The DOJ is targeting police and fire departments with lawsuits, accusing them of discriminating against black and female applicants.

From Daily Caller. A recent string of lawsuits by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against police and fire departments could serve as a blueprint for erasing physical and mental standards in the name of equity.

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Who is praying on the wall?

The DOJ settled two lawsuits and filed a third against local departments in October accusing them of discrimination after black applicants disproportionately failed to pass cognitive written tests and female applicants struggled to pass physical tests. …

The three lawsuits, all filed within weeks of each other, could be just the start as a Harris administration would accelerate the process “10x,” one expert told the Daily Caller.

Under an early October settlement, Maryland’s State Police (MDSP) will pay previously denied applicants over $2.75 million in backpay after the DOJ launched a probe into “racially discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.”

The DOJ complaint alleges MDSP’s use of a written test called the Police Officer Selection Test (POST) “disproportionately excluded African-American applicants” and that its use of the Functional Fitness Assessment Test (FFAT) “disproportionately excluded female applicants.”

Of the twelve academy classes that MDSP has graduated since 2017, 91% of their white applicants passed the POST compared to only 71 percent of black applicants, according to the DOJ. …

Additionally, the FFAT, which consists of push-up and sit-up tests, a 1.5 mile run and a flexibility test, saw a markedly lower pass rate for female applicants. Men passed at an 81 percent clip while women only passed 51 percent of the time since 2017, according to the DOJ.

The tests, the complaint argues, “are not job related or consistent with business necessity.”

Law enforcement officers, however, disagreed.

“It’s important that they have to catch bad guys. It’s important that they’re in good shape, that they have standards,” Klickitat County, Washington, Sheriff Bob Songer told the Daily Caller. …

Less than a week after Maryland’s settlement, Durham Fire Department also settled with the DOJ over a similar claim. The DOJ alleged “that the City’s fire department screens applicants with a written test that discriminates against Black candidates.”

Durham’s written test, the Comprehensive Examination Battery (CEB), also “disproportionately excluded African-American applicants from employment,” according to the DOJ complaint.

As a result, Durham will issue $980,000 in backpay to previously denied applicants and use a new test. …

If Maryland and Durham’s tests are considered racist and sexist, hundreds of other departments across the country could find themselves exposed by the same standard.

Police departments nationwide have used the POST test named in the Maryland State Police lawsuit. Departments in states ranging from California to Tennessee have posted practice POST tests online for incoming applicants to study with. Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Police appear to still use the test, even uploading a practice POST test on their website as recently as 2022.

The DOJ’s lawsuits allege the use of the tests violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — specifically a standard known as “disparate impact.”

Title VII prohibits employers from engaging in any explicit discrimination. But it also bars employers from hiring practices “that seem neutral but have the effect of discriminating against people because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin.”

In other words, disparate impact is when different groups have different outcomes when being given the same test. Proponents argue the inequal outcomes are evidence of bias even if everyone is taking the same test.

Jeremy Carl, a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute and author of “The Unprotected Class” calls disparate impact “an absurd doctrine.” …

While outfits like Durham and Maryland caved, one city is fighting back.

In Indiana, after the South Bend Police Department learned of the DOJ’s impending lawsuit (through the DOJ’s press release), they vowed to “vigorously defend” against the pending action.

“The South Bend Police Department believes its screening process fairly measures a candidate’s ability to perform the job,” SBPD wrote in an Oct. 11 Facebook post. “Like every other city in Indiana, South Bend must ensure its officers meet certain minimum criteria.” …

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(Excerpt from Daily Caller. Photo Credit: Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay)