Residency requirement is lifted for city police (Pittsburgh, Washington: living, lawsuit)

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Merge

How anyone can not see the benefits of the Pittsburgh police living in the community (or one that's demographically similar) that they police is completely beyond me. It's simple common sense, really. Obviously, residency (along with the attendant knowledge of the community one works within) is part of the calculus that makes someone qualified to do the job. Someone who has not spent significant time in the city itself (and particularly within communities that are similar to where they will be working) will not be as qualified as a prospect who is a resident.

Someone who moves to the city and applies for the position and gets hired may have never spent more than a few days there. You're assuming every applicant has been a city resident all along. Not necessarily the case.

[norcider]

Reading some of the most cited reasons for wanting to live outside of the city, this one keeps coming up; threat of retaliation. I grew up with 3 families who one or more people in their family were city police officers, never did any retaliation befall a member of the cops or their families. One of the dad's even made it to Captain, they remained perfectly safe even though he no doubt had many enemies and was now in a high profile position. This supposed threat is utter BS. When was the last time we heard of any credible threat or action against a cop or his family by the criminal element? The last thing these guys want to do is bring that sort of attention upon themselves. It's all sour grapes. Look, I want my local firefighters close to where the fires happen, I want my first responders near the terrible events, and I want my cops near the scene of the crimes. It's common sense and it's what we PAY them for.

[erieguy]

Pretty sure a cop has a shift and as long as he gets to that shift on time all is well.

They get paid extra to live in the city?

Entire ruling sounds like more of a tax issue and just limits the amount of applicants. I am curious if this will raise or lower the amount of black applicants that some are in favor of getting hired, rather than hiring the best applicant.

[Lobick]

FWIW, this is another recent-ish thread that deals with many of the issues raised in this one:

//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...ce-bureau.html

Re-reading it, I think for the most part it does a good job keeping a respectful tone and provides some good context.

[UKyank]

My reasoning for supporting the ruling is purely economical. If my tax money is going to pay their salary I prefer that there be a greater chance that money makes it way back into my community.
Other than that I only care if the cop in question is good at preventing crime & getting rid of criminals via the best manner & leaves me alone.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by UKyank

My reasoning for supporting the ruling is purely economical. If my tax money is going to pay their salary I prefer that there be a greater chance that money makes it way back into my community.
Other than that I only care if the cop in question is good at preventing crime & getting rid of criminals via the best manner & leaves me alone.

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that's Peduto's thinking as well. It's a money/tax grab.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Are you insinuating that Pittsburgh's black residents are not interested in living wages due to some type of culture? What sense does that make? All the black city officers and detectives that I know are outstanding and an asset to our community.

Not at all, I'm suggesting that a lot of people- regardless of their ethnic group- aren't interested in police work and want to earn a living wage doing something else. I know I wouldn't want to be involved in that kind of work.

And I was suggesting that blacks might be overrepresented in the group that just isn't interested in stopping speeders, telling kids to move off the corner and getting involved in people's domestic disputes.


Considering the apparent fact that the city isn't prejudiced in their hiring of blacks in other jobs, why would they suddenly be prejudiced in hiring black police officers.


Seems inconsistent.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Not at all, I'm suggesting that a lot of people- regardless of their ethnic group- aren't interested in police work and want to earn a living wage doing something else. I know I wouldn't want to be involved in that kind of work.

And I was suggesting that blacks might be overrepresented in the group that just isn't interested in stopping speeders, telling kids to move off the corner and getting involved in people's domestic disputes.


Considering the apparent fact that the city isn't prejudiced in their hiring of blacks in other jobs, why would they suddenly be prejudiced in hiring black police officers.


Seems inconsistent.

Bingo.

[sealie]

You don't get hired by cities or corporations, you get hired by hiring managers and their bosses. I used to work somewhere where a hiring manager was famous for hiring within his religious group, this was not company policy and only impacted his direct reports. A hiring manager could easily be impacted by biases he wasn't even aware of that had zero to do with any City policies.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Not at all, I'm suggesting that a lot of people- regardless of their ethnic group- aren't interested in police work and want to earn a living wage doing something else. I know I wouldn't want to be involved in that kind of work.

And I was suggesting that blacks might be over represented in the group that just isn't interested in stopping speeders, telling kids to move off the corner and getting involved in people's domestic disputes.


Considering the apparent fact that the city isn't prejudiced in their hiring of blacks in other jobs, why would they suddenly be prejudiced in hiring black police officers.


Seems inconsistent.

There is nothing sudden about the prejudiced hiring practices. Pittsburgh had a federal court ordered consent decree do to racist hiring practices in the 1970s. As a result of the decree the city had more black women officers than any other city in the US by the 1980s. Gwen Elliot (Gwen's Girls) was the first black female officer. She climbed the ranks and became the first female Commander on the Pittsburgh police force. The police force was very diverse during my childhood. The decree expired in 2001 and the black percentage took a nose dive. The city needs oversight when it comes to hiring practices.