DAYTON, Ohio -- The city of Dayton has agreed to a settlement over alleged discriminatory hiring practices in the police and fire departments, but it isn't an admission of guilt, City Manager Rashad Young said Friday, Feb. 27.
In an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the city agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying $450,000 dollars to former black applicants and change its hiring practices.
Young said the city is not admitting guilt, but it will be cheaper to just pay the settlement rather than fight the lawsuit in court.
"We've tried over many, many years to increase minority participation in both the police and fire departments," Young said.
The DOJ claimed in its lawsuit, filed in September, that the city's police entrance exams and the fire departments application requirements violate civil rights laws.
Of the 421 officers in the police department, 35 are black. In the fire department, 18 of 300 employees are black. As of the 2000 census, more than 40 percent of Dayton's population was made up of African Americans.
Randy Beane, president of Dayton Fraternal Order of Police, said the problem is that the police department isn't getting enough minority applicants in the first place
