Committee on Public Safety
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago, through its corporate authorities, is committed to its duty of ensuring that hiring, training and promotional testing throughout its Departments, are fair and racially unbiased; and
WHEREAS, further, the City of Chicago has a continuing duty to maintain a diverse fire department that reflects the diverse demographics ofthe City; and
WHEREAS, it is reported by the Chicago Tribune that of the Chicago Fire Department's 4,800 uniformed members, there are currently 721 Black employees, which represents 15% of the uniformed members and 864 Hispanic employees, which represents 18% of the uniformed members; and
WHEREAS, through the collective bargaining agreement, it is the stated goal ofthe Chicago Fire Department, in an effort to maintain racial diversity within its department, that hiring and recruitment programs of the City of Chicago should aim to assure that at least 45% of all recruits added to the force shall consist of Blacks and Hispanics; and
WHEREAS, the collective bargaining agreement further requires that the transfer and promotional policies of the Chicago Fire Department shall have, as a goal, the inclusion of Black and Hispanic personnel in all categories and all ranks in order to reach as quickly as is reasonably possible, a level as close to 45% as is reasonably achievable; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago reports the following data with regard its active employee demographics within the Chicago Fire Department ranks:
|
RANK TOTALS |
WHITES |
BLACKS |
HISPANICS |
|
Battalion Chiefs 111 |
94 |
12 |
5 |
|
Captains 159 |
128 |
12 |
17 |
|
Lieutenants 555 |
401 |
77 |
66 |
|
Engineers 447 |
297 |
86 |
59 |
|
Firefighters 2609 |
1574 |
415 |
553 |
|
Fire Operations/EMS 4593 |
2968 |
678 |
831 |
WHEREAS, the Chicago Fire Department's last promotional class of March 1, 2022, from the rank of Lieutenant to Fire Captain consisted of 15 Whites, 5 Hispanics and 0 Blacks: and
WHEREAS, of the 30 Chicago Fire Department members promoted to the rank of Fire Captain on December 16, 2021, only two were Black; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago, in its 2017 promotional examination for the rank of Fire Captain, utilized a Linear Equation Model ("curve") to determine the final score and raking for the promotion to Fire Captain; and
WHEREAS, a study found that the scoring method (Linear Equation Model) implemented by the City of Chicago forthe 2017 Fire Captain promotional examination, which is utilized to determine rank order, had an adverse discriminatory impact on Black and Hispanic test-takers; and
WHEREAS, though the City of Chicago has released rank order results, the City has not, as of date, released the individual raw score and subsequent final score after the application of the Linear Equation Model; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Chicago Fire Department and the Department of Human Resources are hereby encouraged to release the raw scoring and final scoring after the application of the Linear Equation Model for the 2017 Fire Captain promotional examination and disclose its efforts toward inclusion of Blacks and Hispanics in the hiring process.
Chris Taliaferro, Alderman, 29 Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that representatives from the Chicago Fire Department and Department of Human Resources are hereby invited to appear before the Committee on Public Safety to provide testimony at a hearing on the disparate impact that the City of Chicago's hiring and promotional practices have had on Black and Hispanic applicants and promotional test-takers.
