A perspective on multiculturalism and policing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between demographics and an employee's understanding of and support for the recruitment of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups in a policing context. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method research approach was adopted where a postal survey, comprised of both closed and open questions, was distributed to 500 Victoria Police employees and yielded a response rate of 19.5 per cent. Findings – The findings show that gender and higher education have significant relationships to understanding CALD and lead to significant support for the recruitment of CALD employees. Results show that the instrument utilized in this study was highly reliable with a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.802. Alpha values for “understanding” and “support” were 0.813 and 0.788, respectively. Research limitations/implications – The limitation of this study is that the findings are based on a pilot study with 97 responses. Practical implications – The utility of the conceptual model generated in this study has practical implications and value as it is being implemented to assist Victoria Police in designing CALD policies, procedures and practices. Originality/value – The paper proposes an empirical model showing demographics as critical determinants in understanding and support for CALD recruitment and retention in Policing. Furthermore, the conceptual model makes a significant contribution to the literature and advances Morris et al.'s model.