An Inclusive Litany

3/30/98

Responding to a historic under-representation of minorities, New York's Suffolk County Police Department created a minority-only cadet program whose members only needed a passing score of 70 on the academy's entrance exam, rather than the upper 90s as is expected for whites. Following that, one officer was suspended and another officer and a retiree were indicted for improperly tutoring some minority cadets to raise their scores, which may have caused an unfair advantage. Also, four white males, along with a part-black female who says she only looks white, sued when they were barred as cadets for being Caucasian.