I never realized how segrated Janesville is untell I read this article today. I mean take a look around folks. I went to lunch today and every food server at hooters was a female...unbelevable...so I left..went down to to asain buffet to eat. Correct me if I am wrong but how differcied is the labor working there. I am tired of it...this is the reason I don't play in the NBA..they should be forced to hire more white players to represent the countys racal balance. Don't you agree minority 2008...but I do agree we do need a token black officer in this town...

Recruiting is only one part of affirmative action. The only part of affirmative action that is illegal under current case law is quotas. Even with affirmative action programs in place, it is a misunderstanding that this constitutes a preference in the legal sense.

The fact is that enough people recognize that race exists to make this an issue. It is a story the Gazette needed to report. Thank you Gazette. The JPD needs to pull things together.

Unqualified? From the article above:

But all candidates will go through a vigorous screening process, possibly eliminating them.

Applicants undergo written and physical tests. They are interviewed. Their backgrounds are investigated. They also get medical and psychological evaluations.

“We’re committed to getting the very best police officers for this community,” Moore said.

Why is this even a discussion?Im young and was brought up in a world where all are equal.I really dont care the color of a persons skin,as long as they protect and serve! If my white skin were on the line,come help...all colors and races! I will love you for it !

moredoug==
you are right. It's our lawmakers and govt. plans that continue to divide this country. Everytime someone feels they're being dealt a bad hand in life and runs to the govt. and cries race or sex discrimination, another program or quota is developed. What ever happened to being rewarded for your own ambition and hard work????? "Handouts" have never been the answer. Hold people accountable and give them the means to succeed by offering a "handup"!

I thought America is "suppose to be" color blind. Black this, hispanic that, blah, blah blah, blah. Government and corporate America should only hire on qualifications. Qualifications, qualifications, qualifications, qualifications, qualifications! NOT COLOR OR RACE. Hiring by race or color is the root of racism.

Typical thug.

OJ Simpson is an idiot and finally gets what he deserves. He obviously thought he was above the law and instead of going through the proper legal channels to get back his "stolen" property he decided to take things into his own hands by gun point, obviously because he knew he didn't have any rights to property he still considers to be his.

O.J. gets at least 9 years for armed hotel robbery*************************************
I knew that Janesville Extra wouldn't let anyone comment on this story..JE knows OJ should have been put in prison 13 years ago.

Hiring a fluent Spanish speaking Latino officer who is qualified, even over slightly more qualified Caucasian English speaking officers makes sense. In fact, I think this arguement is stronger than that of hiring an African-American officer.

When a police department doens't have a Spanish speaking officer it is a safety concern both for the community at large and the police officers themselves.

Additionally I have seen that the Latino population in Janesville is rising very fast and because many are illegally living in Janesville the actual Latino population may be unknown.

Without going into the illegal immigration topic, regardless these people reside in Janesville. Many will say that they a)should be deported because they are illegal or b) they should have to learn English and no effort should be made by the Janesville Police Department to hire Spanish speaking Latino officers because of that.

99% of police work is about communication. A police officer's duties entail writing reports and effective communication with the people it serves. Although Janesville may have semi-fluent to fluent Caucasian speaking officers there still is a level of distrust that may be present between the Latino community and Caucasian officers.

If people out there think everybody in this country is given equal opportunity to succeed in this society you are sadly mistaken. The dominant group in this country not only population wise, but also as far as political and economic power is concerned are Caucasians. As in any society where there are limited resources being fought for those who have the upper hand will use it to assist their concerns. Minorities are at a disadvantage without a doubt.

Nobody is saying that unqualified minority officers should be hired. What I am saying is that if you have two qualified officers and one is a minority and one is Caucasian then you should make the effort to hire the minority officer so that your community's demographics can be better represented amongst your department workforce.

Take into consideration the following.

Many have been against the hiring of women. Women have shown that they can do the job and if you have a sexual assault of a woman in most cases the female victim will feel more comfortable being interviewed by another female.

In the Beloit Merril Neighborhood (a.k.a. "The Hood") there is a very high African-American population. If you only have Caucasian officers working this area there will be without a doubt more tension than may be present if you have African-American officers patrolling these areas.

Many minorities are suspicious of the police and by just hiring Caucasian officers you are making the communication between a police department and the citizens it serves less effective than if you had some minority representation amongst your department members.

Again, I say that if your community has a decent amount of minorities living in it an effort should be made to have your police department's work staff be somewhat representitive of it. Even in the case of Beloit where they do have a good amount of minority officers, they still are not representitive of the population they serve. At least in the case of Beloit they are making an effort. Without a doubt if Beloit wanted to have more minority officers they could have them, but it appears they are not willing to hire unqualified minority applicants as this would be a disservice to their community.

Beloit may from time to time hire a less qualified minority applicant over a more qualified Caucasian applicant.

However, there have been several minority applicants who have moved on after resigning from the Beloit Police Department and now work for Federal law enforcement agencies.

If Beloit, with it's high minority population were not to make a conscious effort to hire minorities to try to represent within it's department the demographics of it's community this could raise issues.

Take for instance a minority being arrested and suing:

a) The Janeville Police Department
b) The Beloit Police Department.

If both scenarios were exactly the same Beloit would have less of a dilema than Janesville because they do have a large number of minority officers. The media attention would be much more severe for Janesville as they have NO African-American or Hispanic officers.

Nothing like a bunch of redneck bigots to bring out the best in a city...

(sarcasm)

Stories like this sure bring out the redneck bigots of Janesburg. Apparently nothing has changed since the "n-----, n-----, n-----" chant coming from the Janesville section during a Janesville-Beloit basketball game I attended in the '60's. So sad. So wrong.
Can you imagine the gazzette doesn't find this offensive I do. since n----- is not tolarated on this site yet they won't remove post, as their ules stateKeep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also.
That's their words not mine. But any post about white power sure seems to be removed. Shame on you Gazzette.

Well MooShoo, take heart. Perhaps in your next life you will be able to escape the trailer... Good luck with that!

I understand exactly where you are coming from snerdly. Your posts are proof that you can take the trash out of the trailer, but you can't take the trailer out of the trash.

As of the 2000 Census Janesville's Caucasian population was 95.27% white. I would think that since 2000 there has been an increase not only in the African-American and Asian populations, but most significantly with the Latino population. I would guess that by the 2010 census Janesville's Caucasian population will be between 90 to 93 %

If the minimum qualification for a police officer at any given police department is let's say an 80 percent score should a lower scoring minority person be given the job over somebody who scored slightly higher than them?

Yes. Especially in Janesville. You need a few minorities that meet the qualifications to be a police officer who can do the job. By hiring a few you then will get more minorities to apply.

Officer A is African-American and scores an overall 88 percent.

Officer B is Caucasian and scores a 93 percent.

You hire Officer A in Janesville and you do it now! Oh well that is racism or you are giving preference based on race.

Duh. Who says you are required to hired the "most qualified" person? And anyways what are the standards for who is most qualified? Are these standards made by the dominant Caucasian ethnicity? If so, would'nt it be fair to say that this process of evaluation will be biased towards preferential treatment of the dominant group anyways?

If you meet the minimum qualifications for police officer then it is at the police chiefs' and Police and Fire commission's discretion to determine who they want to hire.

If there is a high Latino Spanish speaking population or a need for such a Spanish speaking officer in Janesville you hire whoever is qualified, even if this means hiring said person over a Caucasian English only speaking person who is slightly more qualified. The need for Spanish is there.

This of course applies to any need for any other foreign language in Janesville. To my knowledge there are also a decent amount of Cambodians in Janesville. Hiring a qualified Cambodian officer would be great too :)

At the risk of being politically incorrect, Janesville has a population of approximately 62,000, of which about 97% is white. Why should the Janesville Police Department even be worrying about "officers of color" in the first place? They should hire whoever's best for the job and to hell with skin color games.

It is no coincidence that besides the Beloit Police Department, there is little to no minority presence in other Rock County police departments. The culture in these communities is not receptive to minorities. The Janesville Police Department claims to have one Native American. I am ignorant on this person's ethnicity make-up, but I'd be willing to be this person is far from being 100 or even 50 percent Native American.

The Beloit Police Department has 8 African-American and 3 Latino police officers out of the 77 officers they have. If approximately 30 percent of the Beloit community is comprised of African-Americans and Latinos then they are still behind the amount they should have to represent their community.

Let's get some things straight about the Beloit Police Department and it's "love" of hiring minority officers.

In the last 5 years the following has happened:

Officer Shoate, who is African-American, was requested by Police Chief Thomas to be fired during hearings before the Police and Fire Commision. He was not fired. He resigned and now is an Air Marshal.

Officer Brown, who is African-American, was requested by current Chief Lathrop to be fired during hearings before the Police and Fire Commission. He was not fired.

No other officers in the last five years have been brought to the Police and Fire Commision to be fired.

Officer Kroning, who is African-American, resigned in 2007 after an off-duty incident.

Officer Rodriguez, who is Latino, resigned in 2006 after an off-duty incident.

Officer DeLaRosa, who is Latino, resigned and now works for the DEA.

Officer Belmontes, who is Latino, has had many domestic incidents at his residence in Milton and has had contact with Milton Police officers due to the police being called, yet he has not been fired.

Listen to your scanners people. Either the minority officers being hired are doing stuff they shouldn't be doing off-duty or they are being pushed out the door (as in Beloit) or not even let in the door (as in Janesville).

mooshoo, i see what you're saying. they are being recruited to APPLY. they aren't guaranteed a job because of their skin color-they must pass the screening. i believe your reading comprehension skills are fine.
snerdly said: "You shouldn't get a pass if you are less qualified because you are the desired "color" that is being sought. That is racist. Like it or not." The article states the minorities who apply must pass the screening, if they don't-no job.

YOU MooShoo need to reread my posts "paly." You score very low for reading comprehension.

Snerdly, you need to reread the article pal. There is no preference given in hiring minority officers in Janesville. If you don't believe me, call city hall and ask them for the "minority" job application form that gives preferential treatment in hiring.
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What's wrong with the picture is only 5 out of the 175 applicants were black. There is nothing wrong with encouraging minorities to apply.

Dec 2, 2008 at 4:47 p.m. I posted a comment about what minorites call whites. Funny that comment is still there. Was I the only one affended by this.

"I am not trying to be racist and please dont take this wrong. But I do believe theyre are not enough applicants around here because the people I have seen of color dont really want to work at all. I am sure theyre are some good workers around but I havent seen any that would want to be a policeman or have a job at all. theyre working as drug dealers and who wouldnt want to work tax free...."Hannah-this is what you wrote. Now you're contradicting yourself. Do you see why I'm questioning what you're saying? Read this then your last comment. Doesn't fit.

look at the benifits. being able to sit a screemin meemees and investigate lap dances.

I understand why JPD wants to recruit diffrent nationalities, but they do have standards of intense criteria that must be met. BUT it ensures we get the best in our community. I for one, could never be a police officer, living in a state of extreme caution where at any minute a traffic stop can turn into a war zone..scary! But I feel safer knowing they do their job and do it well.
KUDOS!

MooShoo, if you are going to comment on something I stated, please try to pay attention. Qualifications should be the litmus test for police officers, not their skin color. If candidates are choosen based on their race, this directly discriminates against those who didn't fit the "racial profile" for the hiring. I don't get why you find that so difficult to understand. No one should be singled out for any reason based on their race pro or con. If they have the qualifications (standards required to make a good officer), then they are the best person to serve the community, regardless of ethnic background. You shouldn't get a pass if you are less qualified because you are the desired "color" that is being sought. That is racist. Like it or not.

Snerdly, racial diversity in your workforce is not racism. Promoting racial diversity in your workforce is not racism. Protecting the status quo of a nearly all white police force in a racially diverse community is racism. So what side of the fence are you on?

People are all to willing to toss the racist label around. Nonetheless, from my experience living in various states at different parts of the country, minorities prefer to be near other minorities of the same ethnicity. Because Janesville isn't as diverse as other cities, it doesn't allow the necessary comfort level for outsider minorities. They would likely have more success at the Job Center encouraging local minorities to pursue careers in law enforcement. As a result, once they completed their degree, they would be more likely to work in Janesville since this is where they were originally from and they are familiar with the area.

The most qualified applicant, regardless of ethnic background should be sought. Specifying race preference (euphemism "diversity") IS racist.

That's it... I'm calling Geraldo. Let's see if he can do something!

I'm not rasist i'm just white and not ashamed of it. Thats the point of my post being removed. 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman' Put these words in a sentence and nothing happens, put other ethnic slurs in a sentence and I guarentee they will not be allowed.

hannah, i'm sorry if my sarcasm escaped you. As for you being 'racist' against people who don't want to work-yeah, doesn't make sense.
You said you don't see any minorities that like to work and they are drug dealers. But you have friends that are minorities. Are your non-caucasian friends drug dealers, Hannah? You're telling us two different stories. And as far as not seeing any 'respectable black people in Janesville'-to me means you have a narrow view or are hanging around the wrong people. I'm not the only commenter who has seen your comments as somewhat racist-or maybe more accurately: narrow minded.

I can't figure out what the JPD is looking for in terms of the Latino applicants. Are they looking for someone tan? If you're "black" and latino do you get twice the attention from the JPD? Someone who has an Aztec ancestor? Someone that fits their perception of what someone from south of Texas looks like? I'm latina, I'm white, Hispanic, a minority, a citizen of El Salvador, a citizen of the USA, a Spanish speaker, an English speaker...Is the JPD talking about language, race, nationality, ethnicity?

bkrkim,

Why wouldn't the gazette deny posting your "white power racism?"

"as the gazette and other enities try to deny my right to white power rasism..."

Funny how my comment was removed by staff. Being white and speaking up just proves my point if you read my comment. I'm white and very proud of it and as much as the gazette and other enities try to deny my right to white power rasism will never end.

I just want to apologize for how poorly written my previous post is. I was very distracted...the points are made but the writing/spelling = horrible.

Hey Woodsman, you forgot about Native Americans. Can they still identify themselves as that or should they just go back home?

It is easy for a White European to say this because of of their culture has been adopted and accepted here. For someone who is told to go home because they offere hispanic cuisine or someone who had a realitive killed for wanting to vote, or someone who continues to attend racially segregated schools this isn't so different.

The American culture is unique and complicated because we accept and identify all the different cultures in this country. To tell someone, especially a recent immigrant or someone who has experienced racism, to not identify their heritage is insentive and ignorant. For years, after the white europeans they identified themselves as german, english or irish.

We need to remember not every family has been established and has 200+ years to assimilate to this culture.

I myself am getting tired of hearing about this prefix that is implied before the american! No one is african,asian,cuban,indian,and so on,YOU ARE EITHER AN AMERICAN,or your not. If the prefix implies they are so proud to be from there,go there. I am proud to be an american,and that's how i will be addressed,i am NOT ?????? american. Just my opinion,be proud of where your ancestors came from,BUT,we all live in AMERICA. Keep putting the prefixes in front of who you are,and we'll NEVER get over the stereotypes. Then when a job opening comes up,the add will read,job opening point blank!!

I know it is all PC to say we don't care about race and when it comes down to it, in an emergency, we probably don't.

The idea of JPD recruiting more minorities is a good one. As color blind as we all want to be and all should be having a police force that represents the diversity of the community is a good idea.

Obviously, no one wants underqualified people hired but sometimes perception is reality and as this community becomes more diverse so should are workforce (JPD, JSD, JFD, etc...)

Again, read the racist comments written in Sunday's sound-off regarding the different restraunts in Janesville. Someone, actually told the hispanics to go home if they want hispanic cuisine. How ignorant can someone be? They are home, just like myself who sometimes enjoys italian food - should I also go home?

Like I said, perception is reality, diverse community but little diversity in the police force, fire department, school district employees...spells racism.

Pwrtrip, the JPD is encouraging minorities to apply - no guarantees. The more minorities that apply, the better chance that some make it through the hiring process. We would expect the racial mix of the police department to reflect the racial mix of the community.

Opinions do not make a person a racist. Their actions, however, do. My $.02 for the day

The headline states, "JPD is continues to struggle to recruit people of color." After reading this story a second time, the headline even seems to that out of prejudice and discrimination "People of color" shouldn't have been implied. In addition, I don't feel as though JPD struggle to recruit minorities because they don't want to. Answer me this, how can someone struggle to do something that they never wanted to do in the first place or even intended to do in the first place. Yes they probably did only have 5 African Americans that applied but how many applied last year JPD was hiring and the year before that, and the year before that? You would probably notice that African American apllicants for JPD was probably higher back then. But by JPD turning down every single African American Applicant they became discouraged to even apply and began to apply in areas where they'd at least have a chance like Beloit, Madison, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine etc. Police applicants know which departments they have a good chance of getting hired with. And believe me I don't even think JPD even makes the list.

I commend JPD for doing the right thing and attempting to recruit minorities to apply. For those of you who think this means the JPD is compromising its application standards by doing so, please support that statement. I am still waiting to hear from anyone who can explain to me why trying to recruit minorities is a bad thing.

bkrkim: good luck with that law suit, but if marrying a cuban didnt help you learn spanish im not sure what the school couldve done for you, and it still wouldnt have been very useful for understanding a french speaking haitian

How many minority teachers do we have in janesville?

If any city needs minority officers it is this one IMO

I dont blame any minority declining the work offered as JPD doesnt have the greatest reputation as to sterotyping. And yes the protection of the KKK was more then freedom of speech. IMO

FYI: If you are counting Latinos as colored, which, I assume you are: Evansville and Whitewater both have officers that are Latino.

Nice to see lily white Janesville is just as racist as it was when I left. Some things never change.

Janesville's image of being racist probably doesn't seem like a myth to any outsider reading these comments.

I am married to a man that was born in Cuba. He said when he was a kid growing up he doesn't remeber any predge there. Everyone got along according to him. He came here when he was 10 during the fredom flights. The stories he told me he had endured when in the United States puts tears in my eyes. I live in South Florida and have every kind of man kind where I live. I have been descriminated against just because I have a Hispanic last name. And I know the reason is not that i'm white (which I am), but because I don't speak spanish. So what do I do now sue the school district because they failed to teach me Spanish. I had to call the courthouse one day to get some info on something. A lady answered the phone with a accent that was so thick with dialect obvoius to me was from Haiti. I could not understand her and asked to speak with someone else, so what does she do she hangs up on me. Well I called back and in my best English you can imagine what I told her. Anyways my point being give the job to who's best to serve the community. Not just because some number cruncher needs a job.

"I would think theyd be more worried about getting qualified people on the force than someone of a certain color. It really makes me feel safe when theyre pushing race more than qualification."

Great point. A microcosm of why our government has went down the tubes...

bkrkim You summed it up the best! Not one thing in your comment was incorrect...... Amen to that being said, Thank You Very Much! So many of the people posting on here totally forget that.

First of all-Hannah, if u start a conversation with "I don't mean to sound racist..." you are probably sounding just like that. How dare u imply all or most black people are drug dealers and don't want to work! I am sickened by your ignorance. Unfortunately by some of the other posts-perhaps not as over-the-top as hannah, racism continues to live on. Our police department needs this diversity. By implying that encouraging people of color to apply is racist is ridiculous. I hope the values and intolerance of racism I teach my children will someday over power the hate and ignorance they see on a daily basis in this community.

I would think theyd be more worried about getting qualified people on the force than someone of a certain color. It really makes me feel safe when theyre pushing race more than qualification.

bkrkim, good points you brought up. I am a 50 year old female caucasian. I certainly understand where you are coming from. It seems as if anything said by a "non-minority" person is suspect.

My irritation is the lack of understanding for the primary issues of true minorities. There are many past generations (history of...) that have had it hard. The chance to get ahead is there, however, generations of struggle, cause change to be slow.

We can't just turn on a switch and make everything balanced. While there have been huge strides to improve equality, we're not there yet. Issues don't just evaporate... We have generations of minority Americans, with family baggage which is ingrained within their history. It just doesn't all go away because we want to be a nation of politically correct people.

None of this will ever change until we truly see beyond a skin tone.... My prayer is that we all see each other for what we are, what we have to offer society, and that we treat ALL people as family.

To truly "walk in another's shoes" would be an eye-opener.

$35,000 isnt enough money to be chasing them fools around janesville...

Stories like this sure bring out the redneck bigots of Janesburg. Apparently nothing has changed since the "n-----, n-----, n-----" chant coming from the Janesville section during a Janesville-Beloit basketball game I attended in the '60's. So sad. So wrong.

Perhaps I am missing something. Nowhere in the story does it say anything about different standards for different applicants. All it says is the JPD is encouraging racial minorities to apply. The more minority applicants, the better the chance that someone from the pool of minority applicants gets hired.
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So someone please tell me what is wrong from encouraging minorities to apply?

Well if anyone asks me, minorities are at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for law enforcement jobs within this area. Do anyone know how many minorities Milton, Evansville, Edgerton, Rock County Sheriff Dept and even Delevan has on its force (Not including JPD)? Well the sheriff dept. has just one. And for the rest, well they have none. In my opinion, if you're an applicant and don't fit that specific department's profile, then you will not get advanced. Every department has a profile for its officers. I know of one applicant that was asked, "How do you feel being the first african american hired with our department?" What type of question is that to ask a applicant. Of course, he didn't hired. Imagine that! But the key word is "first" It's 2008, no one should be first for anything regardless of color.

bkrkim, you submitted a good post. However, every color is accepted at black colleges. And just in case you didn't know, these colleges were labeled as black colleges during the civil rights era. African Americans were not ALLOWED to go to the other colleges. These schools wasn't built yesterday and was labeled a black college today. Every organization you listed has people of every color within that organization. It's not just an all black organization.

I think it would be more like racism if it said 'whites need not apply'.
Noone is being excluded-they're just saying: hey, you can apply here.

You're probably right. That's why there are so many minorities on the force currently.

It can say it all it wants. Doesn't mean it applies. PC PR most likely

They are recruiting minorities to apply. Anyone who applies has to go through the rigorous screening. The three positions are not guaranteed to a minority by any means.
It states that in the article.
I think the point is trying to diversify the police force to correlate with the diversity of the general population.

Why not hire who's qualified? Who cares about skin color? I'm sure there's a quota to meet to get certain funding though. But still, qualifications should speak louder than any skin color.

bkrkim good post and it is the truth and i'm very surprised that the comment was not removed by staff

At $35,000 a year, why would any qualified minority apply? Because of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policies and Affirmative Action they can make double that amount at almost any Wisconsin employer.

the job opening in janesville should go to the most qualified person not the color of his skin.

hannah, I can't really follow what you're saying. Gotta be clear to prove a point.
What I do want to say though is I heard that you're racist.
That's just what I heard through the grapevine about you so it totally must be true, right?

Clansville; Just Kidding.

hannah-you said you don't know any colored people who would want to work on the police force or work at all and all these people are dealing drugs.
You seem to be hanging around the wrong people.
How is that confusing?
I'm around hard working people all the time-yes, even the one's who aren't white.

People who bother to read the article and then comment on it-one way or the other-care. hmm
imagine that.

who wait Janesville is going PC

who cares

In the article it states that the department is trying to recruit minority applicants. It also says that if these people apply they are held to the high standards of the screening process. It doesn't say they will be hired just because they're a minority which is what it seems some commentors have implied.
I think if there was an article written with the headline-All of Janesville's Police Force is White-so many people would say-oh, that's not right. What a racist police force.
So many people want to prove that they aren't racist by saying-who cares about this article, it's no big deal, we're all equal. But in reality racism and undiversified work forces are an issue.
Hannah-maybe you're hanging around the wrong people. You can't base an opinion about a whole group of people on something like that. Not if you have half a brain and an open mind.

Do you ever notice that people who begin a conversation with 'I don't want to sound racist, but...." are usually racists?

Hannah - your comments show racism which only proves the point why Janesville has such low diversity - to avoid narrow minded thinkers such as yourself.

hannah - starting your post with a "disclaimer" does not make what you wrote any less racist.

Most of these comments prove the point of this article.

I gotta agree with BlueBirds. With a college degree, why would anyone want to go for a job making $35k/year and have to risk their lives all day? Maybe they are underestimating minorities. Obviously minorities are smart enough to make better money with a college degree. I know I wouldn't do that crap for $35k per year. I wonder how salaries for city police compare to similar positions in the military. Anyone got info on that???

We have a very diverse population in jville. Take a look at the public record on this website sometime.

Wonder what the gazette staff saw that was so offensive as to be removed. After the Sunday sound-off it would seem anything racist is fair game.

I can't believe some of the racist ignorance printed in the gazette on a weekly basis.

Please note that using the phrase "people of color" is vastly different from using the word "colored."
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In spite of what a few of the people commenting here seem to believe, this article obviously doesn't use the latter.

Saying "officers of color" is NOT the same thing as saying "colored officers". The latter, referring to African-Americans only, was once acceptable but no longer is. The term "of color" includes multiple minorities, and means anyone who is not white. I'm sure that the AP Style Guide reflects this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_c...
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Nor is the JPD "forcing" diversity or practicing affirmative action. Recruitment of this type is perfectly legal and commonly practiced.
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And statistically, whites will no longer be the majority in the US at some point in the next 20 to 40 years. They will continue to be the largest ethnic grouping, but the country as a whole will be "majority minority".

Must be a equal opportunity thing,the city does the same thing in trying to hire teachers! My belief is,if your NOT qualified,need not apply. no matter what shade.

Sorry, but I have to add this. When you go out and fill positions by race then you are asking for trouble. You end up with underqualified applicants that don't have the means to handle the most critical situations. If the applicant, not matter what race, is qualified then you have the best person for the job.

Wow, been a long time since I heard the word
'colored'. What color should they be? Black, Green, Purple, etc. The $35,000 salary is pretty low for a person with a college degree. If they have any kind of degree in a field that is wanted in the corporate world, being a police officer is way down the line.

ladyfc, I agree as well. As far as your comment about the community having a long ways to go. Janesville has always felt like it was years behind compared to other city's, same relative size in the state.

ladyfc,

Thank You! I agree with your statement.

Ignorance is bliss.

Maybe they could have said looking for Officer's of all races. The world 'colored' is just wrong and it imply s that someone is different. We are all equal in this world and that is how we are raising our kids. To see something like this is print is so discouraging.

Officers of color?? Why could you not have found a better way to phrase that. Like Officer's of all nationality's , but to use the word 'colored' so, wrong. Like you live in the hills and are a hick. Maybe its that you don't know that the year is 2008 almost 2009.

It's embarrassing that we have 104 officers, of which zero are black. I will say I’m impressed that 55% of our officers have bachelor’s degrees, so I guess we’re not totally backwards.

Aletheia -

How did you conclude that there is profiling when less than 10% of the protected class applied for 175 openings? Janesville does not have a large diversified population. What's worse - minorities choose not to live in Janesville due its economic condition and lack of diversity. That's evident by observing Janesville's overall surroundings.

Sorry if someone thought i offended someone,not my intent. Just that the fourth ward is so diverse,that maybe it would be good to find people of color from there,they might have more connections to the evil that roams the streets,to help in curveing the crime in janesville.

Lets not kid ourselves the word minority is still needed. Look at the few comments that have been written already. The "who cares" and "slow news day". It is very obvious why people of color don't want to apply racism is very much alive in Rock County. I have school age children and I work in the community firsthand. I see it! So good luck the people of this communtity still have a long way to go.

I agree with you piznat!!! I don't care what color their skin is, as long as they are qualified. When I need an officer, that officer better know what to do, I don't want someone saying "I don't know what to do, the JPD hired me cuz I'm black/latino/etc." This is an exaggeration, by the way! I just want officers that know what they are doing and can serve and protect our town!

One cannot force diversity. If a person is interested they will apply, no matter the race. If JPD seeks to attract non-white persons, then treat all people equally. The message that JPD sends is one of desperation, and for what reason. Hire the most qualified candidates for the open positions. The other officers will be thankful that the highest qualified person was hired, but the officers would not appreciate a person being hired because of skin color or cultural heritage when there may be a more qualified person that applied. It could be a matter of life and death, and who is going to tell a spouse, parents, or kids that your son or daughter was killed because the JPD hired a less qualified person.

Why do minorities have to be recruited???? If they want the job, they should have enough ambition to apply for it. I see the recruiting as a guarantee of a job for some one too lazy to look for a job!!! Do they recruit caucasions??

ditto. Couldn't care less whether any officer is M/F or their skin tone. I do care that they are qualified. Period.

Pwrtip, didn't you know that the government is trying to swap who is actually the minority?

If I call for the police, I don't care what color they are as long as they do the best possible job.

Slow news day Gazette?