Migration and Police – Effects of Immigration on the Organization and Diversity of the German Police. Subproject: Personnel Policy and Diversity Management in the Police

Background

The Federal Republic of Germany has been characterized by migration for several decades; migration is an important driver of social and institutional change. In the past the police responded to migration in a variety of ways. Efforts to teach intercultural competence to police officers and to increase the diversity of the workforce by recruiting officers with a migration background took centre stage. Increasingly, organizational structures and processes are adapted, for example by setting up competence centres for intercultural tasks or by considering intercultural aspects in preventive policing. As far as we know, however, systematic efforts for focused organizational change are still rare.

Against this background, MIGRATE investigates how the German police has changed and will continue to change in response to immigration. On the basis of comparative case studies of police departments in two German states, the project will investigate whether and how an intercultural opening of the German police is taking place, how migrants participate and rise in the work force, and how this impacts on the inclusiveness of the police organization.

MIGRATE is a joint project under the direction of the German Police University (DHPol) in cooperation with the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Hamburg Police Academy and four state police forces. At the DHPol, the topics of Organizational Design of the Police and Police-Citizen Relations (OrgPol) are dealt with in two sub-projects, while the Hamburg Police Academy is dedicated to the topic of Interculturality and Organizational Culture of the Police (KultPol).

The IAQ is investigating the topic of Personnel Policy and Diversity Management in the Police (DiMPol).

Subproject Personnel Policy and Diversity Management in the Police

1.9.2018 until 28.2.2021

In the consortium the project Personnel Policy and Diversity Management in the Police investigates whether diversity management, i.e. a systematic personnel policy approach to migration-related diversity, exists in the police. In addition to the migration status, further dimensions of diversity such as gender, age, religion and their interdependencies (intersectionality) will be examined. Programs as well as practices of diversity management are analysed at different hierarchical levels in the police. The project creates an in-depth understanding of leadership concerning personnel policy and whether the (potentially) increasing diversity among police officers is perceived as an opportunity or as a burden.  What are the diversity-related challenges in personnel work? Under what conditions do personnel managers use diversity management ideas to address the special challenges of police work? The investigation considers the task-related composition of staff, but also the continuous training of all police officers and the implicit adaptation of personnel management to diversity concerns.

In order to reconstruct diversity management, the personnel policy of two selected German state police forces and departments will be examined. The main areas to be analysed are recruitment to the services, further training, promotion and staff deployment. Case studies will be carried out at two state police departments. The case studies include an analysis of documents. This will enable comparisons of police authorities of different types in their respective spatial contexts.

In addition, two dissertations are planned within the context of this subproject.