Posted on 04/30/2013 9:54:35 PM PDT by grundle
The city of Pittsburgh late Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that its police hiring process is discriminatory, countering that the process is not biased and some of the named plaintiffs just weren't officer material.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit last year, claiming that a process favoring relatives and friends of current police had resulted in recruit classes that included only 3 to 4 percent minorities. It blamed nearly every step of the candidate evaluation process, including the final step, a "Chief's Roundtable" of top brass.
The lawsuit has five named plaintiffs but seeks to represent a class of around 300 minority candidates for bureau posts.
The city's motion to dismiss the lawsuit said that decisions on police candidates are individualized, so a class action is inappropriate. It said the five named plaintiffs have "extremely weak individual claims" and said they were "inadequate to represent the proposed class.
"For example, in passing over [plaintiff James M.] Foster, the Roundtable determined that his 'three warrants for failing to respond to citations,' spotty employment history, and 'poor driving record which included at least nine moving violations' placed his likelihood of success on the job below the other candidates," Assistant City Solicitor Wendy Kobee wrote in the motion. "Likewise, the Roundtable determined that [plaintiff Mike J.] Sharp's admission to a long history of illicit drug use and dealing -- 'between 1996 and 2004 he smoked marijuana between 800 and 1,000 times and assisted in arranging drug deals' -- rendered him less desirable for the position of Police Officer Recruit than applicants with whom he was compared."
ACLU Pennsylvania Legal Director Witold Walczak called the city's motion "a smear devoid of reality."
"These are remarkable young men," he said of the named plaintiffs.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
The drug dealers are going to have to wait their turn. Homosexuality is all the rage now that is sweeping across the nation. Only homosexuals need apply.
Isn’t that how most undercover agents start ? Seems like having the skills would be a plus on the hiring thing. From what I read, it had more to do with him being a raging idiot than it did with drug dealing.
Yeah, abnormal sex seems all the rage these days. As our PRESidENT did today, it’s promoted as good and holy.
[ACLU wants police to hire drug dealer]
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