FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- After more than a year of discovery, the Fairview Park Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Coalition recently presented its findings to City Council.
One of the stronger recommendations from the policy and practice review involves the hiring of police officers, tied to a 1990 consent decree that states a priority “to recruit and employ qualified African-American applicants in numbers that reflect their availability and interest in the relevant labor market.”
Currently, the Fairview Park Police Department has one Black officer, a woman.
“In the 2019 and 2020 police exams, only five African-Americans applied, according to data provided by the testing company, Clancy and Associates,” said Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition member Peggy Schauer, who was involved in the subcommittee exploring diversity as it related to hiring practices.
“This is compared to 94 people who identified as white,” Schauer said.
“We would like to work with the city to implement initiatives that recruit, employ and retain officers of color in Fairview Park.”
The report said that going forward, the recommendation is for Fairview Park to demonstrate its dedication to transparency.
As part of its research, the coalition subcommittee met with Police Chief Paul Shepard to better understand the department’s hiring practices.
“Along with the wide disparity in applicants who identify as white compared to persons of color, the coalition is concerned about the screening and hiring process for applicants,” Schauer said.
The police chief, who noted that only two of the DEI Coalition members accepted the department’s offer to go on ride-alongs with officers, stressed that every city right now is hard-pressed to get applicants.
He also defended the current police test.
“The manner by which we test, I believe, is fair, but I’m willing to look at other things,” Shepard said. “I told them for this next testing I would want them to offer recommendations.
“We judge our applicants based on the quality of the person. We’ve been very fortunate. Our last test in 2020 we had eight minority applicants out of 45 who took the test. That’s a good ratio, and of those applicants we hired a very good, qualified candidate.
“I understand the question about making the testing available, but we just need to get people in our seats to take our tests. And then we can determine whether or not the tests aren’t valid or not.”
One of the issues brought up by the coalition had to do with the lack of data. Not only has the administration been unsuccessful in obtaining documentation from the NAACP about decades of hiring in the city, but testing company Clancy and Associates doesn’t conduct reliability and validity assessments of its own tests.
The latter information, coupled with a small sample size of 40 percent test passage rate (two out of five Black applicants), proved inconclusive.
However, Schauer added: “The policy and practice committee is comprised of three current or retired teachers. From our contexts in school settings, we are well aware of bias in testing that negatively affects African-American students.”
The DEI Coalition learned about a different testing company -- The National Frontline Exam, used by Cleveland and other cities -- that does collect such data.
In addition to recommending test company changes, Schauer said the coalition was concerned about the order of testing to become a Fairview Park police officer.
The Clancy and Associates test is currently a prerequisite for moving on to other assessments in the hiring process, such as the agility test and interview.
“Extra credit is given to applicants who have additional qualifications, such as college degrees or military service,” Schauer said. “Then the top 30 are moved on to the agility test.
“Based on this method, the two African-American candidates who passed the exam would also have to score in the top 30 to move on in the process.
“We wonder why the written exam is the initial screen, especially when we don’t have reliability and validity data that shows that doing well on the exam, or having these extra qualifications, correlates with being a good police officer,” she said.
The DEI Coalition suggested that all candidates who pass the written exam move on to the agility test.
“We recommend the city works with a testing company that can provide data on the reliability and validity of the assessments used,” Schauer said.
“Using a test such as the National Frontline Exam would allow candidates access to practice tests that could influence better performance for all candidates.”
Another concern about testing in Fairview Park is that the police chief is present in an attempt to get an initial and informal assessment of the candidates.
“This practice could unintentionally trigger test anxiety, known as stereotype threat for women and people of color who are underrepresented on the police force,” Schauer said.
When presented with the coalition’s concerns about his presence during testing, Shepard said: “I don’t have to go to the test. I just choose to, because I think it’s a nice gesture that the chief takes enough time to do it.”
A review of civil service commission meeting minutes by the DEI Coalition revealed that past applicants have voiced concerns about individual test questions that they deemed unfair.
“We recommend the city review hiring practices from other cities, such as Cleveland and nearby suburbs,” Schauer said. “We would like to know how other cities use and weigh the written exam portion of the hiring process.
“We recommended the city partner with other cities to hold joint exam sessions, where scores can be shared across cities. We believe this might increase the number of applicants who identify as persons of color. This practice might also decrease testing expenses for cities and individual candidates.”
The coalition also suggested including community members in the hiring process.
“It’s common practice in education for teacher candidates to interview with parents, members of the community and even students,” Schauer said.
“Candidates still meet with the principal and other teachers, but this method of hiring acknowledges that principals and fellow teachers often do not represent people of color. Including diverse representation from the community can bring important perspectives to the hiring process and reduce bias.”
The DEI Coalition -- Schauer, Jennifer L. Kramer (chair), Carolyn Benion (co-chair), William Eyman, Matt Hribar, Heidi Lang, Felicia Munoz-Davenport, Bunda Russ and Heather Schneider -- formed after the city identified racism as a national public health crisis.
Its goal was to examine, explore and identify ways those who live, work or visit the city are welcomed and supported regardless of their race, sexual orientation, religion, age, natural origin, disability, income, family or military status.
“We look forward to working with the city to review these policies and practices and implement changes that support increased diversity, equity and inclusion in our police department,” Schauer said.
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