PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — “Painful” and “disheartening” is how one Black Prince George’s County police sergeant described her efforts to get promoted inside the department.
Sgt. Lynn Grant is among a group of officers who said the county executive and the new interim police chief have a unique chance to make things right.
Grant has been an officer for 21 years and is up for a promotion to Lieutenant. She’s among a group of minority officers who said there is “systemic racial discrimination” in the system that’s holding them back.
"It's very painful," Grant told reporters Tuesday. "I’m here because a lot of the members who stand with me are afraid of retaliation. So I’m here standing for everyone."
Grant is on a list of candidates who said they passed tests and have been ranked for promotion, but who have not been pushed up the ladder yet because they claim a disproportionate number of white officers were ranked higher.
"There’s no explanation other than racial discrimination," Lawrence Holzman, an attorney for the minority officers, said. "Every time the test comes, you look at the top 10 or 15 people in every rank category and they are disproportionately Caucasian officers."
In a letter to acting police chief Hector Velez, Holzman said the COVID crisis has presented a rare opportunity, because a new round of promotions tests has been postponed.
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Holzman said police should use the old list, which is heavy with minority candidates waiting their turn, to make promotions instead of letting it expire.
An outside contractor is used by Prince George’s County to conduct the promotions tests and assessments, according to Prince George’s County Fraternal Order of Police president Angelo Consoli.
Consoli said the system, negotiated by the union, is designed to put an independent firewall between top police commanders and the candidates for promotion.
No high ranking Prince George's County officers are invloved in promotion ranking decisions, according to Consoli and sources within the county administration.
But the minority officers said the disproportionate number of white officers in upper ranks is proof it doesn’t work.
The union issued a statement Tuesday saying the promotional process falls under its collective bargaining agreement. Consoli said the union would renegotiate the rules if a majority of members were in favor of it, but the membership has not been polled on the issue.
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks issued a written statement saying the promotional process is among the policies and procedures being reviewed by a police reform task force and the county’s office of human resources management.
"The process that produced the promotional list in question is the same process that has been used for many years and was negotiated by the union that represents these police officers," Alsobrooks said in the statement. "Our Police Reform Task Force is currently reviewing all policies and procedures within the Department, to include the promotional process, and we look forward to receiving their recommendations. Our Office of Human Resources Management is also reviewing all personnel procedures within the Department. It is our goal to ensure that every policy and procedure is fair and equitable for every officer."
The results of those reviews are not complete.
In the meantime, the county has not answered whether it will let the old promotions list expire, which would force officers like Sgt. Grant to start from scratch, according to their lawyer.