NYPD Must Interview Diverse Candidates Going Forward: Mayor

New York City NY

31 March, 2021

2:52 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — The NFL's "Rooney Rule" will get its NYPD equivalent under a new order requiring officials to interview at least one minority candidate for open major jobs. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday signed an executive order to address the NYPD's hiring process and ensure that diverse applicants get a chance. He explicitly compared it to the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for coaching and other top jobs. "There's always more to do, but it's really helped," he said. "We want to bring that approach here to the NYPD." De Blasio during his announcement didn't provide details on how it would work in practice. His office later released the executive order, which is titled "Diversifying NYPD Senior Leadership." It requires the NYPD, when hiring top brass and precinct commanders, to conduct a "meaningful interview of at least one qualified applicant for each open position who is of a race that is underrepresented in senior positions." Council Member Adrienne Adams praised the order and said she hoped the NYPD won't stop at just one such interview. "I'm confident that this important change, combined with other reforms to the promotions process, will have an impact on diversity in the upper ranks of our police force and I hope it will make the police department more transparent, more fair and overall more representative of our great and diverse city of New York," she said. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea is white, as are many of his top-ranking officials. But recently the city has seen two Black officers — Rodney Harrison and Juanita Holmes — become chief of department and chief of patrol, respectively.