Fullerton Fire, Police Hiring Under Scrutiny : Probe: Justice Department demands city triple number of minority employees within 5 years and pay lost salary, benefits to victims of alleged bias. The alternative is a civil lawsuit.

FULLERTON —  The city’s police and fire departments have consistently engaged in racial discrimination in hiring and are potentially liable for thousands of dollars in lost salary and benefits to victims of the practices, according to a U.S. Justice Department investigation.

The yearlong federal investigation found that, from 1986 to 1993, none of the 19 firefighters hired by Fullerton was of a minority group and that only 10 of the 86 entry-level police officers have been minorities.

The Justice Department has told the city to actively recruit more minority police and firefighters to better reflect the area’s ethnic diversity--or face a federal civil rights lawsuit.

City officials denied the allegations Saturday and said they were surprised by the investigation’s results.

“We are shocked by this,” Councilman Peter Godfrey said. “I am absolutely persuaded that there is no discrimination going on. As a matter of fact, both our police and fire departments go out of their way to make positions available to anyone regardless of their race of gender.”

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Councilman Don Bankhead, a retired Fullerton police captain, called the investigation a “fishing expedition” and the demands “ridiculous.”

“To my knowledge, we have never had a complaint from anyone in reference to discrimination,” Bankhead said. “I’ve been with the city for more than 35 years, and our hiring is open to anyone who is qualified. I never paid any attention to what sex or color they were.”

The U.S. Justice Department has given the city a list of demands that includes actively recruiting minorities--specifically blacks, Latinos and Asians--for the two departments and paying lost salary and benefits as far back as 10 years to the victims of discrimination, according to a federal report presented to city officials last month.

Within five years, the city must triple the number of minorities on its police and fire departments, the Justice Department has demanded.

The federal government has also told the city to hire a manager to ensure and coordinate the minority hiring program.

City officials said they could not afford to comply with the costly federal demands even if they were justified. The city of 120,000 residents, with approximately 700 city employees, is in the process of laying off about 40 people to balance its $45-million annual budget, officials said.

The Police Department also is being forced to cut back from 158 officers three years ago, to 143 in the upcoming budget year, officials said.

Council members said they hope to meet with federal officials to discuss the report and the government’s demands.

“We don’t want to comply with any of these terms,” said Godfrey, a new member of the council elected during the city recall last August. “To go back and pay someone 10 years in back pay, we are talking about an enormous amount of money. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

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Mayor Julie Sa has appealed to U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) for congressional help.

“The city in no way supports any form of discrimination, and its hiring practices have always been based upon the most qualified candidate,” Sa wrote in a letter to Royce last month.

Mark Flannery, the city’s personnel director, also has written to Justice Department officials to request a meeting. Since 1993, the police and fire departments have hired 12 employees--six of whom are minorities, he said.

“This whole thing is unfortunate,” Flannery said. “We think our employment statistics are satisfactory in terms of the Orange County labor market.”

Fire Chief Marc Martin, who has headed the 74-member department for three years, said he believes in actively recruiting minorities and has staffed panels interviewing applicants with minority firefighters. Since 1994, the department has hired six firefighters, three of them Latinos, Martin said.

“I believe strongly in the principals of affirmative action,” Martin said.

Police Chief Patrick McKinley also denied that any racism exists in his department’s hiring practices and said he has been actively recruiting more minority officers, particularly those who are bilingual. He called the federal reports “overzealous to the point of being incredibly naive.”

“It is very difficult to respond to these kinds of things because I don’t look at people as being any kind of color,” said McKinley, who has been chief for two years. “Once they are police officers they are all blue to me, and that’s the way I’ve always looked at it in 30 years in this business. “

But McKinley acknowledged that, because of the diversity of the city, the police force needs more Korean-speaking and Spanish-speaking officers.

“I try to see what our needs are and we need bilingual officers,” McKinley said. “But I am very proud of what both Marc (Martin) and I have done since we have been here.”

Federal investigators said that within five years the black, Latino and Asian members of the Police and Fire departments should reflect “the representation of blacks, Latinos and Asians” in the surrounding civilian labor force.

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Based on the latest census reports, the police and fire departments should be 9.1% black, 23.5% Latino and 11.7% Asian, according to the report.

Councilman Chris Norby said the demands would force the city to instill a quota system, which he would not do.

“We hire individuals,” Norby said. “If we discriminate against someone, then they should sue the city and the city government should help them. . . . In the meantime, we deny all allegations and won’t hire on the basis of quota.”