Chicago is running out of would-be cops

[Archangel M]

http://www.policeone.com/police-jobs/articles/2475751-Chicago-is-running-out-of-would-be-cops/

A new class of 120 Chicago Police recruits will start six months of training Sept. 1, honoring Mayor Daley's promise to hire more officers — but depleting the city's hiring list.

The city, which offered the last police entrance exam in 2006, is at a crossroad. The city could give a new exam but would have to wait months to award a testing contract, then develop, administer and grade it. Or the city could scrap the test in favor of an application-only process.

The Chicago Sun-Times has reported that the department was considering ditching the exam to bolster minority hiring, save test preparation costs and avert costly legal battles that have dogged the exam process for decades. If the process is opened to all who apply and meet the minimum education and residency requirements, Chicago would stand alone among major cities.

Nothing like a race to the bottom to fill a quota.

 

[Cryozombie]

http://www.policeone.com/police-jobs/articles/2475751-Chicago-is-running-out-of-would-be-cops/



Nothing like a race to the bottom to fill a quota.

Its Chicago man, what do you expect? Hell we have suburbs where allegedly the Police are all current or former street gang members... Hell I have a friend in a suburban department who got in because they fired almost the entire department, something like 90+% of them, for improprieties of one sort or another.

Does this happen all over? Or is it just part and parcel to the corruption that plagues this state?

 

[jks9199]

What's silly is that there are several tests on the market that have already been validated are used by many departments. You'd think they could pick one, buy a stack, and be done in a matter of weeks, maybe 4 or 5 months at the outside, assuming TONS of stupid red tape.

But, lots of agencies in my area are having trouble getting recruits. When I tested, it wasn't uncommon to be testing with a couple hundred, for two or three slots. Lately -- we don't have lots of people wanting to test. And when we get a group to test, the candidates who pass don't bother to do the paperwork or turn out to have major concerns in their history. Stuff that you sometimes wonder how they think we wouldn't find out...

And when we do get someone, lots of them have crappy attitudes about the job. You're lucky if they come to work, even luckier if they actually do anything other than what they're directed to do... and don't even suggest that they do something self-initiated.

 

[Drac]

Its Chicago man, what do you expect? Hell we have suburbs where allegedly the Police are all current or former street gang members... Hell I have a friend in a suburban department who got in because they fired almost the entire department, something like 90+% of them, for improprieties of one sort or another.

Does this happen all over? Or is it just part and parcel to the corruption that plagues this state?

Oh the stories I could tell..Alas I cannot without sounding like a racist.

 

[Archangel M]

Its Chicago man, what do you expect? Hell we have suburbs where allegedly the Police are all current or former street gang members... Hell I have a friend in a suburban department who got in because they fired almost the entire department, something like 90+% of them, for improprieties of one sort or another.

Does this happen all over? Or is it just part and parcel to the corruption that plagues this state?

It sure as hell isnt like that where I work. And I will work towards firing a ton of people before I let it become that way.

 

[Drac]

It sure as hell isnt like that where I work. And I will work towards firing a ton of people before I let it become that way.

There was a department up here that use to bring their cadets in for a few drinks or several while they were in the academy. One of the old timers told me it was the best way he knew to see how a person really was inside..

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Wonder what the connection is between poor hiring practices and a rise of bad cop stories floating around...

 

[Ken Morgan]

There was a department up here that use to bring their cadets in for a few drinks or several while they were in the academy. One of the old timers told me it was the best way he knew to see how a person really was inside..

When I was in Gagetown N.B. years ago for the officer selection committee for the Canadian Army, we would go down to the local base bar nightly and have a drink or two. The sergeant always came with us and nursed a beer all night, as did I. He wasn’t there to be sociable, he was there to watch us. Funny, those that always had one too many, never got the offer to go through to basic training.

 

[Archangel M]

Wonder what the connection is between poor hiring practices and a rise of bad cop stories floating around...

QFT. IMO 90% of trouble cops were due to bad decisions at hiring time.

 

[jks9199]

QFT. IMO 90% of trouble cops were due to bad decisions at hiring time.

I agree. It's very rare that there aren't flags -- if someone had bothered to look. There were warnings in my personal history of what turned out to be my biggest problem area...

 

[Ken Morgan]

I was always taught that you should never have to fire anyone, becasue you should never have hired them to begin with.
Of course its not 100% true, but the meaning gets through.

 

[Carol]

I was always taught that you should never have to fire anyone, becasue you should never have hired them to begin with.
Of course its not 100% true, but the meaning gets through.

Whoever said that was not working in a regulated field...

 

[jks9199]

For cops, there's a reality check. There are some things you just don't know until the person is hired, and cut loose to work on their own. And sometimes, things change about people as a response to stress or opportunity. You've got no way to tell if someone is "badge heavy" or otherwise abuses their authority until they've got it -- and you don't always know how they're going to react to either the opportunities that are sometimes presented or to events in their lives and work experiences until they have them.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Well in my area the local Chief is the same officer that used to beat people up while on street patrol including myself.

There is an officer on the force that had to leave the state for four years as he was sleeping with high school kids and was selling drugs. As he left the state most of the parents wanted to not ahve their kids be chraged for drug related crimes so they let it pass. The same officer came back and was employed again with the same department just over 4 years later. Why? As there were no official charges and he was not dismissed he looked to be someone who moved and then moved back.