A dozen white cops in San Francisco are suing the city over a grading system for promotions that results in preferential treatment for minority officers, reopening an issue that’s plagued the department for decades.
A practice of “banding” promotional test results for San Francisco police put in place in 1979 results in minority candidates with lower scores landing promotions over whites with higher scores, and the officers – 12 white men and one white lesbian woman – are asking a federal court to make it stop, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The “banding” system is the result of a 1973 lawsuit against the city by black and female officers alleging discrimination in hiring and promotions, and the law was upheld in 1992, when the San Francisco Police Officers Association sued to end the discrimination against whites.
The newest lawsuit, filed last week, is the first to change the continued practice since the 1979 settlement agreement with black and female officers expired in 1998, and it contains evidence as recent as 2016 that the efforts to promote diversity come at the expense of white officers.
“The city – to this day – has a longstanding practice and custom of discriminating against white males in SFPD promotions to the rank of sergeant, lieutenant and captain,” M. Greg Mullanax, attorney for the officers.
The Chronicle reports:
For example, he said, in the 2016 promotional exam for lieutenant, banding was used to promote all three black sergeants who applied, even though their scores were lower than those of the 11 white candidates who were denied promotions. A similar procedure was used to promote four women, while passing over seven men with higher scores ‘so the Police Department could accomplish its gender-biased agenda,’ the suit said.
It’s essentially the same argument Lt. Ric Schiff made when he sued the city in 2003, alleging he and a dozen other officers were bypassed for promotion to lieutenant in favor of lower scoring black candidates. The city settled that lawsuit for $1.6 million but did not acknowledge wrongdoing, according to the news site.
Schiff, who was later promoted, is now the lead plaintiff in the new lawsuit alleging the same treatment when he was denied a promotion to captain in favor of women and minority candidates with lower scores.
The lawsuit comes about two weeks after another discrimination lawsuit filed by San Francisco Police Department Captain Yulanda Williams, who alleges her superiors conspired to make her life miserable because she is black, Mission Local reports.
The 25-page lawsuit details an alleged years-long campaign by her fellow officers to harass and intimidate Williams in person and online, angst fueled in part by her participation in panel discussions and in the media about racism in the department.
Williams is demanding $2.5 million for the alleged racial discrimination, age discrimination, racial harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, Mission Local reports.
The white cops who filed suit this week also seeks damages, as well as court-ordered promotions.
City officials didn’t want to talk about either lawsuit, but a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera defended the “lawful, merit-based civil service examinations in making promotions.”
The system, spokesman John Cote said, is “designed to provided qualified individuals with the chance for advancement while ensuring fair treatment without regard to race, gender, religion, age or other status.”
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