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State Police flunking the minorities they recruit Tests and background checks foil effort
Star Ledger ^

Posted on 07/25/2006 10:13:44 PM PDT by Coleus

On Friday, 102 men and women are expected to walk across the stage at the State Police training academy in Sea Girt, collect their badges and join the ranks of New Jersey's top law enforcement agency. This latest batch of graduating troopers looks like many of the previous classes, but less and less like the state they will serve. Seventy-nine of the 102 are white men.

Seven years and millions of dollars after the State Police conceded their minority recruiting efforts were "significantly flawed" and pledged improvement, the race and gender makeup of the rank and file remains effectively unchanged. A Star-Ledger analysis of recruiting data since 1999 shows more minorities and women than ever are applying for the force but are being rejected because they fail admission tests at disproportionately higher rates.

This rejection, according to the newspaper's analysis, occurs at various stages of the multitiered selection process: Hispanics and black candidates failed the background check at least three times more often than white applicants; women were nearly three times as likely as men to fail the physical; seven in 10 black applicants didn't pass the written test. Why the failures persist and how to fix them have perplexed four successive attorneys general and four State Police superintendents. And they linger despite an overhaul of the recruiting and testing process, the hiring of outside consultants to grade applicants, and regular monitoring by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which sued the state a decade ago to address the issue.

In the past decade, the state's minority population has steadily risen and now hovers near 35 percent. By 2025, Census estimates indicate, almost half of New Jersey's residents will be members of minorities.

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Delaware; US: Florida; US: Indiana; US: New Jersey; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: affirmativeaction; diversity; donutwatch; leo; njsp; quotasystems; statepolice; statetrooper
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The Indiana State Police this year lowered their educational standards to allow high school graduates to apply. Virginia Beach, Va., police retooled the math portion of its entry exam this spring after the U.S. Justice Department concluded the test was unfair to minorities. And Delaware last summer paid $1.4 million to settle claims its state police test discriminated against African-Americans.
1 posted on 07/25/2006 10:13:46 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus

No problemo. Just get a copy of New Orlean's exam.


2 posted on 07/25/2006 10:24:25 PM PDT by Dumpster Baby ("Hope somebody finds me before the rats do .....")
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To: Coleus

Looks like they have to lower their standards to meet some artificial standard. At least they've apparently held the line so far. Fat, weak, illiterate cops who have a checkered past are not exactly what one wants on the force.


3 posted on 07/25/2006 10:24:34 PM PDT by DuxFan4ever
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To: Coleus

New Jersey should fill a selected quota of the State Police with blacks, hispanics, and women by some kind of lottery system. Select a quota, then start pulling names out of a hat until the number is reached. Who cares? Then, test the white men and fill the remainder of the roll with qualified officers.

Finally, assign the white officers to predominantly white areas and the minority officers to predominantly minority areas. Case closed, issue resolved!


4 posted on 07/25/2006 10:25:30 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Coleus

I truly don't understand how a test can descriminate. I can understand how the school systems these minorities are coming from can do a bad job of teaching though.


5 posted on 07/25/2006 10:26:18 PM PDT by phoenix0468 (http://www.mylocalforum.com -- Go Speak Your Mind.)
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To: Coleus

Back in the 70s, I was part of the dumbing down process that affected the fire service in Massachusetts. After changing the test several times to make it more "relevant"; the passing grade was dropped to 30 to accomodate the court mandate.
How incredibly sad it is that admission standards and test
results have to be changed, instead of the APPLICANT changing.

Richard


6 posted on 07/25/2006 10:27:44 PM PDT by oldcapecodder
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To: phoenix0468

Blame Clinton

Too much Midnight Basketball

While they were shootin' hoops the other kids were studying at home.


7 posted on 07/25/2006 10:28:21 PM PDT by Coleus (Abortion and Euthanasia, Don't Democrats just kill ya!)
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Asians are no longer Asian according to the USMC, and probably the other Armed Forces.

they're white. too many standardized tests getting screwed up when they were considered minorities.


8 posted on 07/25/2006 10:31:48 PM PDT by KneelBeforeZod (I have five dollars for each of you)
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To: oldcapecodder

From what I understand, some states changed their civil service fire test years ago because a certain minority group was afraid of going through a tunnel that wasn't lit (it was supposed to simulate a fire where one has to work in conditions without light).

Now we have women firefighters who can't open up a fire hydrant and are too weak to operate the nozzle of the hose. They can't carry out a brother fireman and it's the men who are forced into sensitivity training. Who loses? The fire department and the taxpayers.


9 posted on 07/25/2006 10:32:03 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: Coleus
They can't figure it out huh? It couldn't be that women in general are less physically fit then men, that hispanics and blacks commit more crimes than their white counter parts hence they fail the background check and that the people who are failing the written test are simply not qualified to take them let alone pass them.

This doesn't seem hard for me to figure out.

You fix it by fixing the social problems that are responsible for the higher crime rate and the lower school performances of hispanics and blacks and you admit that all women are not the physical equal of all men, of course that would be admitting that the liberal way of thinking sucks and they are wrong about many things and this thinking is directly responsible for these so called "problems". We couldn't have that, so naturally they will lower the standards and make sure NJ gets a sub standard police force.

10 posted on 07/25/2006 10:35:30 PM PDT by calex59 (The '86 amnesty put us in the toilet, now the senate wants to flush it!)
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To: calex59
They can't figure it out huh? It couldn't be that women in general are less physically fit then men, that hispanics and blacks commit more crimes than their white counter parts hence they fail the background check and that the people who are failing the written test are simply not qualified to take them let alone pass them. This doesn't seem hard for me to figure out.

But it's not fair.

/liberal idiocy

11 posted on 07/25/2006 10:37:29 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Coleus

I once applied to the Orange Co. Sheriff's Dept. about 17 or so years ago (after having worked 12 years for the L.A. Co. Sheriff's Dept.- I applied to appease a woman didn't really want the job).

After passing the written test, I was scheduled to take the physical agility test. I passed but at the end of the test, one of the people in charge commented "well you passed, but the times weren't all that great".

I commented back, that well, most of these turkeys are young studs still in the military, while I am an old fart. I'm also working on a broken foot that was diagnosed last week as being worse than when first broken 3 months ago, and my hand (removing a glove) was put back together by a plastic surgeon less than a month ago.

He said you must really want this job, and I said no, it would be a serious cut in pay for me, but I made a promise I'd apply and do my best. She didn't last either. The point of this is that Law enforcement EVERYWHERE has lowered their standards to recruit minorities. If an (old fart) like I was could pass, almost anyone could.


12 posted on 07/25/2006 10:42:10 PM PDT by stumpy
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To: oldcapecodder

It's all just part of the 'dumbing down of America'. And if it continues, it will be our downfall. Just another example of how liberalism is destroying our country.


13 posted on 07/25/2006 10:43:39 PM PDT by XenaLee
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To: All
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAN BE FATAL


Remember Alan Bakke who applied to medical school and was bumped because of a quota system?

The guy who bumped him, Dr. Bernard Chavis, just recently lost his medical license for Malpractice.
14 posted on 07/25/2006 10:50:02 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: Coleus
Virginia Beach, Va., police retooled the math portion of its entry exam this spring after the U.S. Justice Department concluded the test was unfair to minorities.

Those kinds of statements are so insulting.

Btw, an example of a truly effective cop, imho, would be one of the Septa subway cops I remember in Philly. He was about 6'9" tall, black, and built like a brick wall. His presence alone was enough to keep order.

They should do away with the quotas and just hire qualified people.

15 posted on 07/25/2006 10:50:50 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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To: Tired of Taxes

They should do away with the quotas and just hire qualified people. >>>

That's the best way. It would make life easier and better.


16 posted on 07/25/2006 10:53:31 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: calex59
From the article:

Next comes a background check for criminal convictions and motor vehicle violations, plus verification of a candidate's financial stability, educational records, housing and employment history.... The background checks disqualified nearly half of all black candidates and a third of Hispanics.

The background checks are more than criminal history. I would think someone with serious criminal history wouldn't even apply to begin with, anyway. Hope they're not encouraging them to.

17 posted on 07/25/2006 10:55:44 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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To: Coleus

I meant to go further with that statement: They should do away with government ethnic/racial "classifications" altogether. There should be only two classifications: (1) U.S. citizen and (2) Not a U.S. citizen.


18 posted on 07/25/2006 11:03:06 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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To: Coleus
This latest batch of graduating troopers looks like many of the previous classes, but less and less like the state they will serve.

Ah the old "must look like the state/people they will represent" canard. Presumably they need black officers to deal with black citizens, Chinese officers to deal with Chinese citizens, etc. It is in fact a perfect and clear statement of pure racism.

19 posted on 07/25/2006 11:07:48 PM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: DuxFan4ever

Hey, it worked for years in the Fulton County (Atlanta)Courthouse.

Bloated grannies running around with plasitc pistols jutting from their Uncle Mike's duty belt are supposed to protect me from myself and all the bad people out there?

Put the grannies at a desk, in the files, on the radio or at the coffee maker. Send the athletic, illiterate thugs over to SWAT. They'll fit right in. The unathletic, illiterate thugs have a future at the DEA, BATF or the TSA. Those with a poor work ethic and a sense for office politics should apply to the ICE. Anyone not meeting these exact criteria (able to read and do addition), but having an overbearing personality with an overvalued sense of self could have a future with the FBI or CIA.

See. There is no problem. Instead of trying to be a state trooper with funny pants, a weirdly painted car and an odd hat, the applicants should aim higher.


20 posted on 07/25/2006 11:10:24 PM PDT by 308MBR ( "She pulled up her petticoat, and I pulled out for Tulsa!" Abstinence training from Bob Wills.)
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