PrintThey’re coming after your cops
We all witnessed the stunning ineptitude of the U.S. Secret Service in Butler, PA on July 13, not only from poor security planning but watching Trump be escorted off the stage by a few men physically capable of doing the job and a few short and rotund women who demonstrated no real capacity to handle the job under pressure, much less holster a weapon.
What did we learn from this? Apparently, nothing, because Biden’s DOJ is now busy coming after your local police organizations. As recently as last Friday, Biden’s DOJ is suing South Bend for discriminatory practices in hiring its police officers. According to the complaint:
As detailed below, the United States alleges that the City of South Bend, Indiana (‘South Bend’), through the South Bend Police Department (‘SBPD’) (collectively referred to as ‘Defendant’), has used and continues to use a written test and physical fitness test (‘PFT’) to screen and select applicants for police officer positions at SBPD. From at least 2016 to the present, Defendant has used a written test that disproportionately excludes African-American applicants and a PFT that disproportionately excludes female applicants. Defendant’s use of these tests is not job related or consistent with business necessity. Defendant has therefore violated Title VII by engaging in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-American and female applicants in its police officer selection procedures.
Yes, this is Mayor Pete’s South Bend, where he was the mayor between 2016 and 2020. The last time a Republican was the mayor in South Bend was 1972.
I cannot think of a job within the responsibility of a local taxing district that demands more quick-thinking, quick-acting courage than police and fire. How would one find people with these talents? One might consider a physical test (PFT), where one might have to chase down a criminal, therefore one might have to be able to run quickly and have some endurance. Or, coming upon the scene of an accident, one might have to lift heavy objects to save a life or control an angry crowd with physical force if necessary. South Bend currently requires:
The PFT requires applicants to perform six activities, including a vertical jump, sit-ups, 300-meter run, push-ups, 1.5-mile run, and a pistol trigger pull. To pass the PFT, candidates must meet specific standards for each of the six PFT components.
Afterward, reports must be filed and an officer might have to testify in court what they saw, what they did, and what others did. The officer will have to testify that he or she had decisions to make with no time to spare, and be able to discern the best decision at the time among all the complex variables on the scene. All of this requires a degree of language, observation, and memory skills. How would one find people with these skills? Perhaps a written test like South Bend requires:
The written test includes 120-130 multiple choice questions broken down into seven sections: (1) Learn and Apply Knowledge; (2) Observe and Accurately Describe Events and Objects; (3) Remember Identifying Information; and (4) Remember Shapes and Spatial Relationships; (5) Complete Routine Forms; (6) Grammar; and (7) Spelling.
But apparently that invites discrimination since people of all genders, races, abilities, disabilities, intelligence, whether you have a bald head or hair on your knuckles, etc. must be able to pass the physical and written tests at the same proportion as whatever the makeup of the community might be. Smart people and stupid people must be able to pass at the same rate, or it is discrimination. Physically fit people can only pass at the same rate as someone who spent their childhood watching cartoons from the couch and eating Cheetos, or it is discrimination.
Frankly, I will be the first to admit that many women would have a harder time passing the same physical fitness test as men, given the same degree of advanced physical training, but South Bend’s PFT is not impossible. I gave a friend her first swimming lesson 10 years ago shortly after she gave birth to her twins, and painfully watched her dismal performance in her first triathlons. But she kept at it and we trained together for a half Ironman some years ago, where she handily cleaned my clock with a spectacular performance. She is now one of the top female triathletes in the world competing annually in World Championship Ironman. Can women pass this PFT if they work at it? Of course, and I would believe we would want them to if their duty is to SERVE AND PROTECT.
As for “…a written test that disproportionately excludes African-American applicants,” well, that statement is discriminatory because there is no scientific proof whatsoever that “African-Americans” have naturally diminished mental capacity over any other ethnicity and for that, the DOJ should itself be sued.
