar to that of San Mateo, between 100,000 people and 250,000 people.

Departments serving populations in that range throughout the country are, on average, 88% male and 73% white, Barberini said.

“So by that standard we’re doing pretty well,” he said. “We exceed those numbers from a diversity perspective by a substantial margin, however, we’re not there yet. … We still have work to do, but we’re headed in the right direction.”

Barberini noted San Mateo in 2019 was 50.8% white, 26.8% Asian or Pacific Islander, 20.3% Hispanic and 2% African American.

The police department, by contrast, is 64.2% white, 14.7% Asian or Pacific Islander, 15.6% Hispanic and 4.6% African American.

Councilmembers were impressed with the department’s increasingly diverse workforce, but agreed there’s plenty more work ahead.

“We still have a ways to go, but I’m impressed with progress made in that direction,” said Councilman Rick Bonilla.

Barberini during the meeting also said it’s not just ethnic diversity his department values.

“Diversity is a major component of what we look for and not only the way people look, but diverse backgrounds, diverse experiences,” he said. “We have folks that share a wide range of opinions, backgrounds and experiences that come together to make up our department and we’re proud of that.”

Also during the meeting Barberini said the department’s hiring and training process is more rigorous than that of most departments. The hiring process spans roughly six months and is followed by a minimum of 2,000 hours of training, he said.

“The vast majority of applicants will not successfully navigate through this process and become police officers,” Barberini said.

Recruitment is ongoing and once an applicant is selected from the pool of candidates, he or she enters a one-month interview process followed by the background investigation phase, which Barberini described as the “most challenging and difficult” part of the process.

The background investigation period lasts about three months. During it, investigators scrutinize every candidate’s household, employment, credit and social media history. They follow up with the references provided by the candidate as well as ones not provided, they’ll knock on neighbors’ doors and ask about any crimes that applicant may have committed in the past, whether they were caught or not, Barberini said.

“It’s a very thorough and intrusive process that takes a long time,” Barberini said.

At the end of the investigation, the candidate is subject to a psychological assessment, polygraph and medical exam.

The next step in the process is the police academy, which spans roughly six months. The state requires a minimum of 664 hours of training, but the San Mateo Police Department uses two local academies that provide a minimum of nearly 1,000 hours of training to participants.

An ensuing field-training program lasts a minimum of 18 weeks, well above the state-mandated minimum of 10 weeks. After that program comes a roughly 18-month probationary period for new hires that includes routine evaluations.

Once hired, San Mateo police officers must complete 30 hours of training per year.

Barberini said the hiring process while rigorous is not perfect and that officials are constnatly working to improve it.

“Will there be people who get through the process? Absolutely. There will always be people who figure out a way to be manipulative and get through the process,” he said. “Our goal is to continue to improve and we do that both internally and through an external auditing process by the state.”

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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