Aurora – There was no bias against a black Aurora police sergeant who was denied a promotion to lieutenant, city officials said Tuesday.
The Civil Service Commission reviewed the findings of an outside firm that conducts the “assessment center” test for the department after Sgt. Thomas Williams said he was unfairly bypassed for promotion.
Williams was one of five candidates who took the lieutenant test in May and the only black candidate. The other four were white males.
On Tuesday, Civil Service Commission administrator Terry Kulbe said the commission reviewed the data from CWH, the Englewood firm that did the assessment, and found no concerns. “There wasn’t any bias in the system,” Kulbe said.
Reached by phone after the meeting, Williams, 48, questioned that.
“I can’t rule that out, if they say my presentation style didn’t meet a certain criteria,” Williams said of the race issue. “There’s not too many times that civil service will admit they were incorrect about something.”
CWH officials did not return phone calls for comment.
The test is broken up into three sections. Twenty-five percent is a written exam; Williams said he was the highest scorer. The second part is a portfolio the candidates are required to put together, which is worth 15 percent. Williams says he scored second-highest.
The third phase, which is done by the private-assessment center, is worth 60 percent. This year, that involved a written exercise, a structured interview and an oral presentation. Williams said he scored 44 percent on the orals, bringing his score down to finish last.
Police Chief Dan Oates has not promoted the officer who finished first.
Williams is a 10-year veteran of the department and has been in law enforcement for 24 years.
Oates attended the Civil Service Commission meeting Tuesday and tried to ask why the interviews aren’t videotaped. But commission chairman Richard Brown didn’t let the chief speak, citing a need to keep control of the meeting. Oates abruptly left.
The chief has tried to diversify his ranks, but voters last year denied him a chance to have more of a say in promotions after a strong push by police and fire unions.
The chief had met with Williams in the weeks before the test to mentor him, Williams said.
Brown said the commission would try to set up interviews with the candidates to see whether the process was fair, but he didn’t know what would happen.
Williams has an idea: “If we need to be sitting in federal court in a couple of years, so be it.”
