New York City Police Department Enccuraging the Enrollment of Orthcdox Jews in the Police Force

For the first time in the history of the New York City Police Department, top police officials are encouraging enrollment of Orthodox Jews in the force, cording to Louis Weiser, the president of the Council of Jewish Organizations in Civil Service Weiser. who is also a former president of the Shomrim Society, which is comprised of Jewish police, said filing for examinations for a new list of police officers candidates opened March 1 and will continue until May 30.

He said the written examination will be held on a Saturday, June 30, and that a special Sabbath observer test will be held on Sunday, July 1 A similar Sabbath observer test for Jewish candidates was held for the prior list in 1973, Weiser told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, but, as for as he knows, no Orthodox Jews joined the farce from that list.

He said the current examinations, to develop a new four-year list may be the last opportunity for Jewish young people to enter the police force in any substantial numbers. Apart from the fact that the police department wants to broaden minority representation, Weiser said there is a possibility that “selective certification” — the appointment of a candidate out of his or her examination rank for preferential hiring — may be extended to cover applicants with fluency in languages other than Spanish, as at present.

Weiser said preferential hiring on that basis had been held legal by the courts if the police department demonstrates to the city’s personnel department the need for personnel with such special qualifications. He said the process may be broadened for the new list to include candidates fluent in Russian, Hebrew Yiddish and other languages.

He said that if that preferential hiring procedure was broadened to include such additional languages, the applicant would be asked to indicate fluency in one of the languages and be given a test, if he or she passed the examination, to confirm the claimed fluency.

MEETINGS HAVE BEEN HELD

Weiser said Police Commissioner Robert Mc Guire has shown strong interest in the program to attract more Jews, including Orthodox Jews, to the farce. He said meetings had been held with members of the Orthodox community on recruitment of Orthodox Jews and the police department officials had promised full cooperation. One of the problems is that a federal grant of $250,000 for recruitment of minority members for the examination will not be available in full for that purpose. Weiser said the City Board of Estimate had disallowed use of $150,000 of the grant for public media to reach minorities.

He also reported that top police officials were examining the problems anticipated in observant Jews joining the force, including provisions for absence for Jewish holidays and for the Jewish Sabbath, not only in police duties but at the Police Academy.

Weiser said that currently, only 750 Jewish men and women are on the force, compared with some 2400 Black and Hispanic police He noted that the city’s problems of budget austerity raised questions about employment opportunities for those passing the examinations and meeting other requirements for appointment. He said there were currently about 11,000 police officers eligible for retirement and that the normal attrition rate is estimated at 1200 to 1400 yearly.

Weiser said it was estimated that between 5000 and 6000 successful candidates would be appointed from the new list, though he added it was not possible to estimate now how many of the jobs left open by attention might be left untilled for budgetary reasons. He said the Shomrim Society was jetting the cooperation of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the Anti-Deformation League of B’nai B’rith in its efforts to recruit Jews for the examination. He added that the ADL would sponsor one of the examination classes, in cooperation with the Shomrim Society on April 22-23 at the ADL offices here.

Several years ago, the police department sponsored a campaign to recruit more Jews but that campaign was not aimed specifically to include Orthodox Jews. Weiser said there was even a possibility that Hasidic Jews might be approached to take the examination. He said there was no information immediately available as to the number of Jews who had filed to take the examination since filing began March 1.