NORFOLK'S HIRING UNDER INVESTIGATION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 18, 1993                   TAG: 9304180065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium
NORFOLK'S HIRING UNDER INVESTIGATION
The Justice Department is examining why the Norfolk police and fire departments failed to meet hiring targets for women and minorities set 15 years ago.
The Justice Department's civil rights division has twice asked Norfolk for information about the race, sex and rank of each police officer and firefighter, city officials said.
The latest federal interest came in the form of two letters from Stephen Butler, a Justice Department attorney, city officials said. Butler declined comment to The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger-Star newspapers of Norfolk. There was no answer Saturday at the Justice Department press office in Washington.
City officials said they are gathering the information Butler requested.
In August 1978, the city settled a federal suit by agreeing to "long-term goals" for the police department of hiring 20 percent black officers and 20 percent female officers. In the fire department, the goals were 30 percent black and 20 percent women.
The city promised to undertake an intensive, five-year campaign toward those goals.
Today, 79 out of 687 police officers, or 11.5 percent, are black. Nine percent of the 477-member fire and paramedic services uniformed work force is black. The fire department numbers for 1978 do not compare exactly because paramedics were not included then.
The city's population is 39 percent black.
Similarly, 8.9 percent of the uniformed police force is female. The fire department, which had no women in 1978, now has 20, or 4.2 percent.
Out of five police promotions made Thursday, one was a woman, none was black. A black lieutenant who would have become the only black captain was passed over. There are no blacks in the new police auxiliary force.
"The public safety departments should be more reflective of the community at large," said Assistant City Manager George Crawley, who oversees the police and fire departments. "It's a perplexing problem."
The Justice Department's renewed interest comes as the city searches for a new police chief.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB