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State Police's minority hiring efforts hampered

Report blames failures on tests and background checks

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/26/06

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEWARK — State Police efforts to bring in more minorities and women are being thwarted because the recruits fail admission tests and background checks at disproportionately higher rates, according to an analysis published by a newspaper.

White males make up about one-third of New Jersey's population. But four-fifths of the 2,966 active members of the State Police are white men.

The problem isn't in the numbers of minorities and women applying to join but in how they fare in admission tests and background checks, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark's analysis of recruiting data since 1999.

Of 19,723 people applying to join the force over the past seven years, 1,471 made the cut, with 1,349 choosing to report to the State Police Training Academy. White men were two to three times more likely to make it through the process, the analysis showed.

Hispanic and black candidates failed background checks at least three times more often than white candidates. Women were three times more likely than men to fail the physical. Seven of 10 black applicants didn't pass the written test.

State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes acknowledged that his agency could be doing "a lot better."

New Jersey isn't the only state where law enforcement has struggled to bring in more minorities. This year, state police in Indiana lowered their educational standards.

"The crisis is universal — and it is universal at the local, state and federal level," said Jason Abend, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based National Law Enforcement Recruiters Association.

In New Jersey, Attorney General Zulima Farber, who earlier this year became the first Hispanic to hold the office, said she's considering changing recruitment efforts once again.

Proposals might include a tutoring program to help more applicants pass the written test, and a document explaining the background check that would be distributed early in the selection process. View Article Source:
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