Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Charlotte Police Chief Responds To Discontent Uncovered In Internal Survey

WSOC TV reports on Chief Monroe's response to negative survey results:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Rodney Monroe defended his hiring and promotion practices Wednesday evening after Channel 9 Eyewitness News obtained an internal survey revealing major discontent among officers.

Many police department employees apparently feel hiring and promotions are not based solely on experience and qualifications.

Only 32 percent of officers agreed with the statement that "employees are hired based on their skills and abilities, regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity or other differences."

Forty percent of officers disagreed with that statement.

The survey also included comments from officers, many of whom criticized the hiring and promotion process.

One employee wrote, "promotions and job selections should solely be based upon prior job performance and qualifications...and not..;gender, age and race. It seems this department is going away from this in order to appear more diverse at all costs."

Another wrote, "very well qualified applicants have been passed over for less qualified more diverse officers."

Police chief Rodney Monroe defended his record on hiring and promotion.

"That's not true. We don't promote based on race or gender," said Monroe. "But do we try to make an effort to be inclusive of everyone whether it's promotional or assignment? Yeah."

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