Black Denver police officers met on Friday to discuss what they feel is discrimination against them by the administration.
They said not enough blacks are being hired and they also want the chance to appeal the rejection of police candidates.
About a dozen black officers attended the Denver Civil Service Commission meeting, days after eight police officers from the Denver Police Latino Organization announced that they had filed a racial-bias complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Eight others were planning to join the complaint, officials of the Latino group said.
Officials with Denver Black Police Officers Inc. said only one out of every 38 blacks who applied to become a Denver police officer last year was hired.
Some of the 258 applicants not hired had criminal backgrounds and others failed tests. But many were failed for subjective, undisclosed reasons, which troubles members of the Black Police Officers.
“That concerns us,” Sgt. Joseph D. Unser told members of commission Friday morning. “We’re not asking you to lower standards. But we do want to have a voice.”
Unser and Sgt. Les Perry, vice president of Black Police Officers, presented the commission with the names of five applicants who were turned down even though they appeared to be excellent candidates.
Among the candidates was a black police officer – working for an out-of-state department – who had glowing recommendations from his supervisors, Perry said.
The officer had also met the stringent standards of a peace officer evaluation by the U.S. Justice Department, Unser said.
In some cases, applicants were rejected for having a criminal background when they actually did not have a criminal record, Perry said.
Perry said the black officers group loves working for the Denver Police Department and isn’t planning on filing a civil suit, which could cause morale problems.
Instead, they told commission members, they would like to be able to appeal some of the rejections.
Commission member Samuel Williams said the officers are welcome to appeal the decisions. If mistakes are made that disqualify an applicant they must be addressed, he said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
