Posted on April 6, 2010

Houston NAACP President Addresses Council Over WRPD Racial Makeup

Marlon A. Walker, Sun News (Macon, Georgia), April 6, 2010

The racial makeup of the city’s departments should mirror the community they serve, the head of the local [Warner Robins] chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People told City Council during Monday’s precouncil session.

Larry Holmes, president of the Houston County NAACP, said he was at the meeting to address issues of discrimination at the Warner Robins Police Department, including hiring disparities. He pointed to a case where a judge ruled locally against the Houston County Board of Education, saying the teacher makeup should mirror that of the students they oversee.

The same should go for Warner Robins city departments, Holmes said.

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Holmes said research done recently showed several other local law enforcement agencies have respectable numbers with respect to their racial makeups. At the Macon Police Department, about 39 percent of the staff is black. At the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, 53 percent of the staff is black. At the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, 32 percent of the staff there is black.

According to recent figures, 5 percent of the current staff at the Warner Robins Police Department is black, Holmes said. During the 2000 census, Warner Robins’ population was 32.1 percent black.

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