By Jen McCaffery
The Virginian-Pilot
Related: High-ranking black officers sue Minneapolis PD
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the city’s police and fire departments discriminate against black employees in this predominantly minority city, making Portsmouth the third locality in South Hampton Roads to become the subject of a civil-rights inquiry.
Both departments have tried over the years to increase the number of black and minority hires and those selected for promotions, a former union president and city leaders said Thursday.
About 52 percent of Portsmouth’s more than 101,000 residents are black, according to 2006 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of the city’s 248 firefighters, 34 are black, representing about 14 percent of the department. Seven hold management positions. Forty-two of the city’s 248 sworn police officers are black, representing about 17 percent of the force. One black employee holds an upper-management position, Portsmouth police Chief Edward Long.
The Justice Department informed Portsmouth of the investigation in a letter the city received May 29.
“The Department of Justice has information indicating that the City of Portsmouth’s Police and Fire Departments may be engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against black employees with respect to employment opportunities,” according to the letter from Wan J. Kim, then the assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division.
A spokeswoman for the civil rights division in Washington did not return a phone call about the investigation Thursday.
However, Portsmouth officials provided a copy of that letter and other documents in response to a request from The Virginian-Pilot under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Documents show that the Justice Department has requested information dating to January 2000 about the organization and structure of the police and fire departments, their entry-level hiring practices, and any corresponding documentation.
The city also was asked to provide the departments’ equal employment policies, any information about complaints of race and discrimination, and data kept on promotions within the fire department and transfers to specialized units in the police department.
Civil-rights investigations of the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach police and fire departments began similarly in 2004, with the Justice Department inquiring about hiring and promotion practices.
In 2006, the Justice Department determined that Chesapeake and Virginia Beach discriminated against black and Hispanic job seekers on the math portion of its entrance exams.
In June, Chesapeake settled a racial discrimination lawsuit with the Justice Department over the test, which the federal agency said unfairly disqualified black and Hispanic applicants. The city compensated as many as 42 applicants out of a $65,000 fund it created as part of the settlement.
Last year, Virginia Beach reached a similar settlement with the Justice Department. The city agreed to change how it scored its police entrance exam and allowed 124 applicants who were previously rejected to continue the hiring process under the new scoring system. Beach leaders also created a $160,000 fund to compensate the applicants.
Suffolk officials said Thursday they are not aware of any Justice Department investigations into their fire and police departments.
“Unequivocally, no,” Suffolk Police Department Capt. Dean Smith said.
Norfolk Fire-Rescue and the police department’s minority hiring is reported to the Justice Department and has been since a legal consent order that dates to the late 1970s. It was intended to spur more minority hiring, according to Nancy Olivo, the city’s director of human resources.
She said the city could ask to be released from the reporting requirement but has not.
“We see no reason to,” she said. “It’s just good checks and balances.”
According to city documents, in July, outgoing Portsmouth City Manager Jim Oliver e-mailed his successor, Kenneth Chandler, that “this issue may turn out to be important.”
City Attorney Tim Oksman wrote in an e-mail to Portsmouth City Council on Nov. 19 that a main area of investigation for the Justice Department is likely to be the tests that the city uses to hire and promote police officers and firefighters.
“If we conclude that there are things we can do to make hiring and promotion practices more inclusive - but without compromising the quality and integrity of our public service agencies - we will discuss those matters both internally and with DOJ,” Oksman wrote.
Portsmouth Councilman Ray A. Smith Sr. said he is concerned about whether the tests are fair.
Elizabeth Daniels, president of Portsmouth’s chapter of the NAACP, said the Justice Department’s investigation is warranted.
“I do think it’s a problem,” Daniels said. “Not only just hiring, how they treat people, too.”
Joe Wright, a longtime leader in Cavalier Manor, said recruiting minority applicants is a problem for most public safety agencies in South Hampton Roads.
Blacks typically do not consider careers in law enforcement because many feel that police officers have historically treated them unfairly, he said.
Wright and Reggie Allen, president of the Brighton/Prentis Park Civic League, said they do not want the city to lower its hiring standards for black applicants in Portsmouth.
“It’s my feeling if they brought the pay up, everything would fall into place,” Allen said.
Long said that the police department is “very cognizant of the racial breakdown of the city” and that the department is trying to recruit the best applicants it can.
Portsmouth Fire Chief Newell Whitehead said that “over the past five years, every African American who has gotten on the promotional list has been promoted.”
Tyrone Wisher, past president of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 539, said he and others have tried for “years and years and years” to recruit minority candidates from high schools, churches, colleges and job fairs.
Some minority applicants have been eliminated because of what the department has uncovered about them in background checks.
“The lack of qualified candidates was really the main thing,” Wisher said. “Then again, a lot of minorities weren’t interested.”
Staff writers Matthew Roy and Dave Forster contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Virginian-Pilot