…. in order to achieve a racial and ethnic mix of players which looks more like America.
Sorry, I meant, the City of Dayton, Ohio, to lower police test score thresholds, a move which even the local NAACP chapter opposes:
The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits.
It’s a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam.
Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test.
Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two.
The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential police officers to get a 58% and a 63%. That’s the equivalent of an ‘F’ and a ‘D’.
“It becomes a safety issue for the people of our community,” said Dayton Fraternal Order of Police President, Randy Beane. “It becomes a safety issue to have an incompetent officer next to you in a life and death situation.”
“The NAACP does not support individuals failing a test and then having the opportunity to be gainfully employed,” agreed Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward….
“If you lower the score for any group of people, you’re not getting the best qualified people for the job,” Foward said.
Update: As pointed out by commenter/blogger A. Worthing, it is hard to see how this holds up in light of the New Haven fire fighters case. But this administration does not seem swayed by precedent.
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Comments
um, isn't this unlawful after the new haven firefighters case?
Obama's racism is disgusting.
I have often wondered by black Americans are not insulted by these actions to reduce test score results to pander to them. Do they not realize that basically Holder is say "Blacks are stupid and cannot get these jobs if they have to compete with their white and Hispanic counterparts."?
Testing for firefighters is job specific. It has nothing to do with whether you learned Latin in high or took AP algebra. One of the tests is written, the other is a physical capability exam. If you can't run up ten stories carrying a heavy hose, you don't make the team.
Holder should devote his time to making sure that the NBA, the NFL and the NBL all are "minority" sensitive. How dare teams reject a 5'2", 105 lb. Asian woman simply because she can't sink a basket or make a 40 yard pass.
I'm not sure here, but I have to wonder how long Derrick Forward is going to be President of the Dayton NAACP. He's wayyyyy too Conservative for that bunch.
As a 1/2 German-, 1/4 Czech-, 1/8 Jewish-, 1/8 French-American, I'm sure I'm in a group that is statistically underrepresented to an absurd degree in every field in America (if not only for the simple fact there likely are no other people in America with the exact same ethnic makeup as me … which is little comfort … I want my own ethnic advocacy group. When do I want it? Now!!)
If a group of people is overrepresented in a field or discipline, who cares? As long as this wasn't achieved illegally, I say more power to them!
Jews are overrepresented in the professions. Did they achieve this illegally? No.
Here in California, people of East Asian heritage are vastly overrepresented in the university system. Did they achieve this illegally? No.
Many times I've witnessed firsthand the potential dangers of incompetence in our police officers.
My friend and co-blogger tried to become a LAPD police officer and scored high enough that had he been non-white, his hiring would have been guaranteed. But he was (and still is) white and was not hired. The citizens of LA lost a highly intelligent, highly competent officer with a fantastic work ethic you don't see very often because of this policy (and they inadvertently lost an underrepresented gay officer in doing this. I guess that's what happens when you treat people as mere categories).
When do the accounts in this racial and ethnic bookeeping become squared away? Who sets the criteria? As racial and ethnic identity become ever more meaningless in America (hopefully), will this all be phased out?
To compete in the atmosphere of this insanity, my own daughter (who, in going along with this nuttiness, is 3/8 Japanese, 1/4 German, 1/8 Czech, 1/8 Korean, 1/16 Jewish, 1/16 French … I added it all up … thank goodness the math worked … she's a whole person!!) was reduced to emphasizing her non-white background in her college-application essays (to give them more "color") and her Caucasian background in the racial checkbox because Asians are overrepresented in engineering programs.
I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. Oh, what the heck. I'll just say I'm a white hispanic. From now on I am Senor LukeHandCool.
In other news the Obama Administration is demanding that the Educational Testing Service increase the scores of African American and Latinos by 25 percent.
"But this administration does not seem swayed by precedent."
Or the rule of law. Heh. It is always ALWAYS about race with this administration. Post-partisan, post-racial, my eye.
We have a post re: the Dept. of INjustice and the FDNY–this stuff is spreading despite the New Haven case–at One of Nine.
btw, if you are curious about what i wrote about the ricci case, here you go.
http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-ricci-v-desteffano-aka-new-haven.html
language warning, though.
It's time for the states to start telling the fed where to stick it.
While it's bad enough what this says about our current idea of Justice, this is even a worse reflection on our (liberal orthodox) public education system which was originally intended to impart a common culture and approach to reasoning. Presumably, most or all of these applicants have HS diplomas or GEDs, so we either must be graduating and credentialing morons, or there is a troubling divergence by ethinicity of approaches to basic logic and knowledge.
Are there any sample Civil Service tests used for police and fire department applicants that the rest of us can look at and determine for ourselves if they're unfairly biased toward Caucasian rocket science?
Hmmmm … maybe we need Presidential exams
neo
how about presidential constitutional law exams.
Question 1: can the federal government force you to buy broccoli?
A: no.
question 2: are you allowed to enforce the law unequally according to race?
A: no.
Can we import Mr Foward down here to be the head of the State NAACP where I live? I swear he'd be a breath of fresh air. Down here, a move like that would have been applauded by the NAACP.
Good that you all agree…. Lower the hoop? Oh, I get it… that was a good metaphor since the article is about black people and, heck, now that you mention it, the President is black people too. Nice to be post-racist. What's that like?
Obviously, the police need to be competent, but have you investigated the finer points like cultural bias etc on the test? How well do you need to read to be a cop? Probably not as well as you to do to take the test (in the alotted time).