A recent series of lawsuits brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against police and fire departments could serve as a blueprint for erasing physical and mental standards in the name of fairness.

The Justice Department settled two lawsuits, and in October, local authorities issued a lawsuit after a black applicant unfairly failed a written cognitive test and a female applicant had difficulty passing a physical exam. He filed a third lawsuit accusing the local government of discrimination. The Department of Justice deemed the exam discriminatory due to its results, even though applicants of all races and genders were subject to the same standards.

All three lawsuits were filed within weeks of each other, and this could be just the beginning, as the Harris administration will accelerate the process “10 times,” one expert told the Daily Caller. told.

In an early October settlement, the Maryland State Police (MDSP) will award 275 previously rejected applicants after the Justice Department launched an investigation into “racist hiring and promotion practices.” You will have to pay more than $10,000 in back pay. (Related: Biden-Harris Justice Department forces Maryland to hire fat female police officer)

The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that MDSP’s use of a written test called the Police Officer Selection Test (POST) “unfairly excluded African American applicants” and its use of the Functional Fitness Assessment Test (FFAT). claims that “female applicants were unfairly excluded.”

Of the 12 MDSP academy classes that have graduated since 2017, 91% of white applicants passed the POST, compared to just 71% of black applicants, according to the Department of Justice.

This, the Justice Department claims, “has an adverse impact on African American applicants for police officer positions.”

Additionally, female applicants had significantly lower success rates on the FFAT, which consists of push-up and sit-up tests, a 1.5-mile run, and a flexibility test. Since 2017, the pass rate for men has been 81%, while the pass rate for women has been just 51%, according to the Department of Justice.

The complaint alleges that the tests were “not job-related or consistent with business necessity.”

However, law enforcement officials disagreed.

“It’s important to catch the bad guys. It’s important to be healthy, it’s important to have standards,” Klickitat County, Washington Sheriff Bob Songer told the Daily Caller.

“That helps keep them healthy and in good shape, because when you’re on the street and you’re a patrolman or a detective, primarily a patrolman, when you answer a call, you don’t know what’s going to happen until the next moment. Well, it doesn’t matter if you end up fighting someone who tries to take on you because they don’t like what you’re doing or don’t respect authority.” Songer told the caller:

Songer said standards need to be set because police have a “grave responsibility” working in “a profession that, as far as I know, outside of war, can cost lives in certain circumstances.” said.

Less than a week after the Maryland settlement, the Durham Fire Department settled with the Department of Justice over similar allegations. The Justice Department alleged that the city’s fire department screens applicants using a written test that discriminates against black candidates.

Durham’s written exam, the Comprehensive Examination Battery (CEB), also “unfairly excluded African American applicants from employment,” according to the Department of Justice’s complaint.

As a result, the City of Durham will issue $980,000 in back pay to previously rejected applicants and use the new test.

The CEB was created by Fire and Police Solutions Inc. (FPSI) and consists of basic math problems.

The mock test circulating on Twitter, which FPSI officials confirmed to The Daily Caller is from the Candidate Orientation Guide, consists of multiple-choice questions such as: .

“What is the combined weight of the four firefighters: 202 pounds, 186 pounds, 133 pounds, and 211 pounds?”

Third question: Try not to get too confused. pic.twitter.com/hS8h6dmrWq

— Cremieux (@cremieuxrecueil) October 9, 2024

FPSI offers a practical guide online to assist potential candidates. “All of the skills and competencies measured in the exam have been identified by subject matter experts in validation studies as necessary skills and competencies for firefighters, so no preparation is required,” said FPSI President Stacey Bell. told the Daily Caller.

If Maryland and Durham’s tests are deemed racist and sexist, hundreds of other departments across the country could be subject to the same criteria.

Police departments across the country use the POST test named in the Maryland State Police lawsuit. The following state departments California to tennessee We have posted mock POST tests online for prospective students to study with. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. still using testEven if you upload POST test practice It was recently posted on the website in 2022.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit alleges that the test’s use violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, specifically a standard known as “disparate influence.”

Title VII prohibits employers from explicitly discriminating. However, the law also prohibits employers from providing information on race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., even if it appears to be neutral). ), or employment practices that have the effect of discriminating against people on the basis of their national identity. origin. “

In other words, heterogeneous effects are when different groups produce different results when given the same test. Supporters argue that unequal results are evidence of bias, even if everyone takes the same test.

Jeremy Carle, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute and author of The Unprotected Classes, calls disparate influence an “absurd doctrine.”

In his book, Carl argues that this principle stems from the Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Griggs v. Duke Power.

Duke Power instituted IQ and mechanical aptitude tests for potential employees. Although the court found no racial component to the test and did not allege any explicit discrimination, the test violated Title VII because white applicants passed at a higher rate than black applicants. Then it was approved. This created a disparate influence, Karl says.

And while the immediate effects may be obvious, long-term effects linger beneath the surface.

“The impacts are compounded by a lot of the things you don’t see, because what happens is people don’t test, people don’t put requirements in place. Because the is sitting there and saying, “We could file a lawsuit that would have a different impact.” So the people defending this will say, “Oh, well, that’s what’s happening in a relatively small number of cases,” but there’s a lot of confusion going on beneath the surface that you don’t see, and there’s a lot of damage. There’s a lot to people who simply aren’t doing the right thing. ”

Local governments across the country are proving Karl’s point.

In May, Niecy Murray, executive director of the Denver Civil Service Commission, fired after Mayor Mike Johnston expressed concern that he was lowering safety standards at the city’s fire and police departments in order to hire more police officers.

While institutions like Durham and Maryland are buckling down, one city is fighting back.

In Indiana, South Bend police vowed to “vigorously defend” the pending lawsuit after learning of the impending Justice Department lawsuit (via a Justice Department press release).

“The South Bend Police Department believes its screening process is a fair measure of candidates’ job performance,” SBPD said in an Oct. 11 Facebook post. “Like other cities in Indiana, the City of South Bend must ensure that its employees meet certain minimum standards.”

The Facebook post also noted that the department’s written exam is administered by a third-party organization, Testing For Public Safety LLC, and is also used by other police departments in the state, including the Indiana State Police.

Rushkowski was not the only one to point out this contradiction.

“Ironically, the Department of Justice has not said a single word about the law enforcement agency FBI and its physical standards,” John H. Ornberger, national trustee of the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police, told the Daily. told the caller.

“If you compare the FBI standards to South Bend, the only difference is the trigger pull and vertical jump requirements.Then, the FBI Academy would require students to pass the entrance physical exam but not shoot or physically We have to weed out or flush out the recruits who don’t make it through the academy. I think maybe the Department of Justice should look internally before filing this type of lawsuit,” Ornberger told the Caller. .

The three private agencies also join the gas station where the Biden-Harris Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Sheetz under Title VII in April for checking applicants’ criminal backgrounds. If Harris wins in November, these lawsuits could be just the beginning.

“With the Biden-Harris radical Justice Department, it is inevitable that we will see a surge in these types of cases,” Kahl told the Caller.

“When Republicans control the White House, the Justice Department is liberal. When Democrats control the White House, it becomes radical,” he concluded.

The Daily Caller reached out to the Justice Department for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.