The German police force has so far largely been unaffected by the growing minority of migrants. In contrast to many large companies that have understood that diversity is rewarding, the police have operated as a closed shop towards migrants. Diversity management is a very recent concept in the German police forces compared to other countries. While the active police force largely expresses some resistance to the integration of migrants, police administration has understood that the integration of migrants into the police force is now of vital importance. However, this process is still hampered by the existing police and cop culture and, correspondingly, the rejection of anything foreign.

This paper discusses how diversity policies within organizations contribute to paradoxical outcomes in face-to-face interactions. The findings are the result of a long-term ethnographic study on the processes of in- and exclusion of ethnic minority police officers in the Netherlands between 2007- 2011. Since the 1980s the Dutch police struggle both in terms of recruitment and retention of ethnic minorities. Various policy measures have been taken since then. The main argument is that diversity policies construct and perpetuate ethnic differences. This discourse impacts processes of in- and exclusion in everyday interactions, increases ‘groupness’ and leads to dilemmas in ways of feeling and acting among ethnic minority police officers. In specific situations, the norm images of a ‘good’ police officer, such as integrity, solidarity and neutrality, diametrically clash with the ideal images within diversity policies. Paradoxically, diversity policies within the Dutch police context sustain everyday inequalities for ethnic minorities, while striving for equality.

This article discusses the situation of police officers from visible ethnic minorities within the French National Police Force. Part one deals with the main ideological and institutional factors responsible for the longstanding refusal to consider the issue of ethnicity in the police institution and goes on to describe the more pragmatic attitude prevailing within that institution in recent years, in spite of some resistance. Part two describes the tangible problems encountered by officers from minority groups as uncovered in a field study conducted in the Paris area.

The purpose of the article is to discuss how ethnic minority recruitment could improve police-citizencontacts in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods in Germany. Therefore, research results concerning ethnic minority recruitment of German police forces as well as outcomes of an ethnographic study in one western German city focusing on police-juvenile relations in deprived neighborhoods are taken into account. The article details how the recruitment strategies of the German police prevent cultural diversity by targeting to the increase of police efficiency in ‘problematic’ neighborhoods using multicultural competences. In consequence, current recruitment strategies seem to result only in ethnic minority police officers that do not have these multicultural competences. The article further considers how socio-economic diversity and local experience could have a bigger positive impact on effective neighborhood policing than ethnic diversity. It concludes that these aspects should be taken into account for police recruitment and personnel strategies.

In this paper, produced in the framework of an internal seminar regarding the place of migrants in the police, for the first time the available knowledge regarding the inclusion of ‘migrants’ in the police forces in Belgium is assessed through a review of political, scientific and professional sources. The analysis encompasses the terms used to describe this population, for example as ‘new Belgians’, the evolution of the context and the motives given since the nineties to the development of initiatives aimed at increasing the presence of those particular citizens amongst police forces, as well as the debates on those issues. The presentation of the concrete modalities of this integration, based on the previously stated knowledge and its obvious limitations, focuses on the known outcomes of those initiatives and the gap between what is said and what is done. It is therefore a first step towards a better understanding of a recurrent issue. As such, it might contribute to further debates, whether in the political or the professional fields.

Encounters between the police and citizens with migration background are prone to conflict. In order to guarantee intercultural competent policing, police services are staffed with officers who have a family migration background. Drawing on conflict competence literature, we examined the resulting benefits and costs for police-ethnic minority conflict management by employing personnel with an ethnic minority family background. The sample of our interview study comprised 14 German police officers. The interviewees reported on the role of colleagues with a Turkish family background as either conflict resolvers or conflict intensifiers. Data suggest that police officers with an ethnic minority background significantly contribute to intercultural conflict resolution. Minority police officers’ conflict intensification can be framed as being a point of friction. We conclude that minority police officers are beneficial to police-ethnic minority conflict management and suggest continuous monitoring of minority police officers’ roles by police authorities. This is the first study on intercultural conflict management in policing, explaining the conflict resolving and intensifying contributions of minority police officers.

Despite all efforts to implement multi-ethnic policing, the under-representation of migrants as police officers is still a reality. The present paper questions the process to shape and proliferate multi-ethnic policing as well as the resulting effects of the first European transnational document – which covers almost all aspects of related policing – in order to gain further insights into the possibly disturbing or stimulating factors of implementation. One factor identified is ‘framing’, whose potential relevance is briefly evaluated using some recent examples concerning migration and policing. For the sake of this article, framing may be defined very basically as a well-directed multidimensional attempt to persuade relevant audiences of one’s own interests and may prove to be important in all fields of strategic action of policing. The winning or losing in budgetary competitions provides or diminishes resources for all kinds of police tasks and especially those targets who are marked as ‘unnecessary’ in the face of budgetary cuts. This is especially true concerning the transfer of social and democratic values into the police. Therefore ‘framing’ is probably one of the most essential strategic instruments for decision makers in the police to achieve their relevant goals in a dominantly neoliberal and increasingly populist environment.