The Department of Justice is suing South Bend, Indiana’s police department over standards they argue disproportionately bar women and black people from entry, impeding efforts to diversify the police force.
The Daily Caller reports:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday announced a lawsuit against South Bend, Indiana. In their court filing, the DOJ accused the South Bend Police Department of creating a physical fitness test that discriminates against female candidates and a written test that discriminates against African-American candidates, allegedly because both groups were passing at considerably lower rates than their male and white counterparts, respectively.
Many argue that the standards for entering a police force shouldn’t be altered to increase diversity, because in doing so, there’s increased likelihood of admitting people without the physical or mental capabilities to protect and serve those who need it, and the job necessitates quick thinking as well as vigorous physical activity.
Following the riots, protests and debates concerning police brutality in 2020, many argue that lowering standards to increase diversity only heightens the probability of negative outcomes that either endanger civilians or cops themselves.
Assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement, “Equal employment opportunity is critical to ensuring that law enforcement agencies do not unfairly exclude otherwise eligible job applicants based on discriminatory practices. Discriminatory barriers that deny qualified Black and female applicants the opportunity to be police officers violate civil rights and undermine public safety efforts. The Justice Department is committed to equal access to employment opportunities in the policing sector so that all qualified applicants have a fair chance to protect and serve their communities.”
The Daily Caller continues:
Since at least 2016, the South Bend Police Department (SBPD) has used a physical fitness test to screen candidates that consists of six activities, including a vertical jump, sit-ups, 300-meter run, push-ups, 1.5-mile run, and a pistol trigger pull, according to the lawsuit. From 2016 through August 2019, roughly 87.6% of male applicants passed the physical test while roughly 45.5% of female applicants passed.
The SBPD’s written test consists of 120-130 multiple choice questions broken down into a total of seven sections, with applicants required to obtain a minimum score of at least 80% — a minimum that was lowered in 2017 from their previous threshold of 82%, according to the lawsuit. Since 2016, however, only about 62.8% of African-American applicants have passed the written exam while approximately 84.1% of white applicants have passed.
In another statement, the DOJ declared, “The Justice Department is seeking a court order to ensure that South Bend uses only lawful tests in its entry-level police officer hiring process. The department also seeks relief for Black and female applicants disqualified by the challenged tests, including back pay and, for those who can successfully complete the new lawful selection process, job offers with retroactive seniority.”
The Daily Caller concludes:
The announcement of the lawsuit against South Bend follows the DOJ’s recent settlement agreement with the Maryland State Police Department, in which federal prosecutors also accused Maryland authorities of making physical fitness tests too tough for women and written tests too tough for African Americans.
I suppose they also discriminate against criminals.
Once again the Federal Government is saying that Black people are too dumb and too weak to pass multiple choice questions while at the same time they are saying that standards should be lowered in order to provide a lower level of service to the community regardless of their skills. Just because some people do not pass a test. Also, how many times must the Democrats tell Black people that they are too stupid to compete before they wake up to this scam. While us regular people are committed to “everyone is created equal” and the belief that all Americans are equal in intelligence and skills must the Democrats keep saying that some (Blacks) are not. That is the classic definition of discrimination which is against the law. Even the Federal Government should have figured that out by now.
Great idea. They should just keep reducing the level of the exams until 95% of anyone who takes the exam will qualify. Who cares of an applicant has any of the physical attributes required for the job or the knowledge to pass the written exam. Just because both of those may be required to save the life of a fellow officer one day.