Opinion ID: 169352
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Antidiscrimination Provisions

Text: 6 Other Decree provisions forbid discrimination in hiring, promotion, and police operations, and require specific procedures to give officers a fair opportunity for advancement. Section 5 1 sets out the process for making specialty assignments (assignments that are not bid under the regular bid process) within the TPD. Subsection 5.1 requires that [a]ll specialty assignments ... be made on the basis of merit and fitness, and § 5.2 requires that the TPD post specialty-assignment vacancies and that the posting include information about the position such as the assignment, the job description, minimum qualifications of that assignment and preferred qualifications. Id. at 331-32. Subsection 5.4 specifies that the Major shall accept applications and make a recommendation for each position to the Deputy Chief, who will then forward that recommendation and his or her own recommendation to the Chief of Police for a final decision. All applicants must be notified of the final decision. Subsection 5.5 requires the TPD to adopt and implement a policy prohibiting those in the chain of command of positions being filled from directly or indirectly recruiting persons to apply for a specialty assignment other than through the new announcement procedure, unless no qualified person applies for the position during the three weeks following the posting. Id. at 332. Subsection 5.6 states that the minimum requirements for each specialty assignment must directly relate to the requirements of the position, and § 5.7 provides that the TPD may not open the position to all applicants unless no one meets those minimum qualifications. 7 Section 6, which addresses recruiting, provides that all hiring shall be based on merit and fitness. Id. at 334. The TPD must establish a recruiting task force to evaluate and develop strategies for recruiting, including the recruitment of women and minorities. To attract and retain applicants, id., the TPD must offer temporary employment opportunities to those accepted to the police academy. Section 7 states that promotions must be based on merit and fitness. Section 9 requires the City to ensure that all supervisors enjoy all of the rights and privileges which normally accompany their rank, id. at 336. (This provision is apparently a response to allegations that African-American supervisors did not receive proper deference from subordinates). Section 13 2 requires the City to adopt and implement a policy forbidding retaliation directed at any officer or civilian raising matters of public concern, including but not limited to, claims of racial, gender, religious, or national origin discrimination. Id. at 339. And § 14 requires the City to adopt a policy describing the obligation of officers to provide back-up support for other officers and to investigate complaints of backing failures.