Court Suit Considered to Assure Appointment of Qualified Jewish Cops

An official of a national organization of Jewish police said today the organization is considering a court suit to assure appointment of qualified Jewish applicants to the police force in Nassau County on Long Island.

Louis Weiser, executive vice-president of the National Conference of Shomrim Societies, said the Justice Department has issued an executive order to the Nassau County Police Department requiring “Affirmative action” in hiring of additional police. Weiser said that the order specifically excludes Jews as a minority.

The order came after the Nassau Police Commissioner, Daniel Guido, announced last July that he wanted to make the department more representative “of the community it serves” in starting a campaign to recruit minority group members and women for the force.

The commissioner also said an effort would be made to attract Jewish applicants for the 3800 member force. A department spokesman said 54 members of the force are black, 55 are Jewish and 26 are women. The Nassau County Planning Commission reported that about five percent of the county’s 1.45 million residents were blacks. The Long Island chapter of the American Jewish Committee said about one-third of the county’s residents were Jews.

Guido named two members of the Shomrim Society, Detective Harvey Goldberg and Lt. Richard Rubin, to recruit Jews for the police examination held lat Oct. 29. Weiser said in September that more than 1000 Jewish men and women filed for the examination. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that “several hundred” of the Jewish candidates passed the test.

He added, however, that until the list was promulgated and the department began to make appointments for current vacancies, there was no way to known how many Jewish candidates passed the examination. He also said that, under the federal directive, the department had to hire more minority members or lose federal funds.

(By Ben Gallob)