The Baltimore County Police Department has reached a $2 million dollar settlement for racially discriminatory hiring practices.
What We Know:
- The Justice Department sued Baltimore County last year claiming that a written test given to police recruits was biased against Black applicants. The police department and the DOJ have reached a $2 million settlement for the lawsuit.
- The DOJ claims that the written test was designed to intentionally discriminate against Black applicants. Black recruits failed the written test at a much higher rate than white recruits, meaning fewer Black officers actually making the force.
- The DOJ’s lawsuit alleged that recruits were tested on “reading, grammar, logic, and other skills” not related to the duties of a police officer or cadet. The lawsuit reported that the difference between white recruits and Black recruits was “statistically significant”.
- The police department was accused of discriminating against Black applicants and the lawsuit demanded that the county “make remedial relief to those who suffered discrimination and adopt appropriate nondiscriminatory measures to correct the discrimination”.
- Julian Jones, the only Black member of the Baltimore County Council, told the Baltimore Sun that he was “taken aback” by the news, but that he’s “confident that the current administration is going to do any and everything necessary to make sure we’re not discriminating against people.”
Baltimore County must pay $2 million in back pay to the eligible claimants and make 20 priority hires of applicants who failed the discriminatory exam.
