Elgin police recruiting trip to Puerto Rico draws criticism

An Elgin Police Department recruiting trip to Puerto Rico is drawing criticism from some members of the city council.

Councilman John Prigge, who initiated the discussion at Wednesday night's committee of the whole meeting, said he objects to going “to the Caribbean” to recruit officers given the unemployment rate in Elgin and statewide.

“I see this about ethnicity and skin color. That's what this is,” Prigge said.

Four police officers are in Puerto Rico this week to administer the entrance test and recruit candidates. The goal is to cast a wider net for the best applicants while hoping to find qualified Spanish speakers, police officials said.

The police department also has a new contract — at no cost to the city — with the National Testing Network, which will administer the test in 13 states outside Illinois.

“At the end, it's only the top scorers that move onto the interview portion,” Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said.

An estimated 44 percent of Elgin's 110,000 residents are Hispanic, and about 39 percent speak Spanish at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The city council has adopted diversity as one of its 10 strategic goals, and this is an innovative, substantive effort to meet that goal, City Manager Sean Stegall said.

“No more of the ‘We value diversity, but we're not willing to do anything with it,'” he said.

Prigge questioned whether looking for Spanish speakers falls under the diversity plan.

“I think we are really on some thin ice with this idea, and I'm deeply concerned about it,” Prigge said.

Councilman Terry Gavin echoed that. “It's starting to morph into how people look, and to me, I don't support that,” he said.

Diversity consultant Phil Reed said it's not about looking for a specific ethnicity.

“We're looking for talent, and talent is evenly distributed across the population,” he said. “We're looking and talking to people we've never talked to before.”

Councilwoman Rose Martinez said she hopes qualified candidates will include Puerto Rican veterans.

Reed also pointed out the police department is 80 percent white.

“From an outside perspective it might look like you're excluding certain people, even though that might not be your intention,” Reed said.

The Puerto Rico trip is costing the city $5,243, which Councilman Rich Dunne said he's concerned about.

“I question what that return of investment is going to be there,” he said.

The test is being administered three times, and each testing site is at capacity with about 50 candidates each, Swoboda said.

The Elgin contingent has been featured on Puerto Rican TV multiple times, and local officials said they are concerned that Elgin will take their best officers, he added.

The police department is also recruiting in the Quad Cities and at Michigan State University and is planning to do the same at historically black colleges, Swoboda said.

Councilman Toby Shaw, along with Prigge and Gavin, voted against hiring Reed earlier this year.

“Is that what you wanted?” Shaw asked of council members who voted in favor of the diversity goal. “I hope it is, because our residents are paying for it.”

“Diversity is not just about language. It's about what people look like, and people feel more comfortable with dealing with people that look like them,” Mayor David Kaptain said. “That's just a fact.”

The Elgin Police Department is accepting applications through Oct. 20. The board of fire and police commissioners will decide how to conduct interviews for all out-of-state applicants, Swoboda said.