Commentary on diversity, equity, and inclusion in Hawaii and Pacific island law enforcement agencies.
Commentary on diversity, equity, and inclusion in Hawaii and Pacific island law enforcement agencies. Free under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 — no registration required.
Summary of the paper
"Policing the Community You Are From" is an ISPI commentary on diversity, cultural competency and workforce development in Pacific Island and Hawaii law enforcement.
It argues that community policing depends on trust, cultural competency and the ability to communicate across diverse communities, so how well an agency's workforce reflects the communities it serves carries public safety implications. ISPI's analysis is that workforce diversity is shaped by structural barriers, such as the cost of academy preparation, as well as by hiring practices.
What the paper finds
- Representation affects trust. The commentary links workforce composition to the community trust that community policing relies on.
- Barriers are structural. It points to structural barriers, not only hiring decisions.
- Language is an operational asset. In communities with large Chuukese, Marshallese, Ilocano or Samoan populations, an officer who speaks the community language and understands its communication patterns has an operational advantage.
What it recommends
- Develop targeted recruitment for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, including community college pathways, academy preparation support and multilingual materials.
- Establish Pacific Island language training for Hawaii and Pacific territory agencies, prioritizing the languages most common in the communities they serve.
- Commission research on the link between officer cultural competency and community cooperation outcomes.
Who it's for
Police chiefs and recruiting units, county and territorial governments, police commissions, community college and academy programs, and Pacific Islander community organizations.
This research connects to the 39 Small Island Developing States worldwide through the Samoa Pathway and BPOA+30 framework. Every ISPI research product carries a mandatory SIDS global bridge per the ISPI Research Architecture.
Further reading
Cite as
Pulley, Warren (2026). Policing the Community You Are From: Diversity, Cultural Competency, and Workforce Development in Pacific Island and Hawaii Law Enforcement (ISPI CM-11). Island Security Policy Institute, Honolulu. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/cm11-diversity-law-enforcement https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23449934
BibTeX
@techreport{ispicm112026,
author = {Pulley, Warren},
title = {Policing the Community You Are From: Diversity, Cultural Competency, and Workforce Development in Pacific Island and Hawaii Law Enforcement},
institution = {Island Security Policy Institute},
address = {Honolulu, HI},
number = {ISPI CM-11},
year = {2026},
url = {https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/cm11-diversity-law-enforcement},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23449934}
}Related analysis
AnalysisCommunity Policing in Island Communities: Why the Continental Model Requires a Different Framework →AnalysisNative Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Youth in the Justice System — Decades of Disparity, Decades Without Research →AnalysisWhy Island Police Departments Face Structural Officer Shortages That Continental Solutions Cannot Fix →PaperCM-10 — Island Wildfire Policy Beyond Maui — A Pacific Perspective →PaperCM-12 — Hospital Security in Island Communities →GuideHawaii Law Enforcement Workforce & Recruitment: Research and FAQ →Pulley, Warren. "Diversity and Representation in Island Law Enforcement." Island Security Policy Institute, 2026. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/cm11-diversity-law-enforcement
