Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4026 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JANUARY 2017 by Ron Hernandez A LADS (Asso- ciation of Los Angeles Depu- ty Sheriffs) has always been in support of hiring the best candidates possible to be deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators. We are proud to represent morethan7,900deputiesand district attorney investigators who reflect the racial diver- sity of Los Angeles County. The Sheriff’s Department’s diversity has contributed to the department’s success of ensuring the safety of residents and building trust in the com- munities it serves. Continu- i n g t h i s success is dependent on attract- ing can- didates of every race, who are of the highest cali- ber, to become Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs. In the waning days of the Obama administration, a joint report has been re- leased by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), rec- ommending hiring practices to increase racial diversity in police forces across the country. These hiring recommen- dations include ignoring criminal convictions, dis- regarding past drug use, and lowering standards on written, physical and psy- chological exams. The authors of the report demonstrate the maxim that “those who cannot remem- ber the past are condemned to repeat it.” Past efforts by law enforce- ment agencies to lower hir- ing standards in a manner suggested by the DOJ and EEOC have ended in disas- ter for those departments. We offer just three such ef- forts as an example. In 1980, following the Mariel boatlift, the Miami Police Department was pushed by the DOJ and civic leaders to add minor- ity members to its police department, with a goal of 80%. Hiring standards were lowered, and the result was an enormous police scan- dal. Over the next 15 years nearly 10% of the Miami police force, m a n y o f them newly hired under loweredstan- dards, were suspended or fired for c r i m i n a l c o n d u c t while police officers. Twenty of the of- ficers were sent to prison for the crimes they committed. In 1998, the US General Accounting Office reviewed the various scandals, and amongst their recommen- dations was raising employ- ment standards. Washington, DC repeated the experiment with low- ered hiring standards in the 1990’s, and once again the result was abysmal. In 1989, the city shortened background checks and low- ered standards to hire 1,500 officers, with nearly 1/3 of those hired having criminal convictions. One recruit was highlight- Diversity can be great, but at what cost? It’s important that calls for increased diversity don’t wind up setting us back and repeating past mistakes Ron Hernandez is the President of ALADS ed by a subsequent Washing- ton Post expose: “Two ambi- tions drove Charles Smith in the summer of 1989. The first was to up his income as a member of the R Street Crew, a murderous drug gang. The second was to join the police force. By fall, Smith had achieved both.” Needless to say, Smith was soon behind bars for selling PCP while a police officer, joined by nearly 200 mem- bers of his class arrested for crimes such as homicide, robbery, theft and perjury. More than 100 others were not allowed to make arrests, and dozens were so tainted by criminal problems that prosecutors refused to call them to testify. In Los Angeles, the Ra- fael Pérez scandal of the late 1990’s was partly a product of hiring practices. Four of the involved of- ficers were found to have criminal backgrounds prior to hiring, but the city person- nel department put them on the eligibility list for hiring. At the conclusion of an inquiry into the scandal, an LAPD commander told the LA Times that “at the very end of this, we have a number of people who we don’t think should have been hired.” The examples above dem- onstrate why hiring stan- dards for law enforcement should not be relaxed. Hir- ing physically unfit, illiterate criminals with potential psy- chological problems in the name of diversity has proven to have disas- trous results. The way to increase diversity is not to relax sound stan- dards, but to make law enforcement a desired ca- reer. The opportunity for em- ployment in a rewarding profession where you serve and protect others, with competitive pay and bene- fits, promotional opportuni- ties and a secure retirement after a career of service as compensation, is the true path to attracting a diverse group of qualified candi- dates for the police force. The Association for Los An- geles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) is the collective bargaining agent representing more than 7,900 deputy sheriffs and district at- torney investigators working in Los Angeles County. In Los Angeles, the Rafael Pérez scandal of the late 1990’s was partly a product of hiring practices. Four of the involved officers were found to have criminal backgrounds prior to hiring.