In another boneheaded move to bolster minority recruitment and save a buck or two, the Chicago Police Department is considering phasing out the entrance exam for all applicants. As ludicrous as this may sound, it is quickly picking up momentum from the usual gaggle of well poisoners-reverends, community activists, and aldermen who see this as an opportunity to save money for their districts. You think police morale is low now? Wait until this test is scrapped and people who attained 60 credit hours in Pottery from some crappy junior college will be responding to your calls.
This is really sending the wrong message to minorities and to concerned citizens. "Just do the bare minimum" is a maxim that some of my colleagues swear by in this era of lawsuit happiness. This may as well be the motto for prospective applicants as well. "As long as I got my 60 credit hours in Bird Grooming and have no felony arrests-I'm in!" Some of these people grew up with me took the test over the years and many failed.
And I'm glad they did.
These aren't the kind of people I'd like responding to a call or backing me up. It doesn't mean in anyway that they're aren't good people but I'd be more comfortable with someone who possesses the aptitude to pass an entrance exam rather than perfecting kegstands and beer bongs. These tests are designed specifically to weed out candidates with mental disorders and other behavioral issues and ultimately to test cognitive abilities. I took the test many moons ago, the day after Thanksgiving, with a hangover. Not one of my better ideas. But after 5 hours of nodding off, I mean testing, I was relieved. The rest is history.
Minorities need support elsewhere. Blacks and Hispanics just need to understand that if you want to become a civil servant, you're going to have to struggle and earn it just like everyone else. Asians are an even smaller minority but I haven't heard any of them asking for special treatment!
The tests, however, aren't perfect and some candidates end up slipping through the cracks. Just look at Abbate. Eliminating this test will open the flood gates. Glad I'm in my lifeboat with just a few more years to retirement. You might as well give Parking Enforcement Aides guns. They already did time in the Big House for weapon violations and know how to handle a gun or two.
Scrapping Exam Ensures Ineptitude
Chicago Police Officer with his finger on the political pulse of the windy city.
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1 Comment
Brian 'Wiz' Ray said:
I can't say that ending the test (which I passed) would be all that beneficial or consequential to the city one way or the other. The current officers on the police force all passed the test, and yet crime is steady on the rise in my community. What message do you think that sends minorities? Geez in the last couple of weeks there have been maybe five or six incidents of people walking up and shooting people in cars. I expect that to increase (regardless of the number of cameras in the area) because the more people get away with it, the more people are going to do it.
'Struggle and earn' it you say and this right after saying that the motto of many of your comrades is to do the bare minimum ( which you allege is a result of a lawsuit happy public). Yet your disdain for citizens is blatantly obvious. How are we supposed to feel behind that, full of love and appreciation for someone who greatly dislikes the people they are supposed to... Civil servant is not any oxymoron, it is its own antonym.
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