Bellevue Police Chief Stephen Mylett says his department needs more diversity. He said the police force does not reflect who lives in the community.
For the first time, the majority of the population in the City of Bellevue is non-white, a result of the boom in high tech.
"Currently our police department does not reflect the community we're serving and it is our mission to get as close as possible for the department to represent the citizens we serve," said Mylett.
(*there was a graphic in our 6pm pkg that has a table with all of the percentages if that looks better instead of the paragraph below)
According to 2015 census data, 49 percent of the population of Bellevue is Caucasian, while 80 percent of the police officers are Caucasian.
Thirty-four percent of the residents are Asian, and only 7.6 percent of the police force is.
The Hispanic population is 8.7 percent while the department is 4.1 percent Hispanic. And 2.2 percent of the population is black, and 2.3 percent of officers are black. Chief Mylett said that number needs to increase too, because when you spread the officers across the entire department they lose visibility.
Chief Mylett said it comes down to community trust - and without it, some crimes go unreported.
"When they are interacting with somebody who looks like them, speaks the same language as them, they're more inclined to share and trust the individual," said Chief Mylett.
Mylett expects to have openings for 15 new officers this year.
The department is advertising on social media, in Alaska Airlines Inflight magazine, on billboards and in minority publications.
There is an open house at City Hall on March 15 at 6 p.m. Click here for more hiring information: www.protectbellevue.com.