http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2016/...um=twitter

Quote:A veteran state trooper alleges in a whistleblower lawsuit she was retaliated against by her superiors after raising objections that police academy background checks were compromised because of pressure to increase racial diversity among State Police ranks.

Acting Sgt. Jaclyn Jiras, who spent five months working as a background investigator at a time the division was being scrutinized for its lack of black cadets, claims she was reassigned and denied a promotion when she flagged applicants with troubled legal histories and criminal backgrounds.

Court records and administrative documents obtained by NJ Advance Media also show Jiras and another trooper, acting Sgt. Christopher Griffin, were disciplined for allegedly leaking information from confidential background investigations to a retired trooper who ran a Facebook group for State Police members.

Jiras claims in her suit that her superiors, under pressure from the state Attorney General's Office to boost recruit class diversity on short notice, approved candidates who had been automatically disqualified for having suspended licenses, criminal affiliations and active warrants.

Quote:Jiras was responsible for conducting background checks for the division's 152nd and 153rd academy classes in 2012 and 2013, according to the lawsuit, filed Feb. 10 in Superior Court in Mercer County.

Both classes were touted in succession as the most diverse in State Police history. But they came only after the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP threatened legal action because the division had accepted a class with just five black troopers in 2011.

Quote:The 2011 drop in black recruits was seen as particularly troubling for the State Police, which historically struggled to grow its ranks of racial minority and female troopers but was publicly increasing its outreach efforts. The division also had spent a decade under federal monitoring for racial profiling and entered into a settlement with the NAACP in 2000 that mandated improved minority recruiting.

"We're not looking to change the process or lower the standards," said Melvin Warren, the criminal justice chairman for the state NAACP who has worked with State Police on recruitment efforts. "But we live in a diverse state. That's a fact. The makeup of the State Police needs to represent the state of New Jersey."

Quote:The suit claims Jiras and a colleague flagged a number of individuals who failed background checks based on 24 "automatic disqualifiers" set forth by the state attorney general.

One candidate had been found guilty of tax evasion and had a suspended driver's license, another had an active criminal warrant and a third candidate's Facebook account showed ties to the Bloods street gang as well as posts from the applicant "making race-based comments," the suit alleges.

Jiras claims she and her coworkers later learned several of those disqualified applicants had been "forced into the process" anyway amid pressure from Gov. Chris Christie's administration.

"Because the Academy was to start shortly and the Attorney General's Office determined it wanted additional 'diversity,' twenty minority candidates who had been automatically disqualified and were no longer part of the process were removed from the disqualification list and put back into the process," the complaint states.

The lawsuit does not indicate if any of the flagged candidates were accepted for State Police training, but administrative documents show some of the candidates the troopers flagged were sent on to the academy.

Quote:Griffin allegedly leaked "that he had been ordered by a Lieutenant Colonel not to make an arrest regarding an active warrant on an applicant," the document states. "(Griffin) further disclosed that minority applicants, who had been automatically disqualified during their (background checks), were still sent to the academy 'due to NAACP issues.'"

Jiras claims in her suit that when she learned about the internal affairs investigation, she also discovered that her internal e-mail messages relating to her work as a background investigator had been deleted by a systems administrator.

Hartman said she and Jiras detailed their concerns about the recruit vetting process in a January 2015 letter to the State Police's Office of Professional Standards, but have received no response.

God help us!

What's sad to me is the fact that Justice Thomas warned us about this.

You can't wish away disparity.

A system of "you are pretty smart...for a black guy" is upon us.

If you take a look at entrance numbers for minorities in medical and law school you would be very worried the next time you go to a new doctor or stop by your lawyers office.

It's a tragedy because it takes away from those who really did well and outperformed their peers. There shouldn't be doubt cast on them simply because other substandard folks are also allowed through.

(02-29-2016 02:26 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  God help us!

What's sad to me is the fact that Justice Thomas warned us about this.

You can't wish away disparity.

A system of "you are pretty smart...for a black guy" is upon us.

If you take a look at entrance numbers for minorities in medical and law school you would be very worried the next time you go to a new doctor or stop by your lawyers office.

It's a tragedy because it takes away from those who really did well and outperformed their peers. There shouldn't be doubt cast on them simply because other substandard folks are also allowed through.

Having been involved in the hiring process and having to deal with a situation like this organizations like the NAACP don't care if the applicant is qualified or not as long as you hire someone of the right color. I know that in the cases I personally dealt with five to seven years ago that we ended up adding a week and a half on to the standard recruit school and in just about every case the recruits required a nine month probationary period instead of the standard six months because we had to do additional remedial training once they got released to the field. To my knowledge none of these recruits have advanced beyond the back seat, and most are still considered basic Firefighters instead of Senior Firefighters who can function as an Engineer and operate the apparatus if the Engineer is out that day. Typically it takes two years to move move from Firefighter to Senior Firefighter and we have people who haven't advanced in seven. Subsequent hires have advanced well beyond that point, with most of the class following the last diversity mandated class already serving as full Engineers, the rest as Senior Firefighters.


I know of an agency that was forced to scrap all but three people out of a twelve person hiring class because their liberal council didn't think it was diverse enough and was going to cut funding. As a result they pretty much had to pick from the bottom of the applicant pool to fulfill those wishes. Because they were not qualified to begin with over half flunked out of basic training, and only four made it through the probationary process. As a result of this and a subsequent two year city-wide hiring freeze in the early 1990's they had significant staffing issues for a number of years, and now have a looming leadership crisis because of a lack of qualified leadership as older leaders retire.

Like NASCAR when They tried to recruit more Black Drivers. It's a whole lot different at 200+ MPH unless You have been working towards that goal Your entire life. No One can just jump into it and be successful or else You kill Yourself or Others around You. Wendell Scott was the last successful Black NASCAR driver. He grew up with it. Not the NFL, NBA, MLB. Same with Authority positions. A shady background should keep You out of the Police Academy . Trust is very important with Law enforcement . If You lack trustworthiness, You don't belong in it no matter Your race.

tittie IX started the mandate process.....

it's fk'n amazing how stupid the collective has reacted....

what a bunch of poosies

you can either do it or you can't......skin color or a dick doesn't mean dick....

fk 'em all.....I'm done with it....have been....I'm sick of this shite....

costa....buh bye....