Mount Prospect police, fire departments acknowledge lag in diversity hiring

Mount Prospect's police and fire department leaders say they are working hard to attract a diverse staff.

But they told the village board at a special meeting Tuesday there is still a long way to go.

"As you can see, we're not there yet," Police Chief John Koziol told the board. "We have made some progress in certain areas, but we have much more work to do."

One area that needs work is hiring within the Asian community, which is 2.8% of the department staff, compared to 12.3% of the village population. About 2.6% of the village's population is Black, and the department has only one Black officer among its 83 sworn officers.

Koziol said the department has been more successful in the Hispanic community, which makes up 17.3% of Mount Prospect's population, and 11.3% of the police force. Seventeen police officers speak Spanish, he said.

"We have a long way to go yet, but I want to get across to people that we're trying, and there's nothing more important to us than representing our community," Koziol added.

Despite extensive recruiting and advertising efforts, the response of people showing up for tests has been disappointing, Koziol said. The department also is reaching out to minority communities through such initiatives as the Teen Police Academy and the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 Internship Program.

Deputy Fire Chief John Dolan said the department has no Black employees, two Hispanic employees and one Asian employee.

"We fall short of the demographics of our community," he said, as well as "the demographics of the fire service nationally."

Dolan said among the candidates who passed the most recent firefighter exams in 2020, only one is Black and 12 are Hispanic. There were no Black candidates and nine Hispanic candidates in 2016.

Dolan said it is important to mentor young adults, guiding them into the path of becoming a firefighter. Current initiatives include the paid-on-call program and a cadet program with District 214.

And in 2019, a diversity committee of firefighters was formed to reach out to civic and interfaith organizations and the military.