Dayton Agrees To Lower Test Scores For Police Exam

[Dave]

Personally I think this is a bad idea. Just by even suggesting such a thing, it gives the impression that someone that isn't white is not as smart because they need help passing the police exam. I'd like to think that we are all equal. Everyone that takes the test has to meet the same standard and that should be the original standard. By lowering the score threshold, your not getting the best people into the positions that you want the best people in. Basically, a police exam shouldn't come down to being judged by anything other then performance and ability.

City agrees to lower test scores for police exam

By Lucas Sullivan, Staff Writer Updated 12:27 PM Thursday, March 10, 2011

DAYTON — The city’s Civil Service Board and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed on a lower passing score for the police recruit exam after it was rejected because not enough blacks passed the exam.

The city lowered both written exams a combined 15 points that resulted in 258 more people passing the exam, according to a statement released Thursday by Civil Service officials. The agreement allows the city to immediately resume its plans to hire police and firefighters.

The original passing scores determined by Civil Service required candidates to answer 57 of 86 (66 percent) questions correctly on one portion and 73 of 102 (72 percent) on the other. The lowered benchmark requires candidates to answer 50 of 86 (58 percent) questions correctly and 64 of 102 (63 percent) of questions on the other.

A total of 748 people passed the exam under the new benchmarks. It is unclear the demographics of those who passed.

The passing candidates will undergo preliminary background checks and, once that hurdle is cleared, will be subject to an oral interview. Those dates have not been determined.

The Justice Department’s rejection of the passing scores last month delayed the city’s firefighter’s exam that was slated for April 2. A makeup date has yet to be set for the exam.

The city said it wants to put new hires on the street in both police and fire departments by next year to replace dozens of retirees that have left public safety forces near all-time lows.

Contact this reporter at [phone] or [e-mail].

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

If I were black.. I would be offended by another black man telling an organization to lower the scores to make me qualify, rather than making sure the education system was doing my people justice and teaching me how to read and evaluate the questions.

Basically by lowering the actual scores.. he is telling all the blacks they are too stupid to pass the test. Thus the already starting jokes about calling the Dayton Police Dept the "F Troop"

[Willy]

"DAYTON — The city’s Civil Service Board and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed on a lower passing score for the police recruit exam after it was rejected because not enough blacks passed the exam." That is the reason the test scores were lowered.

 

"A total of 748 people passed the exam under the new benchmarks. It is unclear the demographics of those who passed." What this is saying is they do not know who actually passed the test this time around. A comment I have trouble believing.

 

I'm curious to know what percentage of blacks failed and what percentage of whites failed. If they go by percentage and the numbers are fairly equal then there is no problem.  I would also be interested to know how many blacks took the test as opposed to the number of whites. A lot of unanswered questions here.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

Frankly.. I would not see a difference if they find both blacks and whites flunked the old standard or the new at the same rate.  Unless someone has firm evidence that the test was set up like a poll test.. IE specifically designed to be culturally challenging to another race the lowering of the passing mark for a test is dangerous to the community those (new police officers) will come from.