The Maryland Department of State Police (MDSP) agreed to shell out $2.75 million in back pay to black applicants who failed a simple written test and female applicants who failed a basic physical test.
Because black applicants failed the written test at a higher rate than white applicants, and female applicants failed the physical test at a higher rate than male applicants, the U.S. Department of Justice determined the tests were racist and sexist. Last week, the DOJ announced that it had reached a settlement agreement with the MDSP that included paying those who failed the test $2.75 million in back pay as if they would have been hired had they not failed the tests, and changing the tests so that equal numbers of black applicants and female applicants pass, among other provisions.
The written test, called the Police Officer Selection Test (POST), consists of 75 questions and includes a basic math, reading comprehension, and grammar section. It also has a short section about writing police reports. Applicants need only an aggregate score of 70% on all components to pass, as well as a 70% score on each of the reading, grammar, and report writing components.
A copy of the test found online includes early grade-school level math and reading comprehension questions. The first sample test question is about basic time-telling skills.
Maryland Department of State Police
Several questions following that sample include simple math skills.
Maryland Department of State Police
The sample test questions for reading comprehension include a few paragraphs that include the answers in the provided paragraph. The section about filling out police reports includes a blank copy of a police report and a paragraph about a reported crime. Applicants would then be asked questions the answers for which could be found in the paragraph. The grammar section asks only the most basic questions, requiring applicants to know the difference between “its” and “it’s,” as well as simple conjugation (the test does not use the word “conjugation”) and spelling.
Maryland Department of State Police
According to the lawsuit against the MDSP, applicants can take the POST up to four times within a 12-month period. If they fail to get 70% on those four attempts, they must wait one year from the final failure date in order to try again. Failing this test will also prevent them from moving forward in the hiring process.
Since 2017, according to the lawsuit, approximately 91% of white applicants passed the POST at least once, compared to just 71% of black applicants. Because of this disparate impact — and without showing how a test about basic math and reading skills can be racist — the DOJ determined the MDSP violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, claiming the test discriminated against black applicants.
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As for the physical test, applicants were required to complete 18 push-ups within a minute, 27 sit-ups within a minute, reach about 1.5 inches beyond their toes while sitting, and run 1.5 miles within 15 minutes and 20 seconds. Applicants were allowed to take the physical test up to three times in a given year, and would not move forward in the application process if they failed all three times.
According to the lawsuit, 81% of male applicants passed the physical test at least once, compared to only 51% of female applicants. Using the same logic as the written test, the DOJ determined the physical test was somehow discriminatory because women failed at a higher rate than men.
DOJ argued that “using the POST as a pass/fail screening device for its selection of entry-level troopers which (i) results in a disparate impact on African-American candidates, (ii) is not job related for the position in question or consistent with business necessity, and (iii) does not otherwise meet the requirements of Section 703(k) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k).”
The DOJ similarly argued that the physical test “as a pass/fail screening device for its selection of entry-level troopers which (i) results in a disparate impact on female candidates, (ii) is not job related for the position in question or consistent with business necessity, and (iii) does not otherwise meet the requirements of Section 703(k) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k).”
The MDSP agreed to a settlement with the DOJ, and must now provide written and physical tests that result in similar pass/fail rates for applicants regardless of sex or race — it is unclear how the MDSP can accomplish that without reducing standards. The MDSP must also provide data to the DOJ about its new tests to ensure it is complying with the DOJ’s demands, pay $2.75 million in back pay to applicants who failed the test and therefore weren’t hired (the assumption being they would have otherwise been hired), and hire up to 25 of the failed applicants.
One option for the MDSP is to adopt the physical test required of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, which lowered its standards to attract more female applicants, The Daily Wire previously reported. The previous physical test in Nashville was similar to the one in Maryland, but the new test — called an “agility” test — “consists of a 99-yard agility run, a rescue simulation (dummy drag), chain link fence climb, solid wall climb and a 500 yard run,” according to the MNPD. When Nashville implemented the different test, the fail rate fell from 6% to 2%.
