Erie must defend agility test for cops

The test has been modified once to make it easier for women to pass.
ERIE -- The city will get to defend itself in court against U.S. Justice Department contentions that a physical agility test it used for police applicants unfairly discriminated against female candidates.
The federal government wants U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin to require the city to award money to women who failed the test and to put them on a preferential hiring list.
To do that, McLaughlin must find the test didn't fairly measure the minimum physical qualifications to be an Erie police officer.
Request denied
On Friday, the judge refused the government's request to issue a summary judgment. A summary judgment would have meant McLaughlin believed the city had no chance to prevail if the case went to trial.
Instead, the judge said an expert who examined the test, which the city began using in 1996, presented a defense that should be heard at trial.
The test required candidates to perform a set number of push-ups, sit-ups and 220-yard obstacle course within 90 seconds.
Test modified
The test was modified between 1996 and 2002 to make it easier for women to pass. Erie's 200-member police force now has nine female officers -- and city officials said they were surprised by the suit earlier this year because they were working with the government to further refine the hiring system.
The city now uses an agility test that has various standards depending on the applicant's age and gender, which the Justice Department accepts.
McLaughlin rejected the government's contention that the city didn't present any evidence that the test relates to actual police work.
The city's expert, Paul Davis, said the city has already lowered its test requirements too far in an effort to get more women to qualify.
Justice Department sues
The Justice Department sued in January, contending that only 13 percent of female candidates have passed, while 71 percent of males during the same period succeeded since the test was put into place.
As part of the test, police applicants had been made to scale 6-foot and 4-foot walls, climb through a standard window 36 inches off the ground, crawl eight feet under a 2-foot platform, and then do 17 push-ups and nine sit-ups.
Then they were required to hold a service revolver at arm's length, pull the trigger, trade hands, and pull the trigger again.
"This is the most restrictive test in the nation that we're aware of," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said when the suit was filed.
"The city of Erie administered this test in 1996 to officers already on the force. Nineteen officers took the test and only four or five of them were able to complete it."
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