By Eve Sullivan
Staff Writer
September 10, 2004
STAMFORD -- A black police officer has filed a complaint against the Stamford Police Department, saying he was not promoted because of his race and national origin.
Officer Simon Blanc, of Norwalk, filed the complaint last month with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, stating that despite his No. 4 ranking on the sergeant's test, he was passed over for white officers with lower scores and other qualifications.
Tom Cassone, the city's director of legal affairs, says the police commissioners interview all of the qualified candidates before making a decision.
"They are allowed to appoint from whatever group of candidates got to the interview phase," Cassone said. "It's the discretion of the appointing authority."
Blanc, a 16-year veteran of the department who is of West Indian descent, states in his complaint that "minority officers are underrepresented at all levels in the Stamford Police Department."
His complaint states that there are 28 minority officers -- 18 of whom are black -- of the 294 officers on the force. It states that three of those minority officers hold rank, out of 77 ranking officers.
In March 2002, Blanc took the exam given by the Stamford Police Department to be placed on the eligibility list for promotion to sergeant and ranked No. 4, the complaint says.
On the list, there was one officer in the No. 1 spot with a score of 90, three in the No. 2 spot with scores of 85, one in the No. 3 spot with a score of 84 and two in the No. 4 spot with scores of 83, Blanc's complaint says. The eligibility list remains active for two years.
When a vacancy is to be filled, the officers with the three highest scores on the eligibility list are to be interviewed. If the scores of the 4th and 5th ranking officers are within five points of the highest ranking officer, they are also to be interviewed, according to the complaint.
In August 2002 and February 2003, Blanc states that he was interviewed for the sergeant position by the Board of Police Commissioners.
After the August 2002 interview, the board appointed two nonminority officers to sergeant, who were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 on the list, the complaint says. After the February 2003 interview, the board appointed two nonminority officers ranking 4th and 5th on the list, Blanc says in the complaint.
In March 2004, the board made two final appointments from the list. They hired nonminority officers ranking 2nd and 6th, the complaint says. The board made the appointments without notifying or interviewing the qualified candidates, the complaint states.
Pursuant to the city Charter, the March 2002 list expired on March 20, 2004, according to the complaint.
Blanc states that his educational qualifications are at least equal to or better than -- with one exception -- those who were promoted to sergeant from the March 2002 list. He received a bachelor's degree in political science and is pursuing a master's degree in information technology. He does not include the educational qualifications of the other applicants in his complaint.
In addition, the complaint states that Blanc has more seniority than four of the six officers who were promoted and an exemplary attendance record, only calling in sick once in his career.
Due to his rank and the encouragement he received from others in the department, Blanc says he thought he would be appointed sergeant from the March 2002 list.
As a result of being passed over, Blanc says he did not study as hard for the next exam and did not score as well.
The complaint states that the city of Stamford, the Stamford Police Department and the Board of Police Commissioners discriminated against him in terms and conditions of his employment and that it failed to promote him to sergeant.
Blanc requests that the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities investigate his complaint.
A spokeswoman at the commission said the city filed for an extension on the case and a 15-day extension has been granted. Cassone said the city would like to investigate the claim further before preparing its response to the commission.
Don Newton, chief of field operations at the human rights commission, said there have been nine employment complaints from Stamford police officers in the past five years.
Eight of the complaints have been closed and the only one pending is Blanc's complaint, he said.
Newton said none of the cases had a finding of "reasonable cause" that the case was valid or even had a decision issued.
Copyright © 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.