Diversity training and employee behavior: Evidence from the police

Abstract

We study the effects of cultural diversity training on employee behavior in the context of policing. Leveraging variation in the timing of a mandated diversity training, we find that Texas highway patrol officers respond to training by adjusting their racial composition of stops. The probability that a stopped motorist is white increases by 1.3 percentage points over the two years after training, and officers achieve this by stopping additional white motorists rather than reducing their stops of minorities. We find evidence that officers stop less “guilty” white motorists after training, suggesting that the training reduces troopers’ lenience towards white drivers.