Originally Posted by Grapesoda

ummmmm I wonder...............

The LAPD was once known as ?the world?s greatest police department,? due largely to its stringent character screening. Back in the era of Sergeant Joe Friday, LAPD candidates were checked out as thoroughly as homicide suspects. Even a casual relationship with any known criminal excluded a candidate from being considered as a police officer.

All that is now history. In a bid to appease racial activists and meet federal decrees, strict screening and testing measures were dismantled. New black and Hispanic officer candidates were hustled into the ranks at any cost. What former deputy chief Steve Downing called ?a quagmire of quota systems? was set up, and ?standards were lowered and merit took a back seat to the new political imperatives.?

It was back in 1981 that the LAPD first entered into a federal consent decree that instituted quotas for female and minority hiring. To meet these demands, the standards for physical capability, intellectual capacity, and personal character were lowered. The result was that many incapable or mediocre recruits?even significant numbers with criminal links or gang associations?were accepted into the department.

https://www.aei.org/publication/how-...he-lapd/print/