Why Was a Criminal Given a Badge?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5489732.html


In my humble opinion, I think this article was meant more to embarrass the San Antonio Police Department. However, I think it serves to shed some light on a problem that wasn't talked about before. In this story, a former officer pled guilty and will be sentenced for allowing his girlfriend to sell methamphetamine out of their house. This article dug into the hiring process that allowed this man, with a pretty good criminal history and problems with prior jobs to become a police officer;


"....hired by the department in 1994 despite being rejected two years earlier for reasons including a drunken driving conviction, a newspaper reports."


"Background investigators also concluded that Joseph Anthony Evans tried to hide a criminal trespass arrest, a hit-and-run conviction and an internal investigation of sexual misconduct at a corrections officer job."


"San Antonio police had also originally denied Evans a badge because polygraphs showed deceptive or inconclusive answers to questions ranging from illegal drug use to stealing from employers."


Now why would they take him? It would boggle the mind of any normal person.


"Sandoval, who retired in 1997, said he overrode other rejections from applicant screeners amid political pressure from City Hall to hire more black and female officers."


There is the problem! Political pressure creating racial and gender quotas. When police agencies are told to they need to hire a certain race and/or gender the standards tend to get put on the sideline. I remember an instance where a man was rejected by the Houston Police Department because he had some problems with bad checks. They said they weren't sure he would be honest. They had to dig deep into his background to find that out. However, they took another candidate (different race). Unfortunately they didn't look too hard into his background or they would have found his Michigan murder warrant before they hired him. The rejected candidate was hired at another agency, was promoted to sergeant, and recently retired after many years of service. Political correctness has done nothing to improve society. Police agencies have hiring standards for a reason. They want only qualified, ethical people working. We, as a society expect police officers to be honorable, honest, and ethical. Do you want your heart to be operated on by someone who graduated tops in medical school through diligent study and practice? Or do you want someone who was hired to make the hospital appear more diverse? When tin horn politicians come demanding quotas in hiring, then the standards are lowered and unqualified people slip through the cracks. If you want some information on the consequences of this, read these articles by Larry Elder.

Article 1

Article 2


Sadly, this politically correct madness will never stop. For the status quo it's too beneficial and any attempts to end it will be resisted. I would like to see standards used, and eliminate the race and gender questions on hiring applications and forms altogether.