Does the Chesapeake Police Department entrance exam discriminate against blacks and Hispanics?
Associated Press:
The Chesapeake Police Department entrance exam discriminates against black and Hispanic applicants, according to a letter released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The findings, similar to a ruling against Virginia Beach's police department last month, stem from a discrepancy on the National Police Officer Selection Test between March 2001 and December 2005.
According to the letter, applicants needed to score at least 70 percent on the mathematics section of the test. A review of the scores showed that 57.34 percent of the black applicants passed, compared to 88.91 percent of white applicants.
The Justice Department said the test had "a significant adverse impact against both African-American applicants and Hispanic applicants." It also said that the city failed to demonstrate that its use of the mathematics test is job-related for an entry-level police officer and is necessary to do the job.
City attorney Ron Hallman told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper of Norfolk that Chesapeake leaders will meet with Department of Justice officials in the next two weeks in hopes of avoiding a civil rights lawsuit. The city received the letter March 10.
"We don't agree with it," Hallman said. "We're dealing with a standardized test here."
Officials in Chesapeake have until March 31 to come to an agreement with federal officials to avoid a civil rights lawsuit, according to the letter.
Virginia Beach officials have not yet reached a resolution with the Justice Department regarding its findings.
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posted by Adam Lawson @ 1:17 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
"We're dealing with a standardized test here."
A lot of good that kind of logic will do him! He needs to learn that logical thinking must be confined only to the taking of the test, and not applied to a discussion of the results.
It is really tragically absurd, not to mention pretty funny, the lengths officialdom will go to in order to avoid confronting the obvious reality of racially based group differences, e.g. here regarding performance on this test -- i.e. here the conclusion that the test is biased. You'd think that once the reality is recognized, i.e. that the test and the testing is really fair and the problem, if there indeed is one, is that some groups on average perform more poorly than others, then we could go about addressing any remedy (if one is needed).
Is there any way anyone can get a copy of the test?
I always wondered about the cultural bias thing until I read one of them.
Both the reading and math portions could be passed with flying colors by a bright third-grader.
The standards were so low that I feared for the future of my city. How could people unable to use basic units of measurement (feet, yards, inches) ever be considered a reliable witness. Hell, I had serious doubts aht the people who cold not pass the test could actually make an accurate written record of ANYTHING, let alone a crime.
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