Beginning with the 2019-21 Biennial Transportation Budget, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) has been required to report to the Governor and Legislature on the demographic composition of the WSP workforce. The most recent report showed that the total WSP workforce was 84 percent white and 67 percent male. The field force workforce was 86 percent white and 86 percent male.
The 2020 Supplemental Transportation Budget included a requirement that the WSP work with the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) and the Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises to contract for a workforce diversity strategic action plan. That report was delivered to the WSP in April 2021 and provided a comprehensive strategy for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion at the WSP, with a particular focus on workforce recruitment, retention, and training.
The Governor's Office of Equity is required to provide oversight of the WSP's ongoing implementation of its strategic plan.
The Office of Equity is required to work with the DES, which will run and oversee a competitive procurement to contract for an independent, expert consultant.
The consultant's duties are to:
The Office of Equity is directed to:
The section requiring the Office of Equity oversight over the implementation of the WSP strategic plan expires on June 30, 2032.
An appropriation of $650,000 from the State Patrol Highway Account is provided to the Governor's Office of Equity for the independent consultant contract, a study of barriers to hiring commissioned officers, and the Office's costs of oversight. An appropriation of $331,000 from the State Patrol Highway Account is provided to the WSP to support the costs of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office and the external psychologist contract.
The Senate amendment removed the appropriations to the Office of the Governor and the Washington State Patrol.
(In support) It is important that the employee makeup of all of our state agencies really and truly reflects the diversity of our state. That includes our WSP, which is one of the most visible and public interfacing agencies in state government. They are hardworking state employees, facing many challenges every day out on the roads and highways and many dangerous situations on a daily basis. The intent is to ensure that anyone interested in being a WSP employee has the opportunity to serve the public. The independent Deloitte and Touche report which came out in April 2021 reported that the agency needed to do better to attract and recruit a more diverse workforce, particularly women and people of color. In 2018 the WSP had 909 sworn employees, of which 8.7 percent were women, 3.6 percent were African American, and just over 5 percent were Latino. Breaking it down further, of supervisors and executive staff, just under 5 percent were women, 3.1 percent were African American, and 3.1 percent were Latino. Looking at non-sworn personnel in upper administration, the numbers from 2018 show that of 930 employees in those positions, just 3.5 percent were African American and just over 5 percent were Latino. These numbers demonstrate the WSP has much work to do. They need to do better. The bill will have the WSP address its lack of diversity, will have them work with a consultant to establish benchmarks, bring in an outside professional to have an annual recruitment plan to find and recruit employees, but also be responsible back to the Legislature on a regular basis. The Deloitte report also noted that the in-house psychologist was a significant barrier for creating a diverse workforce. Finally, six months after the report was issued, there was a change made to this outdated practice and now the WSP uses an outside firm to conduct the psychology exams. Since its creation in 1921 the WSP has become one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the United States. It is a proud organization with a long history of tradition and accomplishments. In 1995 Chief Annette Sandberg was the first woman at age 33 to head the WSP and the first woman in the United States to lead a state police agency. In 2005 Chief John Batiste became the first African American to lead the WSP and continues to this day. These are two examples of no matter who you are, you can start as a cadet and make your way up the line to the top spot and become the Chief. Many agencies cannot make that statement. It is important for any organization to have diversity in its workforce especially in law enforcement which interacts with the general public every day. Currently, the WSP is down 243 commissioned personnel and 253 are eligible to retire by 2025. Yet there are just 46 cadets in the last phases of their training and only 40 cadets signed up for next academy class. The number of applicants has sharply decreased. Prior to last year, there was an average of 400 to 450 applicants per month. Since then the number dropped to 100 or less but now is increasing. Now is the time to redouble efforts and focus on people who would not usually consider the WSP for a career. Today, in its 101st year, the WSP is still overwhelmingly male and white. Meanwhile Washingtonians are becoming increasingly diverse. The WSP is the second largest law enforcement agency in the state. How the WSP looks and acts matters to all of us. The WSP is under fire for disproportionately policing people of color and for disproportionately rejecting Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian job applicants. In reality, this is about police culture. Police culture drives judgment and decision making. The diversity of an organization is a part of its culture. The hiring outcomes of the WSP must change. Pay close attention to the provisions of this bill to assure that there is in place a transparent framework with strong accountability measures for monitoring, oversight, reporting, and a way to get results from the benchmarks required. A first generation Cambodian American applied to become a trooper in 2019 and failed the psychological portion of the hiring process. It is a positive step to hold the WSP more accountable in their hiring practices and push towards diversifying their predominantly white male agency. With the number of current vacancies in the WSP, there is an opportunity to ensure that the workforce is more representative of the communities served. With recent events and public sentiment, this creates additional challenges in not only hiring a workforce dedicated to public safety but also one that is diverse. Additional resources as well as a system of checks and balance will help narrow the gap and help bring the WSP closer to the commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This bill partners with the 2021 report and provides support in the implementation of the strategic plan. The quarterly reporting needs to change to semi-annual reporting. Statewide affirmative action data is published two times a year in July and January for all state agencies. It is more reasonable to assess agency diversity in partnership with those reports.
(Opposed) None.