Prince George’s County Police Department Seeks Arab American Officers

posted on: Jan 9, 2017

BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer

Prince George’s County of Maryland, minutes from Washington, D.C., is looking to expand the diversity of its police force with new Arab American recruits. As part of its ongoing diversity initiative, the Prince George’s County Police Department is reaching out to aspiring police officers of all backgrounds, including Arab Americans.

For over 30 years, the Prince George’s County Police Department has staffed a diverse force representative of the county’s demographics. Prince George’s County is home to nearly 900,000 residents, the majority of whom are racial and ethnic minorities. The Department is interested in seeing more Arab Americans fulfill their dreams of becoming police officers with Prince George’s County.

“We have Arab Americans already on the police force who picked the department because they wanted to be a police officer and wanted to do public service,” said Deputy Chief Raphael Grant of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

“They also chose the profession to help people and they chose the department for the benefits we offer,” he added.

A career with the Prince George’s County Police Department includes many benefits that can be difficult to find elsewhere. Police officers start with a salary of $51,000 a year and get a police car to take home if they’re a county resident. The Prince George’s County Department also offers medical and dental benefits with small co-pays, as well as generous sick leave benefits. Police officers have a 25-year retirement program and free life insurance, too.

What’s more important are the benefits of community service that come with being a police officer. “The feeling of making a difference, of helping a community and keeping it safe, getting perpetrators off the streets and saving a life – those are the invaluable benefits,” Deputy Chief Grant told Arab America.

Police officers have their tough days, but these moments are what make the career honorable and worthwhile. By becoming police officers, Arab Americans can help members of their community in other ways, as well. In Deputy Chief Grant’s experience, victims or witnesses to crimes often feel greater solace and security while working with police officers of the same nationality or ethnicity.

“If they see an officer they can relate to, who is of their own nationality, victims and witnesses can be more comfortable with that officer,” Deputy Chief Grant confirmed. “This is a profession for all people and we would love to have more Arab Americans in our department.”

As police officers, Arab Americans are granted an opportunity to confront the issues facing the community, such as hate crimes and discrimination. With the recent uptick in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim crimes across the country, increasing Arab American representation on the police force can help build trust between the community and the police force, along with a better understanding of the needs of Arab Americans.

Not only does the Prince George’s County Police Force offer immeasurable benefits and diversity, but it is also a highly educated workplace. Most officers hold Bachelor’s degree, while others have Master’s degrees and PhD’s, too. The educational principles of the Arab American community can easily be applied to the Prince George’s County Police Department, where men and women use their degrees to make critical decisions for their county every day.

Prince George’s County is a scenic and historic suburb of Washington, D.C., making it an accessible area with a growing population and countless visitors each year. There are roughly 175,000 Arab Americans contributing to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in a variety of ways, but they can do more. Arab American officers can take pride in a career of protecting their neighbors and upholding their values with the Prince George’s County Police Department.

To find out more about joining the Prince George’s County Police Force, visit www.pgpolice.org or contact the Police Recruiter directly at 301-780-8175 or Police_Recruiting@co.pg.md.us.