Mayor Michael B. Coleman stood disheartened last month as he stared out at graduating classes of police officers and firefighters, seeing that nearly all were white men.
After years of pleading for more-diverse police and fire forces, he saw only a handful of women and a few more black men among the 76 in new uniforms, making it one of the least-diverse classes the city has hired in the past decade.
A few days later, Coleman sent a stern letter to Mitchell J. Brown, director of the city's Department of Public Safety, expressing his disappointment. Coleman demanded changes and a report on solutions by this month.
"Our police and fire divisions are outstanding, but ... (diversity) is a critical component to the success of Columbus, and I expect both divisions to improve under your leadership," Coleman stated in the letter obtained by The Dispatch through a public-records request.
The city's Civil Service Commission is revisiting the issue, as it does every eight years, and is conducting a top-down review of the hiring process. That could lead to changes in how often the city conducts the eligibility tests, changes in standards for a recruit's background, and more recruiting of minorities and women.
Getting more minorities and women into police and fire departments is not a problem unique to Columbus. Cities such as Akron, Toledo and Dayton are making significant changes to attract those groups.
But here, minorities and women make up about 15 percent of the city's 1,560 firefighters. On the police force, about 20 percent of the 1,920 sworn officers are women or minorities.
Coleman is troubled because Columbus' most recent police- and fire-recruit classes don't even keep pace with those numbers.
Although historical and cultural issues are a factor in the number of blacks or women who apply for police and fire jobs, city officials believe the city's hiring process might be part of the problem.
Civil Service data shows that the hiring process eliminates a higher proportion of minorities and women than white men from the time they apply until the city develops a list of those eligible to be hired.
The process is the same for every applicant and includes a multiple-choice and written exam, a background check that includes a polygraph test, an oral exam and a physical-fitness test.
Of the 6,654 applicants who took the fire exam in 2011, 26 percent were women or minorities.Of the 533 applicants who were removed after a background check, about 40 percent were women or minorities.Of the 1,551 applicants who failed the test, 28 percent were women or minorities.
When a final hiring list was complete, 17 percent of the eligible applicants were women or minorities.
At last month's recruit graduation, one of the 34 new firefighters was a woman, and two were minorities. Among police, the results were only slightly better.
Of the 5,913 applicants, 39 percent were minorities or women. When the hiring process was complete, minorities and women made up 23 percent of the pool.
Another big issue is the dropout rate during the hiring process, which can take years for applicants, depending on their ranking from an oral exam.
The city tests for new police recruits nearly every year, but before the 2011 exam, the fire division hadn't tested in five years.
Police Chief Kim Jacobs said more-frequent testing is needed to get more minorities and women.
"Our next class is not going to start until June 2014, and we are hiring from a group that took the test in January of 2012," she said. "Absolutely we need more-frequent testing, and we are trying to figure out ways we can streamline the process."
Civil Service director Amy DeLong said her staff is also reviewing what questions are asked during the background check.
Candidates can be removed from consideration if they are untruthful at any time during the process. A polygraph is given later to ensure they answered truthfully.
They also may be removed if they admit to physical or emotional abuse of anyone with whom they had a relationship in the past 10 years. Candidates who have more than one conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, who smoked or bought marijuana in the past year, who have been laid off or fired from three jobs in five years, or who have taken part in illegal gambling also are kicked out.
Those with a first- or second-degree misdemeanor conviction or a felony conviction are removed.
DeLong said changes to background standards could be made in certain gray areas. She cited as an example that applicants may be removed if they got into a fight with their brother or sister or another relative in the past 10 years.
"The background standards are high, especially for police, and they should be because they carry guns," DeLong said. "And any changes we make will have to be approved by the community during meetings we have, because the community will help decide what standards of protection they want."
Police and fire union officials said diversity is important, but not at the cost of lowering standards.
Jack Reall, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 67, said he agrees with Jacobs' call for more-frequent testing.
"If I had the answers to this issue, I'd be hired by every city," Reall said. "But our testing procedures are fairly comparable with national standards, so the standards we have, I believe, do a good job of getting the best people available."
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
