Tossing out Chicago cop exam is a ridiculous idea

Tossing out cop exam is a ridiculous idea

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1983808,CST-EDT-esther11.article

 
January 11, 2010

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA

Slap me on the back, pals, I've come up with a brilliant plan to solve the persistent problem of the lack of enough highly qualified high school math teachers to train the scientists and engineers of tomorrow: Let's not ask potential math teachers to pass the state's required-for-certification test in mathematics.

Problem solved.

Also, a recent study by a Columbia Law School professor has found that despite the push to diversify the student body in law schools to better reflect our nation's multicultural population, both the percentage and the number of black and Mexican-American law students remains low and has actually declined in the last few years. Let's fix that one right here and now, too: Throw out the Law School Admission Test.

While we're at it, the country has a shortage of family-practice doctors -- the real money is in orthopedic surgery these days. So let's just drop the board certification requirement for doctors going into primary care.

What, you don't like the reasoning here? Maybe because the idea is stupid. Simplistic and lazy in that it doesn't fix -- or even address -- the problem of finding ways to get more qualified people of a certain background into a particular profession. It merely sidesteps the problem while creating bigger problems. It doesn't take a genius to see that the cure in each case is far worse than the ailment it's intended to heal.

So why would anyone even consider creating a police corps that reflects our fine city's diverse populace by just tossing the entrance exam? Faced with a suddenly intolerable 54 percent Caucasian police force, sources told two Sun-Times reporters, that's exactly what City Hall seriously is considering.

Oh, we're told, there would be other benefits if the city were to eliminate the police entrance exam. Besides making it easier to hire minority officers, the city would be spared the considerable expense of providing and scoring the test, and it would avoid costly legal challenges by those who fail the exam.

My favorite cops called me the day the story ran. They were incredulous, disgusted, offended and angry.

But the angriest messages I got were not from police officers ticked off that this scheme to maybe drop the entrance exam basically represents a lowering of the high standards they had to meet in order to become one of Chicago's finest. They had to work to become members of the second-largest police department in the United States, a department, I might add, that in the last three years has had to deal with several embarrassing situations of violence and brutality against civilians.

Nope, the people I heard from most were multiracial, multi-ethnic and multi-mad at the implication that minorities are such dolts that the only way to integrate a homogenous organization with high standards is to drop those standards.

"Condescension is the worst form of discrimination," one woman wrote to me, angered by the ridiculous claim that creating a rigorous test that is fair to anyone of any gender, culture or color would be too much of a burden.

Could it really be true that becoming one of the easiest police departments in the country to slide into -- few other police departments, and none in major cities, lack an entrance test -- is preferable to putting in the time and effort to becoming a pioneer in culturally sensitive, cognitively arduous police entrance exams for a diverse 21st century police force?

The word "laughingstock" comes to mind.

As does Groucho Marx's famous condemnation, which will ring in the ears of Chicago police veterans and future cops if this plan is adopted: "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member."

Comments

[Rick Biesada]

This seems like a no brainer, Superintendent Weis, wait until the military personal come home and take the exam like everybody else physically there, but allow them points for their service.
This way you have an actual applicant physically there to eliminate fraud, and save the tax payers money by not having to hire a "Blue Ribbon Committe," to investigate test fraud.

I took the police exam back in the sixties when it was tough. I believe they allowed us 4 hours to complete the test at Wells High School, and you couldn't leave the room.

The purpose of the test was to test your ability to critically think, so you could make life saving decisions out on the street.

Police officers have to deal with all aspects of life. They have to know about self defense, marksmanship, hazardous materials, first aid, criminal and civil law, and to be conscious of their terrain, just to name a few duties which require critical thinking.
The Chicago Police Department, as good as it is, still has too much corruption assigning patronage jobs to the friends and relatives of these useless eaters we have serving as public officials.

Any idiot who thinks that diversity beats integrity, doesn't deserve to wear a sheild. Maybe that's why the crime rate is so high in our city. Maybe that's why our schools are war zones, and maybe we should start testing foreign nationals to replace the simple minded, Chicago Police Hierarchy?

[Esther J. Cepeda]

Responding to another columnists' piece, police Supt. Jody P. Weis wrote this Letter to the Editor about the exam:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/letters/1990161,CST-EDT-vox14.article

"Replacing police exam isn't about race

Jan 14, 2010

The Chicago Sun-Times column by Neil Steinberg on Jan. 8 ["Diversity Goal Puts Police to the Test"] makes an incorrect assumption about why the City of Chicago has discussed replacing the police entrance exam with an application. Let me be clear: Race is not one of the reasons why it is under discussion. In fact, the current test already has an 85 percent pass rate, so it doesn't have a disparate impact on any minority group.

Rather, our discussions have been about figuring out how active-duty military personnel, who are serving our country with distinction and valor across the globe, can apply for the position of Chicago Police officer. Right now, applicants taking the test have to be in the city when it is administered -- something that is not an option for those currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or stationed at military bases elsewhere. In addition, every aspect of the current entrance exam is covered in other areas of the application process, so the opportunity exists to streamline the procedure.

The city explored the option of administering the test online, but no vendor responded to the request for proposals. At this point the discussions continue and no decision has been made. However, I felt it necessary to come forward with the facts before the idea of replacing the test is mislabeled any further. In these challenging times, we need to seek new and creative ways to open the application process to the men and women serving our country overseas. At the same time, we must show our willingness to go beyond the status quo if improvements can be made.

Supt. Jody P. Weis,

Chicago Police Department"

[Patrick Haran]

Good for you Esther. Right on the money again.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=521667679]

Aren't you missing the whole point as to whether the exams test anything related to policing? BTW, I did well on the LSAT but I know two people who are ridiculously smart and did not do so well.

Does licensing really equal quality conotrol? Perhaps it's a way of keeping the hordes out and "us" in.