Civil Service Commission Orders Boston Police to Reform Hiring Practices

On behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO) and the Boston Society of Vulcans, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights participated in a Civil Service Commission hearing on July 21, 2016, concerning irregularities in the Boston Police Department’s hiring practices.

During the hearing, Civil Service Commission chairman Christopher Bowman ordered the police department to stop improperly “bypassing” candidates in favor of others with lesser qualifications.

As the Boston Globe reported, civil rights advocates, veterans, and minority law enforcement groups contend that the irregularities in hiring raise questions about the impact on minority candidates:

“There are still many unanswered questions about who was bypassed or otherwise skipped over in the process, and how that may have contributed to the lack of diversity in the recruit class,” said Oren Sellstrom, litigation director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.