REPORT: WHITE MEN DOMINATE SDPD HIRING
Women, minorities are filtered out early, city consultant says
White men dominate San Diego’s police force partly because women and people of color are filtered out of the hiring process during its early stages, a consultant says in a comprehensive new report.
Other potential reasons why police officers are 84 percent male and 59 percent White could be problems with the written exams or physical tests applicants must complete, the 165-page report says.
The report, San Diego’s first pay equity study, urges city officials to systematically track the pass/fail rates of applicants during the police recruitment process and document the reasons for failure of men, women and people of color at each stage. During the early stages of the hiring process, men were 2.3 times more likely to be considered “qualified” than women, despite those same women being 1.2 times more likely to have a college degree, the report found.
The report said that data, which is based on an analysis of applicants from 2016 through 2019, was troubling.
“Anything that disproportionately filters women from potentially becoming police officers at this early stage will undoubtedly reduce diversity in the department and increase the citywide pay gap,” the report said.
Men’s dominance of police officer jobs contributes to San Diego’s 17.6 percent pay gap between men and women, because police officer is among the highest paid jobs in the city, with average total compensation of $124,154.
Women make up 32.3 percent of the city’s overall workforce, but they account for only 16.5 percent of the city’s 1,820 police officer jobs.
The report found similar disparities with people of color, who are paid 20.8 percent less than Whites overall in the city workforce.
White police officer applicants were 1.5 times more likely to be deemed
“qualified” than applicants of color.
While people of color make up 55 percent of the city’s overall workforce, they account for just 40.6 percent of police officers.
The study treats all people of color as one group and doesn’t break them out by specific race or ethnicity. Of the city’s designated non-White workers, just over half are Hispanic or Latino, nearly 22 percent are Black, 13.6 percent are Asian and 7.4 percent are Filipino.
The study noted that overall police hiring rates for women and people of color were essentially the same as for Whites, but it stressed that there appeared to be a weeding out during the early stages of the hiring process.
For example, 19.1 per
cent of male applicants were deemed qualified, compared to only 8.3 percent of female applicants. The gap was smaller for people of color, who were deemed qualified 14.7 percent of the time, compared to 21.4 percent for Whites.
The authors, Analytica Consulting in Scripps Ranch, said they were only given access to job applications to analyze any potential differences, not the written or physical tests. Results from those tests might shed more light, particularly on why women are deemed not qualified.
“Further analysis of the physical abilities and written tests may reveal certain aspects that can be altered to maintain rigor and screen for physical ability but allow women to improve their performance,” the report says.
The report noted that San Diego’s statistics are similar to the rest of the nation.
Nationally women occupy 17.6 percent of law enforcement jobs, compared to 16.5 percent in San Diego. People of color occupy 41.1 percent of law enforcement jobs nationwide, compared to 40.6 percent in San Diego.
In San Diego, women have an easier time getting designated as detectives than they do getting promoted up the ranks, the study shows.
Women occupy 12.2 percent of police sergeant jobs and 15.7 percent of police lieutenant jobs but 28.3 percent of detective positions.
People of color are less represented in all three of those positions than they are in the police force overall. They make up 33.7 percent of police sergeants, 31.4 percent of lieutenants and 37.1 percent of detectives.
The report focused on police hiring because it concluded most of San Diego’s gender and ethnicity pay gaps can be explained by White men dominating two of the city’s highestpaid positions: police officer and firefighter.
Women make up 4 percent of firefighters, far less than their 32.3 percent share of the overall city workforce. People of color have 33.4 percent of firefighter jobs, less than their 55 percent overall share.
The study did not find significant disparities in city hiring practices or results for firefighters.
Another factor in the city’s gender and ethnic pay gaps is that women and minorities are overrepresented in lower-paying administrative and clerical jobs.
Equity has emerged as a higher-priority issue for San Diego in recent months. In the wake of racial protests last year over police violence against minorities, the city created an Office of Race and Equity.
San Diego also has launched efforts to boost environmental equity in low-income neighborhoods, get dirt roads paved in poor areas and help minorities find affordable housing more easily.
Mayor Todd Gloria said he is working to create a more equitable workplace for city employees.
“Understanding the city’s challenges with pay equity is the first step, and it won’t be our last,” Gloria said after the report was released early this month.
City officials have vowed to do another pay equity study in three years.