CHESAPEAKE
Two Chesapeake police organizations on Wednesday threatened to sue the city if it voids recent test results that would propel 30 men - none of them black - toward the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant.
Those men were the top scorers among 144 officers who took exams earlier this month to qualify for the promotions. The city became concerned because the group had so little gender and ethnic diversity, and because some of those taking the lieutenant test were given extra time to complete it. On Tuesday, the city opted to hire a consultant to review the process.
Michael Imprevento, an attorney for Chesapeake's Fraternal Order of Police and the Coalition of Police, called any interruption in the process unlawful.
"We believe that the initial test was fair and created a level playing field for all participants," he said. "If the city delays action or invalidates the procedures, we will seek legal relief. Too much is at stake for too many good people."
Thirty-six police officers took the exam for lieutenant earlier this month; none of the nine women and blacks who tested was among the top tier.
Of the 108 who took the test for sergeant, none of the 23 blacks and women scored high enough to move forward.
"That brought up questions with our human resources department," said Mark Cox, Chesapeake public communications director.
There were also concerns about a 20-minute extension given to some of those taking the test for lieutenant, the city said.
And some sergeant applicants said they were given the wrong resource materials for study.
The city initially voided the test results. City Manager William Harrell said the decision was made to hire a consultant after it was determined that no incorrect materials were handed out after the official resource lists were published July 1.
It is unclear how much the review will cost, but Harrell said he hopes it is far less than the $50,000 the city pays a consultant annually to administer tests and conduct job interviews, among other duties.
"We think that compromise is one that protects the city and those that are part of the process," Harrell said.
Imprevento disagreed.
"That's scant comfort to scores of qualified, hardworking people who are now in limbo," he said. "It further compounds the negative impact on morale that this whole issue has created. All of these officers stand together, and they all consider themselves blue."
The city has used the same promotion process now in question for "several years," Cox said. No issues were raised until this month.
Chesapeake settled a racial discrimination lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department last year alleging that a math test unfairly disqualified black and Hispanic officer applicants.
"This test involved knowledge of policies and procedures necessary to become a supervisor," Imprevento said of the promotion exams. "The same policies and procedures are available for all to review as police officers.
"It is my belief that any invalidation of these results would be based strictly on race.... The test was race-neutral."
Harrell said he hopes the review will validate the exams, "but it is a necessary legal step in our view that we verify the fact that the process is fair for all involved."
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5208, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com
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Prejudice
Nice to see that the public service in the U.S. is as sexist and racist against white men as that in Canada.
Here, for example, is the text that accompanies every job posting for the Canadian government: "The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled, diverse workforce reflective of Canadian society. As a result, it promotes employment equity and encourages candidates to indicate voluntarily on their application if they are a woman, an Aboriginal person, a person with a disability or a member of a visible minority group."
The only group of people not on this list, of course, is white men.
There's nothing fair or just about a system that excludes you from hiring because of your gender or your color.
This news story is just another example of how ridiculous it's become.
By the way, Men's Rights Page: http://www.mens-links.net/showlinks.asp?category=1
Hey Don
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. The promotional process is certainly not entirely objective and it can be (is?) manipulated to promote the desired candidates. The three person oral panal, written and practical excersises, and Chiefs board are completely subjective and open to opinion by the evaluators. They may not like the way you look, write speak, etc. and base their scores on such subjective things. The fact that there are "internal" and "external" lists allows for manipulation of who is promoted and when; i.e. if they promote one person at a time from the list the persons promoted may not have been promoted if they did multiple promotions at the same time, and vice versa. This happens because of the 2 lists. The only way to have a completely fair process is to follow the military way and base it solely on the exam results and time in service.
Misrepresentation
"sickandtired" whines about the inequities in Portsmouth but slants the facts. Go figure. He mentions that minorities score high enough to make the eligibility list for promotion. If you PASS the test, you are eligible. Then you go through the assessment. He fails to mention that we promote from the TOP of the list and it doesn't matter what race you are. Our process is done completely anonymously with the exception of a diverse panel and a one on one interview with the Chief, who during this time period was a black male. He mentions the command staff being all white males. Right now that consists of 5 people! You would have thought it was 100 the way it was portrayed. Additionally, our black police chief was let go because he was incompetant and the FOP handed him a no confidence vote. Our other highest ranking black male is in prison now for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Quit whining and go study!
Reverse Discrimination
No one would be having this discussion and there would be no news story had this been reversed.. Guaranteed.
sickantired
Comparing your comment to my comment....you are comparing apples to oranges. You are saying that all candidates meeting the MINIMUM requirements should be treated equally except for minorities who should get special treatment. I am saying that those who scored the highest should be promoted regardless of gender, race, etc. I do not know how the scores are tallied, but how do you explain to caucasion candidate "A" who scored a 98 that he/she is passed over for minority candidate "B" who scored a 91? "Sorry 'A'...good score but you are too pasty"? If candidate "A" was the minority and "B" the caucasion, then "A" gets the promotion no matter what. Where is the incentive for the caucasion candidate if he/she can not get promoted regardless of performance? Unless there is fraud involved, the highest scoring candidate should be promoted regardless of gender, race etc.
To bulldog and hubert
FYI: The ENTIRE command staff of the Portsmouth Police Department is made up of white males. And they are the ones who actually run the department. There are no minorities above the rank of SGT (and only a handfull of those.) I am not in favor of changing tests or making it easier to get promoted, but I do think that there is something wrong when folks make the cut but still cannot get the promotions they have earned. As far as the Chief, Mayor, and City Manager positions; you are comparing apples to oranges. The Mayor is elected, the CM is appointed by council, and the Chief is appointed by the CM. None of which have much influence over the "good 'ol boy" network of day to day city operations. I just think that it's a shame when qualified candidates are eligable for promotion, but it doesn't happen due to unseen forces (network maybe?) at work.
The Legal Definition
"(1) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a respondent, in connection with the selection or referral of applicants or candidates for employment or promotion, to adjust the scores of, use different cutoff scores for, or otherwise alter the results of, employment related tests on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin."
This is a quote from section 106 of the Civil Rights Act. My question to the city is if race or sex can not be used in this manner how can you legally justify identifying the race and sex of those who made the cut?
I urge anyone who is as outraged about this as I to write, call, or e-mail the members of the Chesapeake City Council and voice those concerns. This will continue until we, as those who council must answer to, stand up and tell them THIS IS WRONG!
A comment for sickandtired and others with similar views
If your child must get life-saving surgery, will you seek a surgeon that just "passed" the required exams and was advanced due to being African-American or would you prefer to have a surgeon that graduated in the top of her/his class? Similarly, If your child's life is endangered at the hands of a criminal, would you prefer to have someone making life-saving or life-loss decisions who just "passed" the exam and was advanced due to being African-American or would you want the most knowlegeable officer to be in charge? Personally, I do not care if the surgeon/police officer is pink, green, purple or whatever. I only want the best!!
Smoke screen by the city
This is not about the minority or female officers being upset about the test results. None of the officers complained about the test. This is about the three leaders involved being disappointed with the race and gender of the finalists. The city manager, the director of human resources and the police chief are all of the same race and have made it overly apparent that they want the majority of those promoted to be minorities. The three of them changed the rules when they didn't like the finalists. This is the same type of test that has always been giving. Thousands have been spent to validate the test prior to administering it. They made a mistake by allowing their reverse discrimination to be so apparent and now have tried to use the test possibly being prejudiced as a smoke screen. The test was not prejudiced. Now they are going to be sued by the white officers they openly discriminated against. The city council needs to step up and be the only ones to do the right thing! They need to replace the city manager, director of HR and the police chief. Discrimination is against the law and should not be tolerated by anyone!
The test is absolutely racist!
All of you who claim that the police promotion test was non-racist need to brush up on your own smarts. The proof of the test's racism is so blatantly obvious that a first grader could see it. Those who doubt that fact are either not very intelligent, or are living in racist denial. Allow me to spell it out for you.
The test was given to every racial group on WHITE paper! No wonder only white people passed it!
Now, aren’t you all ashamed of yourselves for not figuring that out on your own?
Reverse reverse racism in P-Town...
sickandtired said, "passed over for white males, like what appears to be happening in Portsmouth?"
During the time period you're referring to, the Police Chief, the City Manager, and the Mayor were all black people. That institutional racism is something else, isn't it? It continues to happen, even when there are no white folks around!
Testing
Again someone has NO ethics nor honesty! They have demeaned the entire police force and they have demeaned those who participated-
the news report infers that they were being discriminated against because they are something other than white! Would we see the same report if there were no white males in the selection list??
This is the real discrimnation- The report is intentionally toned to deceive everyone!
If this really is the truth then remember, the next time you need a police office you will get the least capable but they will fit the defined profile-
this is stupid! Those who decided to question the test because of the results not being what they wanted should be charged with discrimination against the well being of the public. The officers involved should arrest the fools who tried this nonsense! They have discriminated and defamed the police officers who took the test! It also infers the rest of the police department has their job not based on skill or integrity but on discrimination
SUE THEM any way and get them fired!!!!
the only way to stop these rediculous issues is to address them the same way they started IN COURT!! Go after them personnally
if ALL the top scores were
if ALL the top scores were black or they were all women they would never consider throwing out the results, yet they do if they are all white males.
That defines the words racism and sexism.
Testing
If you want to do well on a test you have to study for it...period. this applies to males, females, white, black and any combination thereof. It appears that the vast majority of people who failed this test were white males. It just so happens that the numbers of minorities and women seating for this test were very small to start with, thus giving the erroneous appearance of some type of testing bias.If their sampling group was larger, some would have passed. Leave the test alone. If you want a promotion, meet the standards.
You must be kidding!
$50,000 for a consultant would pay for another police officer on the street for year. The fees paid to these consultants is nothing but a waste of taxpayer dollars. The bottom line here is: if you didn't pass the test study harder next time. These tests should be based on merit and no other criteria. The test does not know if the person taking it is a white, black, red or purple with polka dots. It only knows whether or not the answer is correct - and if either is or it isn't. There's no in between or gray area it's either right or it's wrong. The dumbing down of America has reached epidemic proportions. The unions make it impossible to terminate incompetent teachers and this results in incompetent graduates. If you can't pass the test you don't get the promotion. End of story. Stop whining and start studying!
Wow, another racist math test
A 2+2=4 test is racist. Wow.
Two groups of people should be ashamed by this. The first group consists of the officers that didn't score high enough to move forward with their promotions. They should be embarrassed they didn't take the readily available materials and put in the time to study adequately.
The second group consists of those that seek to have the scores thrown out. Those people are looking to turn a math test into some sinister, racist, promotion blocker.
Imprevento stated, "This test involved knowledge of policies and procedures necessary to become a supervisor." If the applicants don't know the polices and procedures, they don't deserve the promotion.
Really now...
I do believe that such promotion tests are gender/race neutral. They have to be in order to be absolutely fair. The only reason if they were unfair would be if not all the test takers were given the same study guide material. Everyone in any law enforcement organization knows what to study for when they are serious about advancing in ranks. All too often, the backbone of integrity at the management levels bends and folds at any perception of discrimination based on gender, race, or creed. In law enforcement, integrity and smarts define the best of officer, deputies, and troopers. Law enforcement is stressful enough as it is for a job or career for anyone to have. Why impose uncalled for stress and morale corruption on smart and qualified personnel just because of deficiencies among their peers. Go figure - if you modify the tests just to counter gender/race deficiencies in qualifying numbers, what measure of integrity is brought forth?! Do not promote unqualified personnel because of perceived dicrimination. Doing so only fosters contuation of discriminating perceptions and the old "cry discrimination" card.
Reality Check
I just don't get it? CPD just elevated a very talented, hard working, community oriented black man to be chief, just elevated an outstanding black man to the posistion of Major and a Hispanic to posisiton of Major, and just promoted 2 qualified black men to Captain. What's the problem?
Problems with testing?
We can avoid all of this nonsense. I can only speak for the Navy way (18 years active duty now), but I can tell you that there is absolutely no problem with the way the advancement exams are written and/or administered twice a year. In fact, the test writers are holding exam re-writes as we speak for the next batch of future exams. All they do is request subject matter experts to attend the conference and then the current exams are reviewed and re-written. Because of this process, diversity reigns throughout, and there is no question as to the integrity of the writers, etc... It's an easy fix, and nobody has to re-invent the wheel here. Sometimes it's o.k. to ask for help, even if we're all grown up.
Police promotion
My neighbor is a police officer in Chesapeake and she is completely humiliated by what has occurred with this promotional process. The over reaction by Human Resourses in challenging the validity of the test has cast a cloud over her intelligence. I hope this is not an underhanded way to retest, so women and minorities get a second chance to advance unfairly. We already know what Mr. Harrell's stance is on minority hiring. I guess his stance is the same on minority promotions. It's time for city council to get involved and clear up this mess.
Not Just Chesapeake
Portsmouth Police has a similar situation, but with one HUGE difference. Over the past two years many promotions have been made within the department and all of the promotions were of white males. That is the commonality with Chesapeake. The difference is that there were/are minorities and females who passed the exam for SGT, LT, and CPT. These women/minorities scored high enough on the exam and following assesments (oral board, performance,practical excercises, etc.) to make the eligability list for promotions. The administration, however, has only promoted white males from the list. Coincidence or sinister? Chesapeake Officers should suck it up and study so that they can pass the exam. But what happens if they do and are still passed over for white males, like what appears to be happening in Portsmouth?
Just goes to show
that our society really has come to accept less from each other and many folks think that is acceptable. It starts as children where everyone gets a trophy even the bench warmers. It's not acceptable to foster competition or expect the best from people. As a police officer you should already know many if not all of the codes policies etc. If you are out there citing people and writing tickets you better know this stuff. So, it's not like these tests consisted of stuff that was never seen before?..... Just to re-iterate what another poster said today why are we not including the other white officers who didn't pass the test either. I'm not hearing anything about how it was unfair for them?....
Lastly, in reference to the poster before me commenting on the incorrect materials being given out, if you kept reading this is what the Pilot went on to say.
The city initially voided the test results. City Manager William Harrell said the decision was made to hire a consultant after it was determined that no incorrect materials were handed out after the official resource lists were published July 1.
No incorrect material was given out. Sounds like a middle school excuse to me. But
Was never mentioned because
it was answered in the next paragraph.
And some sergeant applicants said they were given the wrong resource materials for study.
The city initially voided the test results. City Manager William Harrell said the decision was made to hire a consultant after it was determined that no incorrect materials were handed out after the official resource lists were published July 1.
Clearly states that consultant was hired after it was deteremined that NO INCORRECT MATERIALS WERE HANDED OUT.
And it was probably a poor excuse to try and get out the test results voided. So the people who didn't do well could try again, without penalty. And your right...not all the people who didn't make it were women and black..i'm sure some white males didn't make the top percentage either. They just don't look at that, hopefully the consultat will be more clear in that fact when he fixes this mess.
????
We have un-qualified Candidates for President (Obama) and Vice-Pres (Palin)..........so why should Police Officer's be any different?
This Test was based on Policies and Procedure's, most of which the Officer's should already know.
What will be the end result if we KEEP 'dumbing down' EVERYTHING ?
Rainman and Radio responding to an armed robbery behind the wheel of a HIGH POWERED 3000 lb. car and w/ loaded weapons...............
Get my 'perps' @ K Mart ?
not so fast
No one has even mentioned the following statement from the article:
"And some sergeant applicants said they were given the wrong resource materials for study."
So, how can you have a fair test if this is the case? If resource materials are provided to all applicants, the material should be the same and relevant to the test. I think at a minimum this should be investigated for validity.
Pay Attention People
The PD did not question the test results, HR did. The Pilot said blacks & women failed. They didn't. They just didn't score in the 90's which is where the cutoff was due to EVERYONE doing so well. They studied & prepared, some more than others. There were other minorities besides blacks & women who took the test too. Do Latinos, Asians, etc. not count? Let's stop with the slant, Pilot. As for the Chief, he did take the Sgt's test, Lt's test, Cpt's assessment center, was appointed to Major & then Chief. He also EARNED a BA & a Master's degree & is pursuing a Doctorate. Oh, & he is an Adjunct Professor at TCC. How about you? How do you measure up? If you think you can do a better job than our finest, applications are available on line.
d.e.'s post
Funny how that never comes up isn't it? After they spend that rediculous $50k to find the answers they already know, they'll still have the same problems. Then they'll spend another rediculous amount to redo the test. Why not just give in, promote the ones who don't deserve it and keep the money. It's gonna happen anyway. If NO ONE were passing the test, then I'd say there was a problem....but obviously that's not the case here.
It started way back
I work for the federal government. This affirmative action nonsense started well back in the 70's. I have watched a steady decline over thirty two years as unqualified individuals were promoted to meet quotas. Of course, these quotas were/are repeatedly denied to exist by our managers. This disease has eaten into every facid of our lives today. Don't want to work? Drop the race card. Don't want to study to pass a math test? Drop the race card. Want that promotion without deserving it? Drop the race card. Don't want to take responsibility for your own destiny? Drop the race card. It is absolutely sickening that some many have rolled over and accepted this trite. Who needs reparations? Our society has been paying that out for thirty plus years now. Here's an idea that bears repeating althought it falls on deaf ears. Earn it and it could be yours! Oh darn, I just got labeled a racist...again.
Oh Please, Get Real
Do not dummy down or adjust the tests. Since when has been necessary to adjust the process to cater to minorities and women? For a while, in reality, it has been the way to advance personnel who don't test well due to quota's. That creates an environment of resentment that less qualified people are being advanced and being put in charge. Barack Obama talks about the hard work and long studying that help him get ahead and to where he is now and that should key to any promotion. Get Real and do not block the advancement of the Police Officers who worked hard to do well on the exams. Don't retreat Mike, your support of LE is appreciated by this common citizen.
This Obama voting Democrat doesn't approve of minority quotas.
A Few Month Ago
The CPD promoted two minority officers earlier this year. One was promoted to Lieutenant and the other to a Major. Majors are promoted by the Chief, not by a test. I didn't hear anyone saying that was a biased promotion. So, was the Lieutenants test different at that time? This is not a secret, it was on TV and in the Pilot. At the same time the Chief appointed a second Deputy Chief. Why so? Is the current Deputy Chief not qualified or able to do the job? That additional position is most likely costing the city about $100,000. And now, they want to spend $50,000 to find out if the test that a black male passed two years ago, which promoted him to Lieutenant is any different than the test that no black men or any women passed this time???? Maybe CPD lowered it's hiring standards a bit too much and now it's showing?