Only one out of every 38 blacks who applied to become Denver police officers last year were hired, according to the Black Police Officers association.
Some of the 258 applicants not hired had criminal backgrounds and others failed tests, but many were failed for subjective, undisclosed reasons that trouble members of the association.
“That concerns us,” Sgt. Joseph D. Unser told members of Denver’s Civil Service Commission this 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 names to the commission of five applicants who were turned down even though they appeared to be excellent candidates.
Among the candidates was a black police officer who works 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.
About a dozen black officers attended the Civil Service meeting, days after eight police officers from the Denver Police Latino Organization announced that they filed a racial-bias complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Eight others were planning on joining the complaint, officials of the group said.
Perry said the black officers group love working for the Denver police department and are not 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.
