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DOJ: Criminal Background Checks, Citizenship Requirements Barriers to Police-Force Diversity
CNS News ^ | October 5, 2016 | Lauretta Brown

Posted on 10/06/2016 5:26:38 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a comprehensive report Wednesday examining law enforcement hiring, recruitment, and retention policies with the aim of increasing diversity in police departments.

The report--"Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement"--highlighted barriers to diversity within police departments, such as “the use of criminal background checks” which the researchers found “is likely to disproportionately impact racial minority applicants.”

The report also found that U.S. citizenship requirements “may prevent a considerable number of racial and ethnic minorities – many of whom have valuable foreign language skills – from being hired by law enforcement agencies.”

The report opened with an analysis of EEOC labor force data, which “found that African-American, Latino, and Asian-American police officers were underrepresented relative to the local area population in a significant number of the departments analyzed. Using a statistical test of underrepresentation, the researchers found that within their sample, African Americans were underrepresented in 60 percent of the departments, Latinos were underrepresented in 41 percent, and Asian Americans were underrepresented in 31 percent.”

The use of criminal background checks, the report noted,

"Researchers and practitioners," the report said, "have also highlighted that the use of criminal background checks, which are a regular part of the screening process for many agencies, is likely to disproportionately impact racial minority applicants since, for a variety of reasons, individuals from those communities are more likely to have contact with the criminal justice system.

"While law enforcement agencies are undeniably justified in carefully vetting and investigating potential hires,” the report said, "excluding applicants regardless of the nature of the underlying offense, or how much time has passed since an offense occurred, or without any consideration of whether the candidate has changed in the intervening period, can be a significant – and unwarranted – barrier.”

The report also argued that residency and citizenship requirements can limit underrepresented communities’ presence in law enforcement.

“While Federal law allows law enforcement agencies to impose a citizenship requirement where it is authorized by state or local law,” the report said, “this requirement may prevent a considerable number of racial and ethnic minorities – many of whom have valuable foreign language skills – from being hired by law enforcement agencies.”

“Allowing work-authorized non-U.S. citizens to work in state and local law enforcement, particularly in jurisdictions with large immigrant populations, can enable agencies to more closely represent the diversity of their community,” the report later added. “Especially as agencies work to serve communities with a large percentage of limited English proficient (LEP) residents, excluding officers who are not U.S. citizens may significantly limit the number of applicants who speak languages other than English.”

The report went on to highlight barriers to the LGBT community’s representation in law enforcement saying, “individuals from LGBT communities have identified issues such as anti-LGBT discrimination and harassment and insensitivity towards the needs of officers undergoing a gender transition as obstacles to considering careers in certain law enforcement agencies.”

Researchers also found that “women and LGBT individuals who have encountered bias in their interactions with police may also have reservations about joining law enforcement.”

On the hiring of women in law enforcement, according to the report, “research has shown that physical tests may have a significant and unnecessary impact on female applicants when they lack a corresponding benefit or job-related need.

“If these tests are administered in a manner that overemphasizes physical strength, fail to account for improvements that will result from training, or fail to account for inherent physiological differences between men and women, they may not be selecting for what is actually necessary on the job or is similarly required for the effective absorption of necessary law enforcement training, and consequently may screen out otherwise qualified women,” the report stated.

In its appendix on Title VII enforcement, the report noted that “agencies frequently rely on written tests, oral interviews, physical tests, background checks, and other processes to screen applicants.”

“These processes may violate the law if they disproportionately screen out applicants from protected classes and are not job-related and consistent with business necessity,” it warned. “This holds true even if the screens were not intended to discriminate. Even if such practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity, an employer will still be liable under Title VII if it failed to use an alternative employment practice with a less severe impact that serves its legitimate employment needs.”

“Ensuring that law enforcement agencies represent the diversity of the communities they serve can help restore trust and improve policing,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

“Building on innovative and creative strategies implemented by law enforcement around the country, our report highlights how agencies are bridging divides and creating lasting results. We hope agencies utilize this resource as they strive to strengthen their diversity and we look forward to engaging with law enforcement on this critical topic over the coming months,” she added.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: crime; doj; eeoc; police
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Hussein Obama is his name, destroying America piece by piece is his game.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

Electing Trump would be a start to doing something.

1 posted on 10/06/2016 5:26:38 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Mojo

Reminds me of a bunch of foxes guarding the hen house.


2 posted on 10/06/2016 5:32:23 PM PDT by DOC44 (Have gun will travel.)
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To: Mr. Mojo
Criminal Background Checks, Citizenship Requirements Barriers to Police-Force Diversity

Good!

3 posted on 10/06/2016 5:32:28 PM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: Mr. Mojo
Gee, what a great idea! Hire criminals into the police forces and illegal aliens into the border patrol..., WHAT COULD GO WRONG, after all, you achieve "Diversity"!
4 posted on 10/06/2016 5:32:50 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: Mr. Mojo

Zero really wants cops with criminal histories???

No Citizenship requirements???

That would would be appropriate with Bill and Hillary’s new administration, today’s Bonnie and Clyde.


5 posted on 10/06/2016 5:32:55 PM PDT by Sasparilla (Hillary for Prison 2016)
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To: DOC44

great, iranian, and un police force for America...nah they would not have good lives


6 posted on 10/06/2016 5:34:39 PM PDT by aces ( Islam is the religion of the dead, Got Jesus?)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Hope Trump guts these departments of all its parasites


7 posted on 10/06/2016 5:35:22 PM PDT by ronnie raygun (I)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Oh sure, let’s have foreign criminals become police officers, what could go wrong???


8 posted on 10/06/2016 5:35:23 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam , Know Peace)
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To: Mr. Mojo

So they are ADMITTING that minorities commit more crime.

Thanks guys!:-)

.


9 posted on 10/06/2016 5:35:57 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Mr. Mojo

Please tell me this is satire.


10 posted on 10/06/2016 5:41:12 PM PDT by Molon Labbie
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To: Mr. Mojo

This is unbelievable, January can’t come soon enough to spear this country of this MADNESS


11 posted on 10/06/2016 5:41:33 PM PDT by vinny29
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To: Mears

[So they are ADMITTING that minorities commit more crime.]

I’m sorry, the correct PC phrase is, “contact with law enforcement”.


12 posted on 10/06/2016 5:42:07 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (Fear is the mind killer.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

So this Regime wants the MS-13 punks to be cops.


13 posted on 10/06/2016 5:44:26 PM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: Sasparilla
Zero really wants cops with criminal histories???

The SOB wants foreign cops walking the streets of America to take revenge on whitey.

That's all that animates him and his anointed succesor.

14 posted on 10/06/2016 5:44:52 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: Mr. Mojo

Just what America needs right now, a bunch of illegal alien xenos on our police forces. Great idea.


15 posted on 10/06/2016 5:44:57 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Forget the media's "endorsements" of Clintoon. They are unfit to be Americans. Vote Trump!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Solution to this. s “problem” — import Isis and PLO-pa and Muslim brotherhood and hezbellah and al quaida and hamas — and deputies them to police America. They have no USA criminal records and they’re not American citizens and as an added bonus— they already know how to shoot firearms Fake problem solved. /s. . (0 will be sooooi pleased too. Just what he’s been working so hard to achieve.)


16 posted on 10/06/2016 5:45:57 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born. They're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero.)
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To: Sasparilla
You bet!!!!!!!!!!
And remember when slick willy first got into the white house, he replaced every single DOJ district attorney. Gee, I wonder why he did that and put lezzie Janet Reno in charge of DOJ knowing that there were videos of her having sex with 14 year old girls.
17 posted on 10/06/2016 5:49:48 PM PDT by Stayfree (FlushHillary.com says "NEVER HILLARY", "NEVER HILLARY", "NEVER HILLARY")
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To: Mr. Mojo

The police need to be “more diverse”.
The military needs to be “more diverse”.
Girls showers need to be “more diverse”.

Why does everything need to be “more diverse” to suit the Muslim administration, the ones who never tell the Muslims to be “more diverse” when comes to Christians.
They never tell the Muslims to be “more diverse” when comes to Israel/Jews.
They never tell members of BLM to be “more diverse” when it comes to shooting cops.
They never tell Hillary to be “more diverse” when comes to the deplorables and Baghdad soldiers.
They never tell gays to be “more diverse” in thir choice of bakeries.

Forced diversity is what is killing this country. You cannot force, or legislate, different cultures into liking or accepting each other. Hold two cats face to face and they’ll fight, leave them alone, they’ll most likely mak friends, or at least, cohabit.

Trying to force us to to accept people who are 100% opposite in beliefs, culture, and behavior is not going to work, ever.


18 posted on 10/06/2016 5:50:09 PM PDT by FrankR (You're only enslaved to the extent of the charity that you receive!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Trump gets in the WH or it’s freaking O.V.E.R.


19 posted on 10/06/2016 6:05:00 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. Franklin)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Yeah, because we want criminals who don’t understand our laws and our culture acting as cops. What could go wrong?


20 posted on 10/06/2016 6:05:46 PM PDT by IronJack
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