Investigation into police department begins
Justice Department to review hiring
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Only a small portion of the Town of Amherst's employees are considered minorities, a statistic that Council Member Dan Ward said he wants addressed.

(See editorial on page four)

The first department being reviewed is the police department, by the U.S. Justice Department, which will investigate the police department's hiring practices.

The meeting, including Chief John Moslow and Assistant Chief John Askey, is scheduled for today, April 11.

"Continuously over the years I have continued to raise this issue, not just for the Police Department, but for all the Amherst government departments. We have not had sufficient minority hires, and this flies in the face of our so-called policy of diversity, much less meeting our statutory and constitutional standards with respect to hiring," Ward said.

According to Ward the investigation was to be expected given the disparity between the town's minority population ratio, and the small number of minority hires in the department.

"When I was supervisor, I specifically took this issue up with (then) Chief Askey ... . I told him to specifically recruit to hire sufficient minority police candidates, which I felt was at least to start to address this inequity. I know he tried, but we just have not done enough," Ward said.

"The results speak for themselves, and while I do not believe there has been a conscious or deliberate pattern of discrimination, we have a lot of work to do."

Moslow responded to the investigation, stating that the number of minority applicants is slight. In his tenure, three black candidates have applied; two were hired and one is still pending, he said.

"All candidates must be town residents four months prior to taking the examination. That might be one area that restricts a large pool of minority candidates," Moslow said.

Town policy for other positions allows the employee to move into the town after his or her hiring.

"The Police Department has never been a target of an equal opportunity complaint," Moslow said. "I stand behind our hiring process."

During the meeting with the Justice Department, Moslow said the hiring process will be reviewed, adding that he welcomes any enquiries.

"I look forward to demonstrating our compliance with the requirements pertaining to employment," Moslow said, adding that all appointments and promotions are based on merit and fitness examinations.

He added that Amherst is not alone in this situation, many suburban police departments do not have a large number of minority officers.

The meeting will take place after press time for the April 11 edition of the Amherst Bee.

On March 13 the Amherst Town Board passed a resolution to create a Diversity Commission to review hiring trends related to the town's growing minority population. To date, The Town Board has not completed appointing seven members to the commission.