I guess the lib-labs and minority rights-groups have ruined another institution! I do not think that standardized tests are racist-some folks just want a free ride on my graciousness and tax-dollars...get a load of this! Take the test that the ACLU/NAACP types hate! Cant catch a break from the white man!
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories...341&ran=236728
VIRGINIA BEACH — At least three local police departments – Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News – use the same math exam for new recruits that the U.S. Justice Department said discriminates against black and Hispanic applicants in Virginia Beach.
The Justice Department has been investigating Chesapeake police for possible discrimination in hiring since 2004, but City Attorney Ron Hallman said Thursday that the city has not received any notice of the inquiry’s result.
In a letter released Wednesday, the Justice Department said Virginia Beach “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination” against blacks and Hispanics who applied to be police officers. The only evidence cited was results of the math exam.
Black and Hispanic applicants in Virginia Beach fared worse than white applicants on the math portion of the National Police Officer Selection Test, according to the letter.
Background:
Police, fire departments in Beach probed for racial bias Quiz: Test yourself with five sample questions. Would you pass? Document: PDF file with the five sample questions - (441 KB; right-click link to save document to your computer)
A score of 70 percent is considered passing in Virginia Beach. From 2002 to mid-2005, about 85 percent of white applicants passed the math exam, compared with 59 percent of blacks and 66 percent of Hispanics.
Pass-fail numbers from Chesapeake are not directly comparable to Virginia Beach’s because Chesapeake requires an average of 70 percent on all four parts of the test, including math.
On Jan. 21, Chesapeake administered its first police recruit test in two years. About 92 percent of white applicants passed the test as a whole, compared with 77 percent of blacks and 77 percent of Hispanics.
Numbers from Hampton also are not directly comparable to Virginia Beach’s. In that city, 216 people took the written recruit test last year – including the math portion – and 9 percent failed.
Of the 20 applicants who failed, 13 – or about 65 percent – were minorities.
Pass-fail figures were not available Thursday from Newport News.
In other local cities:
nSuffolk does not use the same test as Virginia Beach.
nNorfolk recruits do not take a math test.
nPortsmouth police said its recruits take a math test, but it was not available for review Thursday.
The Justice Department’s letter to Virginia Beach does not say how the math test discriminates against blacks and Hispanics; it only cites results.
David J. Palmer, chief of the Justice Department’s employment litigation section in Washington, wrote the letter. He did not return a call Thursday seeking comment.
Virginia Beach officials do not think the math test is biased, but they plan to try reaching an agreement with the Justice Department.
“If we need to change something about what we are doing to make that happen and still get qualified applicants, we’ll do it,” Police Chief A.M. “Jake” Jacocks Jr. said.
Stanard & Associates Inc. of Chicago developed the test in 1991. Company President Steve Allscheid said the company has not received any complaints about the validity of the test.
He compared the math section to a basic eighth-grade math exam. “I don’t think it is culturally biased,” he said.
In a 2003 study, about 94 percent of whites, 72 percent of blacks and 82 percent of Hispanics scored at least 70 percent on the math exam nationally, Allscheid said. All of those numbers are better than the pass rates in Virginia Beach.
Henry Duchene Jr., 57, a retired deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California, took the math test in Virginia Beach last year and passed. He said the problems could be done without a pencil and paper.
He later decided not to join the Virginia Beach police force.
Duchene, who is Hispanic, said, “If I did not score 99 percent, I would be disappointed. I don’t see how math can discriminate against anyone.”
He said the Justice Department’s findings send a bad message that Hispanics cannot compete. “How much lower do you need to lower standards to give people guns to protect us?” Duchene said.
It is not uncommon for the Justice Department to threaten police forces that do not reflect their communities racially. In at least two cases – in New York State in 1986 and Louisiana in 1996 – officials created new entrance exams to avoid costly lawsuits.
In Louisiana, the state also created a plan that included recruiting more minorities and remedial hiring of black troopers.
The Justice Department said it will delay suing Virginia Beach until March 7, to give the city time to negotiate a settlement.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by DamnYouMSN
If I remember correctly, George Bush was president in 2004.
