Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Waukegan officials preparing to field applications for new police officers and firefighters have sent recruiters to area technical schools and churches, set up booths at community events, and the mayor has spoken on both English- and Spanish-language radio stations in an effort to get more minority applicants.

City officials started planning for this biennial process months ahead of the first applications being made available this month with the hope of addressing the common criticism raised by community activists, pastors and other local leaders that minorities — especially blacks and Latinos — are underrepresented in the departments.

Of Waukegan’s 150 police officers, 18 percent are Hispanic and 7 percent are black, according to numbers provided by city officials. Only six of the fire department’s 120 employees are black and three are Hispanic.

The city overall is 53.4 percent Hispanic and 19.2 percent black, according to 2010 census data.

Diversifying the departments was one of the commitments Mayor Wayne Motley made when he took office in spring 2013, but he said the need for a targeted effort to address the discrepancy was made abundantly clear during the monthslong mediation process the city has been working through with the Department of Justice and groups such as the NAACP and the Latino Advisory Committee.

Motley, who spent 26 years with the Waukegan Police Department before retiring in 2001 as a sergeant, said the question particularly bothered him because during his time on the force he remembers plenty of black officers.

The answer he’s been getting has a lot to do with the negative perception many in Waukegan’s black community have of the Waukegan Police Department, he said. City officials have been working on improving that perception through recommendations made by the Citizens for Progress Committee established by the mayor last fall and those set to be implemented as a result of the Department of Justice mediation.

The hope is that the recruitment efforts will do more than just lead to more diversified police and fire departments, Deputy Police Chief Mark Stevenson said.

Fire Chief George Bridges Jr., who is African-American, said the plan is to build on the conversations that are happening as part of the recruitment process, including through youth programs such as the Waukegan Explorer Post for 15- to 21-year-olds who are interested in pursuing a career as a firefighter and paramedic. Bridges added that the departments have also been focused on reaching out to girls.

The fire department has five women on staff, three of whom are administrative personnel, Bridges said. The police department has 16 women on staff, and four are Hispanic, three are black and one is Native American, Stevenson said.

These efforts will continue past the recruitment process, which takes place every two years when the departments test applicants and prepare their hiring lists, he said.

The actual application process is being tweaked as well to give a greater priority to Waukegan natives, Motley said.

Much of how police and fire departments choose their new hires is dictated by state law, which sets up a point system that takes into consideration the results of physical ability and written tests as well as whether the applicant is a veteran or meets other criteria. Departments can also adopt their own criteria that can earn applicants additional preference points.

The city of Waukegan has always given extra points to those that live in the city, but officials are also going to be giving a boost to graduates of Waukegan High School, Motley said. They’ve also eliminated preference points for college graduates, something that disproportionately helped white applicants even though a college degree is not an entry-level requirement.

Whether all these efforts will actually translate into more diverse departments is still unknown, Bridges said.

“The big push this time was to make sure that everybody had an opportunity to know of the test, and then they had to make a decision about whether they want to be part of it,” Motley said. “As far as informing the public, we have gone above and beyond.”

Applications for the Waukegan Fire Department are available through July 29 and due by 4 p.m. Aug. 5. The Waukegan Police Department will be accepting applications through 4 p.m. Sept. 1. Information about both processes are available on the city’s website, waukeganil.gov.

 

Tags: Waukegan Fire Chief George Bridges Jr, Waukegan Fire Department, Waukegan Fire Department accepting applications, Waukegan tries to diversify police and fire departments