Dozens of rejected Pittsburgh police officer candidates given second chance to join recruit class

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and the city's public safety director say dozens of rejected police officer candidates will be given a second chance to join an upcoming recruit class.

The city rejected 23 police candidates on psychological grounds, but now all 23 are being invited back for a new evaluation and a second chance to become police officers.

Faced with retirements and officer flight, the city is in dire need of new police recruits. But the rejections of such a high number on psychological grounds raised concern in the mayor's office.

"It's a big concern and that's why we started doing our due diligence to find out what we needed to do," Gainey said.

Of those 23 rejected, five candidates are Black. But while Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt doesn't believe the psychological screening is racially biased, the total number seems far too high and the city will offer new testing to each.

"We're going to send some of those candidates through another psychological with new psychologists," Schmidt said.

In the meantime, the city will review its current psychological tests and whether they should be revamped.

"We have to make sure there's no bias in the process, whether that's around race, whether that's around background," Schmidt said.

The candidates undergo psychological testing after they have passed a written exam, a physical agility test and a criminal background and polygraph test. Schmidt says while the psychological process will be reviewed, the standards will not be lessened.

"We want to ensure that our processes are fair, equitable," Schmidt said. "But we also want to make sure we do get the right people in these positions. We don't people that are trying to enter the workforce or police force for the wrong reasons."

The city wants to begin a new class of up to 40 recruits beginning on May 20. Those rejected candidates will be offered a new evaluation in the next two weeks and spots in that class if they pass.