Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991 TAG: 9102160473
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We are not satisfied with the numbers. It is not our intention to sit back and wait until we get more," he said.
The city has nine blacks on its 244-member police force, less than 4 percent. Blacks make up about 24 percent of Roanoke's population.
Herbert said he does not want to upstage the city's Community Relations Task Force, which he appointed in the fall to study race relations - including complaints about the low number of black police officers.
But city officials will not wait until the task force finishes its work before they intensify recruitment efforts, he said.
"This is an ongoing effort. We haven't said a lot about it publicly, but we have been dealing with it, and we will deal with it," Herbert said.
"I have asked [the panel] for help, but we can't take a leave of absence until they are finished."
In his annual report on the city's affirmative action program, which is to go to City Council on Tuesday, Herbert disclosed plans for stepped-up recruitment at separation centers at military bases.
The city also will consider changes in procedures for hiring police officers and will be "responsive" to the task force's recommendations, he said.
City officials are considering speeding up the review of job applicants. Sometimes, blacks accept other jobs before the city finishes going over their applications, Herbert said.
City personnel officials have recruited at military bases in Virginia and North Carolina, but they will visit more bases more often, he said.
Roanoke had several military police officers lined up for jobs in the fall, but their discharges were held up by the Persian Gulf crisis, he said. Military police officers make good applicants because they have the training and physical and mental abilities for civilian work, he said.
Herbert said he thinks Police Chief David Hooper has been "ripped unfairly" by some people for his comments to task force members about minority recruitment. The police chief has tried to be honest with the panel, Herbert said, but some have interpreted his answers as defensive although that was not his intent.
Hooper had told the task force earlier this week that the department plans to try to recruit more black applicants locally, although he said the city Personnel Department has the basic responsibility for recruiting.
Herbert's affirmative action report does not include a breakdown on the racial makeup of the work force in the various public safety departments. It does show that the city has 42 blacks - 35 men and seven women - among 481 employees in the protective service category, which includes police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers. The category is established by federal Equal Employment Opportunity guidelines.
Black men make up 7.2 percent of the city's protective service workers and black women 1.4 percent. The city's percentages in these categories exceed the availability of black workers in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area labor force: 5.1 percent for black men and 0.4 percent for black women, according to state and federal labor officials.
For the past five years, blacks have made up 24 percent of the city's overall work force of 1,903 employees. Blacks are represented in all job categories, but they tend to be concentrated in service, maintenance and clerical jobs.
White women are under-represented in the city's work force based on their availability in the metropolitan labor pool. They make up 38.6 percent of the labor force but hold 21.8 percent of municipal jobs.
by CNB