Does race/gender play a role in hiring?

[spazmatic]

First off let me say I live in south Florida, which is very racially diverse. Anyway, I have discussed my interest in getting into law enforcement to friends and family. I've had a hand full of them tell me how its going to be harder for me to get hired because I am white male. Does being a white male really put me at a disadvantage? I thought affirmative action was a thing of the past.

[soopertrooper]

i know a white gentlemen, his final average for the academy was a 95%, within the same academy a black male had 87% overall. They applied for the same position, and the black male got the job, there was only one other black person on that P.D., you do the math, sounds like it played a big role to me.

[TONYTONE]

yes............................. it sucks

[Tee.Elle.]

No. It's a convenient excuse for people to use when they fail at achieving something. It's the Caucasian version of playing the "race card".

[djblank87]

No. It's a convenient excuse for people to use when they fail at achieving something. It's the Caucasian version of playing the "race card".

That's BS. Race does come into play at select departments around the country. Places where their recruiting poster say “Minorities are encouraged to apply”.

[spazmatic]

Don't start developing an inner hatred for minorities. I'm black, and back when I was an officer, I scored a 100% on my oral board during the application process.

I'm not racist. I feel race should have absolutely no impact on whether you get hired or not. All races are equal and should be treated as such. I just want to know if what I'm hearing is true, and if so how bad/serious it is and how it will effect me applying for a job as a LEO.

[Ex Army MP]

I think that the number one question should always come down to qualifications. Obviously if a white male is qualified and a black male isn't, sure it would be discrimination to not hire the white guy. However, simply because a white guy had a higher score doesn't mean that he is more qualifed, assuming that the black male had a score in an acceptable range.

Let's take college admissions for example. Let's say that an Ivy League school typically accepts only kids whose GPA's are in the 3.6 to 4.0 range. They shouldn't even be looking at a minority if his/her GPA is 2.8. On the other hand, if a white guy had a GPA of 3.8 and a black guy had a GPA of 3.65, they're both qualified and in the acceptable range for candidates. So, what if the minority makes a better case, i.e, he was raised by a single mom, lived in an apartment in the Bronx and had 8 brothers and sisters. The white guy, OTOH, was exposed to the finer things in life all his life. Shouldn't overcoming adversity count for something?

As for the police academy scenario, I would say that a 95% average is substantially better than an 87% average. However, an 87% average is probably not out of the range where an organization wouldn't consider someone like, say, a person who had a 70% average. So, rather than simply assume that the black guy got in on AA, do we know for sure that he didn't simply blow the interviewers away while the white guy came off as run of the mill?

I don't know the answers but neither do most of us in the typical case. Prove out and out discrimination and then we can talk. Speaking of which, let's not even compare the amount of discrimination that each side has received. Two wrongs don't make a right but you know what I am getting at.

[Nightshift va]

Don't start developing an inner hatred for minorities. I'm black, and back when I was an officer, I scored a 100% on my oral board during the application process.

Not to take away anything from you, but oral boards are very subjective and there is no real right or wrong knowledge needed to do well. The oral board is a bunch of people in a room who form an opinion on the type of career police officer you would be in a less than 30 minute interview where the way you hold your mouth and how you tell your story means more than what you have actually accomplished in your life. If a department is looking for minorities, and they like you from a short interview they are going to grade you higher. Its human nature but not by any means an accurate way to pick the most qualified. Just my humble opinion after 15years of doing this job.

[nogginbuster24]

only in big cities in big states where there are things like minorities where a white person would be challenged to find a position in a municipal police department. Equal Opportunity Employers, gotta love it. [I'm asian by the way]

[just joe]

Short answer is yes. Your race may work for or against you.

[SgtScott31]

No. It's a convenient excuse for people to use when they fail at achieving something. It's the Caucasian version of playing the "race card".

Obviously you have not been in the hiring process with LE agencies in the south.

It will vary from department to department. There is nothing wrong with those departments who wanted to have personnel that reflected the communities they served. With the inception of affirmative action years ago, you could easily find agencies that went too far when it came to hiring minorities. They would easily "stretch" their hiring standards. This included overlooking lower test scores, criminal histories, and other disqualifiers to meet a "quota" so to speak. It is not as bad as it was during those times, but it is definitely still around.

As far as your question, you have as good as chance as any applicant. Don't let little things get in your way no matter what they are. If you want it bad enough, you will get it.

[btfp]

Affirmative action is bull shXX.
White guy and black female apply. Both score 97%. Both have great qualifications. However one has something that will push them above the other, in the interview or maybe personal lives.
To give the job to the black because she is black is wrong.
Take an Asian competing against the black person. Is it wrong to give it to one or the other based on ethnicity?
A white male and black female are in the Academy. The white male can not even run, last in line all the time, gets winded in training, and is just passing academics.
Black female is a quick runner, holds her own during training and is in the top percentile for academics. Who do you want as a partner?
To hire someone because of their race is just wrong. Hire the better candidate. If only whites score high then minorities need to study more. If only minorities score high then whites need to study more.
To get passed over for someone less qualified but who is a minority is reverse racism.

[LA DEP]

It varies from department to department.

Race isnt so much a factor with us, but gender is; we are still under a federal consent decree to hire and promote females.

[officerdotcomm]

Please make sure this discussion stays civil... I don't want to have to lock or delete the thread because comments get out of hand.

Just sayin'... everyone is doing good so far.

[School Cop]

You see it in Texas, I think. I judge it by this: most of the people I know who got hired by the first department they applied to are either female or minority. I know a female minority officer who was fired by the department during the academy, then rehired a few years later. Nothing against her, she's a good officer, and I like working with her, but it's kind of weird how most of the white males I know in LE applied to many departments before getting hired.

Those of you back East may not appreciate the difference, since competition is so fierce for every position where you are. Here, there are some decent paying places that can't seem to stay fully staffed.

You ever wonder where the preference (if it is there) is coming from? No individual would admit to being racist, and officially most cities/states don't have a policy. The days of closed-door GoodOlBoy meetings are pretty much done. Is it an unconscious thing? That is, if you even think it exists.