Justice Department Sues To Force South Bend To Hold Police to Lower Standards

The Department of Justice alleges that the South Bend Police Department is violating the Civil Rights Act due to disparate acceptance rates for female and black applicants.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint on October 11 in the United States District Court for the North District of Indiana alleging that the South Bend Police Department (SBPD) violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the DOJ accuses the SBPD of using a written test and physical fitness test to screen police officer applicants, which results in disparate acceptance rates for African Americans and women, respectively.

The SBPD uses a written exam developed by the Indiana-based company Testing For Public Safety, LLC. The city of South Bend says the DOJ's lawsuit unfairly "attacks the SBPD's written test, which is…similar to written tests in other Indiana police departments, including the Indiana State Police," reports WSBT22.

The Indiana State Police provides an official study guide for the written exam, which consists of eight multiple-choice sections designed to measure a range of cognitive skills: learn and apply knowledge; observe and accurately describe events and objects; remember identifying information; remember spatial relationships and where objects are located; complete routine forms; communicate using appropriate grammar; communicate in writing—spelling; and ability to solve work-related arithmetic.

Basic arithmetic, reading comprehension, spelling, and grammar are essential skills for most occupations. The other sections of the test assess abilities relevant to policing. Yet, the DOJ claims that the "use of these tests is not job related or consistent with business necessity."

The SBPD's physical fitness test requires applicants to jump 13.5 inches, complete 24 sit-ups in one minute, run 300 meters in 82 seconds, do 21 push-ups, run 1.5 miles in 18 minutes and 56 seconds (that's a 12-minute 37-second mile), and pull a pistol trigger six times in 10 seconds. By comparison, these standards are easier than the FitnessGram PACER Test given to New York high school students.

The DOJ recognizes that "moving people away from danger…pursuing and apprehending suspects; and testifying in court and preparing for such testimony by reviewing reports and notes" are responsibilities police officers must be able to perform. These activities necessitate screening criteria.

The standards for each examination were lowered in August 2019 for the physical fitness test and 2017 for the written examination, per the DOJ's complaint. Before the physical fitness test's standards were lowered, 45.5 percent of women and 87.6 percent of men passed the exam. After the 2019 change, 47.4 percent of women and 83.8 percent of men passed.

Men have more skeletal muscle mass than women, "both absolute terms…and relative to body mass" in both their upper and lower body, per peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Given this biological reality, women should be expected to perform worse than men on a physical fitness test—especially one meant to screen out applicants who cannot move adults away from danger.

The DOJ complaint does not specify the acceptance rates before and after the minimum score on the written test was lowered from 82 to 80 percent. However, the complaint reports that 84.1 percent of white applicants passed and 62.8 percent of black applicants passed since 2016.

Based on SBPD's disparate acceptance rates, one might think that its police department is substantially less sexually and racially diverse than the national average. But that's not the case: "9.9% of all officers are females and 11.5% of all officers are black….Nationally, female officers make up 13.5% of local police departments and black officers make up 11.6%," per South Bend's reply.

Some might argue that a greater than 45 percent acceptance rate for the privileges, immunities, and $74,009 starting salary enjoyed by SBPD officers is insufficiently selective. The DOJ does not share this opinion.

The DOJ requests that SBPD "refrain from using a written test [that] results in a disparate impact on African Americans," as well as the elimination of "a physical fitness test [that] results in a disparate impact on women." The only way to guarantee that there is no disparity between subgroups of applicants is to remove acceptance criteria altogether so that the acceptance rate is 100 percent for all.

The DOJ's fact sheet, Combating Hiring Discrimination by Police & Fire Departments, suggests that removing written and physical screening criteria is its preferred solution. The document warns that all "written tests" and "physical fitness tests" may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Instead of weakening qualifications, standards for police officer applicants should be increased to ensure that armed public officials are cognitively and physically capable of defending the rights of their employers: American civilians.