CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The city’s Inspector General said the Chicago Police Department needs to figure out what part of its hiring process is keeping the department from becoming as diverse as the city itself.
Deputy Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said the outcomes of the police department’s hiring process do not reflect the city’s rich demographic diversity; not because the pool that goes into the process, but because of the pool that comes out of it.
The Chicago Inspector General's Office looked at the police department’s hiring numbers from 2016 through 2018, and said that while 37 percent of those who applied to become Chicago police officers were Black, after testing and screenings, only 18 percent of those Black applicants were invited to train at the Police Academy. This, in a city that’s 30 percent African American.
At an unrelated news conference on Thursday, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown briefly addressed the IG report.
"This report, and I'll be real brief because we want to stay on topic, was during the Rahm Emanuel Administration’s tenure," Brown said. "This is not a current day report of what’s transpired in the Chicago Police Department."
Still, of the more than 12,000 sworn police officers in the department right now, the Inspector General said 47 percent are white, 28.7 percent are Latino, and 20.2 percent are black.
Supt. Brown promised to address diversity in the department on another day.
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