HomeMy WebLinkAbout5. Consideration of Revising Recruitment Rules for Police Officers to Allow Permanent Residents (Non-U.S. Citizens) LIC MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT
J �
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CHF 15-45
49
CONTROL NUMBER
TO: MR. J. DAVID STRAHL
ACTING VILLAGE MANAGER
FROM: CHIEF TIM JANOWIC
SUBJECT: ORDINANCE AMEN ROPOSAL:
CHAPTER 4, ARTICLE VIII—POLICE DEPARTMENT
PROPOSAL TO EXPAND APPOINTMENT REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE
PERMANENT RESIDENTS
DATE: MAY 26, 2015
ISSUE
On March 2, 2015, Police Department staff proposed changing the current hiring requirements
for recruit police officers from requiring U.S. Citizenship to accepting applicants who are U.S.
citizens or permanent residents to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
Mount Prospect Village Code Chapter 4, Article VIII, Section 1, Paragraph C currently states:
No person shall be appointed to the position of sworn police officer unless that person is
a citizen of the United States ofAmerica. (4.801.C)
PURPOSE
The purpose behind this request is twofold: first, to expand the recruit applicant pool for the
Police Department in an effort to meet changing demographics within the Mount Prospect
community and expand the Police Department's outreach to these cultural communities. The
United States Census Bureau reports 32.0% of Mount Prospect's population is foreign born, in
comparison with the state population of 13.8%. Approximately 42.3% of the Village's
population age five or greater is speaking a language other than English in the home.
Spanish-Speaking Community
According to city-data.com, approximately 10.6% of Mount Prospect residents speak Spanish in
the home. Over the last fifteen years, the Police Department's outreach program developed
extensively to create inroads to the Spanish-speaking community in an effort to foster positive
police-community relationships. The success of the outreach to the Spanish-speaking community
is partly attributed to the successful recruitment of Spanish-speaking police recruit candidates.
The Police Department currently employs seven police officers of Hispanic descent and three
non-Hispanic Spanish-speaking police officers.
Page 1 of 9
With COURAGE we protect, with COMPASSION we serve.
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
Language Spoken At Horne 41 Speaking English'Very Well' a2
lerrehtage o�The total population living in households m Which a Percentage of pec-cue -,euseholds in which a gver
g:ver!anguaae is spo-ren at homelanguage s==7ke-
Mount�respect i Illinois _ess Than Very Well' 'Very Well'
D% 5% 4131% Count ror
Spanish Mount Prosoect
Polish a-"?% 444-. 50% 0% 50% Don't Do
Gujarati 2.8'x, 1.413 Othe�Irdic 3 !at
Othe•Blame 2.1% 1.Cee Orman 84 352
Other Asan 1.91% 954 tither Asian - 314 673
TagwW 1.3% 676 Chinese 3k 76 156
Other I noo-European 12% 5355* Greek 33 3M 134 3N3
Korean t2% 527 Tagalog _ 446
Italian 1.2% 5ra4 Serbo-Crosian --- 3-1
Hindi I i% '.. 5:59 Italian 372
Serbo-Croatian q 53G French 74 14-0
Greek 1.1 N. 544 Umu 54 94
German 0.9� 435 Russian 84 tri
Chinese 3-5% 232 Arabic 55 73
COW 111111:61; 3-44n 219 Poish 2,420 2,313
French 74% 194 Hindi 329 2660
Rusarsr -- 191 Other S avec 350 413
Vetnamese 179 Guja^ati 871 542
Jrdu 15= Vietnamese 117 e2
Arabic 147 Other Indo-Eurcoean - 424 21;1
�a,n orpeca srea< �hYuaYtanarne SParish5.355 170+3
Korean ;:1546 492 13,5
DOM 1174Ve'rXPEOJLIEY)d.`Wn!3V"KE'..:,. ';Very weV
DO 10TWer ar aeoPe MW W*e"En,.5- _:j wax
Image 1: Languages spoken in Mount Prospect,Illinois.(Source:www.statisticalatlas.com)
Indo-European Speaking Community
In contrast, 17.1% of our community's residents speak Indo-European languages in the home. A
large portion of the Indo-European-speaking immigrant community in Mount Prospect speaks
Polish. According to statisticalatlas.com, Polish is the second most common foreign language
spoken in Mount Prospect homes, representing 8.7% of our population. The expansion of the
Polish population in Mount Prospect is evident in community institutions such as Saint Thomas
Beckett Church in the northeast area of the Village where three Polish masses occur on the
weekends (one Friday night and two Sunday morning). Image 2 on page 3 depicts the presence
and distribution of the Polish-speaking community in Mount Prospect. Regarding the ability to
foster relationships with European language speaking immigrants, the Mount Prospect Police
Department currently employs two Polish-speaking police officers and one
Serb/Bosnian/Macedonian-speaking police officer, all of whom have been hired in the last 30
months. In addition, the Police Department employs one veteran police officer who speaks
Russian.
Page 2 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
P01 SIt Language Spoken At HoffTract #d
Pe-entage o1 the t7tal poputatiDn ging in households in which Pokh is spoken at home
4BAIL 83Sb 9,9% 11. 5 13.196 15,3%
1 �
fico 3au z opensire amp
Image 2:Map of Polish language spoken at home in Mount Prospect,Illinois.(Source:www.statisticalatlas.coml
Another growing immigrant population speaking Indo-European languages includes residents of
Indian and Pakistani descent who predominately reside in multi-family residential complexes on
the south end of Mount Prospect. Statisticalatlas.com indicates Indo-European languages and
dialects from this region are represented in approximately 4.7% of the Mount Prospect
population. The Police Department currently does not have any Gujarati-, Farsi-, Punjabi-,
Pashto-, Dari-, or Urdu-speaking officers on the force (or any other associated language of the
region), and the presence of police officers with this language and cultural knowledge is
extremely limited in north and northwest suburban law enforcement agencies. As a result,
fostering relationships with this community comes with challenges.
Declining Police Applicant Pools
Second, the purpose of the request is to increase the size of the applicant pool for police recruit
candidates in light of recent history indicating a decline in the eligible applicant pool for law
enforcement positions. Law enforcement applicants have been decreasing in suburban law
enforcement agencies over the last several years and Mount Prospect has not been an exception.
In 2008, the Mount Prospect Police Department saw the largest number of applicants attend the
Page 3 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
Mandatory Orientation(330 candidates) and complete the Written Examination(286 candidates,
257 passed) since 2002. Since 2008, the number of candidates attending each recruit Mandatory
Orientation has diminished, as did the number of candidates completing and passing the Written
Examination. In contrast, 785 applicants participated in the examination process in 1993. The
table below documents the results of BOFPC police recruit testing since 2002.
Pre- Written
Test Date Applications Orientation
2002 201 N/A 144 76 68
2004 479 210 180 105 75
2006 729 270 241 128 113
2008 879 320 288 248 40
2011 634 330 286 257 29
2013 283 191 167 139 28
Table 1:Mount Prospect Police Recruit Test Populations,2002-2013.
Additionally, current negative portrayals of police officers by the media and public protests
against law enforcement are expected to have a cooling effect on police recruiting processes
locally and nationally. On April 15, 2015 while addressing the Philadelphia City Council, Police
Executive Research Forum (PERF) President and Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey
indicated he believes the department's difficulty in attracting qualified police recruits,
particularly minority candidates, is a result of recent national controversial events involving
police.
In an effort to draw as large a pool of qualified candidates as possible, the Police Department
reinstituted our agency's Recruitment Team in Q4 of FY2014, and they have already been
actively employing tactics to recruit candidates for the police officer testing process to begin this
summer. The Department would like to expand the recruitment process to permanent residents
who represent the diverse immigrant communities establishing residency in and immediately
around Mount Prospect.
DISCUSSION
As noted previously, the number of candidates applying for positions as sworn police officers
with the Village has decreased since 2008 and is near the low number of applicants experienced
at the beginning of this century.
The ability to recruit qualified police candidates is further complicated by a decreasing
population in the United States. With one of the largest generational populations—the Baby
Boomers—exiting the workforce and the largest population—the Millennials—now nearly
entirely present in the workforce, birthrates are decreasing, thus leading to a decreasing pool of
Page 4 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
candidates in outlying years. The decreasing population is noted below in the population pyramid
obtained from the United States Census Bureau. The recruitment issue is not a short-term
concern.
i FL
a ML
Graph 1: United States Population by Age and Sex,2013
Permanent Residents
Permanent Resident Alien status—or what is informally referred to as possessing a"green card"
—is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration
Service. Each year, Congress establishes a finite number of Permanent Resident visas to be
issued for each eligible category: Family-sponsored visas, Employment visas, visas based upon
political asylum, and via a Permanent Resident Alien visa lottery.
The United States Citizen and Immigration Service conducts extensive background and security
investigations of permanent resident applicants prior to issuing permanent resident visas. A
portion of the security check includes researching intelligence information in an effort to screen
for terrorists or persons involved with supporting terrorism. In addition, federal laws, such as the
Adam Walsh Act, prohibit family sponsorships of persons with criminal records. The
commission of certain crimes is an automatic disqualifier for receipt of a Permanent Resident
visa.
Permanent residents are eligible to apply for United States citizenship after five years of
residency, or three years of residency if married to a United States citizen. Permanent residents
are not eligible to vote in elections requiring US citizenship, cannot be elected to office, and may
be restricted from certain federal employment opportunities. They are eligible for other
employment in the country, subject to payment of income taxes, and required to register for the
Page 5 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
Selective Service, if they qualify. Permanent residents are eligible for certain federal programs
and licenses including obtaining a Federal Firearms License (FFL).
The United States allows non-citizens to serve in the military. Currently, 25,000 permanent
residents serve in the military. Military members may be eligible for naturalization under
Sections 328 or 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Special provisions in the Act allow
for naturalization depending on the military member's period of service.
Under Section 328,permanent residents who serve during a period of peacetime are eligible to
apply for citizenship after a period of one year of honorable service, or after they have been
honorably discharged from the military. In addition, the military member must have five years of
residency in the United States with 30 months of continuous residency preceding the
naturalization application unless the applicant filed while in service or within six months of
separation from the service.
Section 329 outlines the requirements for naturalization while serving in the military during
periods of hostility. A permanent resident applying for naturalization must have served at least
one day of honorable active duty during a defined period of conflict as defined in the Act. All
permanent residents applying for naturalization through their military service must be able to
read, speak, and write the English language; have knowledge of US history and government;
embrace the principles of the Constitution; be a person of good moral character; and be well-
disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.
Permanent Residents Serving As Police Officers—National Perspective
The concept of permanent residents serving as police officers is not new to the profession, but
the practice has become more prevalent in recent years. The following thirteen states currently
allow municipalities, county, and/or state law enforcement agencies to hire permanent residents
to serve as police officers: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine,
Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.
The Colorado State Patrol hires permanent residents to serve as sworn officers with many
recruits originating from Canada, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Central
America. Also in Colorado, the Boulder Police Department currently hires permanent residents
prior to their submission of an application for naturalization.
In Vermont,the Burlington Police Department holds a similar minimum requirement of
possessing a permanent resident visa without an application for citizenship. In a March 21, 2015
USA Today article on police agencies recruiting permanent residents as police officers,
Burlington Police Deputy Chief Bruce Bovat stated police officers with permanent resident
status allow the department to be more"reflective of the community we serve."
The Los Angeles and Cincinnati Police Departments are more restrictive as both agencies require
permanent residents applying for sworn police officer positions to have their visas and to have
applied for citizenship.
Page 6 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
Tennessee became the latest state to approve the hiring of permanent resident aliens as police
officers with the signing of legislation by the governor on May 20, 2015. The Tennessee statute
allows for the hiring of permanent resident aliens who are veterans of the United States military
with a provision the candidate apply for or receive United States citizenship within six years of
being discharged from the military.
Permanent Residents Serving As Police Officers—Illinois
Illinois law allows for the hiring of permanent residents as sworn police officers provided
municipalities have not adopted an ordinance restricting employment only to United States
citizens.
Communities outside the Chicago metropolitan area accepting applications for police officer
positions from permanent residents include members of the Southwestern Illinois Joint Fire and
Police Recruiting Consortium (Collinsville, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, Highland, and
O'Fallon Police Departments), Matteson, City of McHenry, Morris, Plainfield, and Sycamore.
These communities range from the basic permanent resident requirement of holding a work visa
to establishing a permanent resident visa with proof of application for citizenship (Morris).
Permanent Residents Serving As Police Officers—Local Perspective
The Chicago metropolitan area holds the sixth largest population of permanent resident aliens in
the country, offering an excellent opportunity to identify qualified candidates to serve as police
officers.
In the Chicago metropolitan area, staff identified at least ten suburban communities and the City
of Chicago whose police departments accept permanent residents in the testing and hiring
processes for sworn police officers. The suburban communities include Batavia, Berwyn,
Carpentersville, Elk Grove Village, Palatine, River Forest, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg,
Skokie, and Vernon Hills. The Chicago Police Department hires permanent residents who hold
appropriate work visas.
The Palatine Police Department does not actively recruit permanent residents for employment as
police officers, nor has a permanent resident applied for a sworn police officer position and
participated in the written examination in the recent history of the department.
The Rolling Meadows Police Department's hiring process requires permanent residents to not
only provide proof of work authorization by submitting copies of the permanent resident visa,
the city also requires applicants to submit proof of intent to obtain citizenship.
The Skokie Police Department does not actively recruit permanent residents for employment as
police officers; however, a permanent resident applied and completed the police recruit written
examination this spring.
Page 7 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
MOUNT PROSPECT BOARD OF FIRE AND POLICE COMMISSIONERS
Police Department staff first presented the concept of extending the police recruit testing process
to permanent resident aliens to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (BOFPC) at the
regularly scheduled meeting on March 2, 2015 where staff proposed several amendments to the
BOFPC Rules and Regulations. Additional discussion on the topic occurred at the regularly
scheduled BOFPC meetings on April 6, 2015 and May 4, 2015 and at special meetings called
specifically for discussion of the BOFPC Rules and Regulations amendments on April 20, 2015
and May 18, 2015. During these discussions and careful deliberation, a question arose regarding
whether the Village may be mandated to accept permanent residents for employment as law
enforcement and fire fighters. The Board requested an opinion be drafted by their attorney, Mr.
Everett Hill. A copy of the opinion authored by Klein, Thorpe, and Jenkins regarding any
mandates requiring this change is attached.
After discussion and debate of the merits of extending the hiring of police officers to include
qualified permanent residents during these meeting, the BOFPC unanimously passed a motion
(4-0) on May 18, 2015 to bring before the Village Board a recommendation to amend the
Chapter 4, Article VIII, Section 1, Paragraph C of the Village Code to include permanent
residents as eligible candidates for employment as sworn police officers.
RECOMMENDATION
At this time,the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners and Police Department staff are
requesting to appear before the Village Board at the regularly scheduled Committee of the Whole
meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, to discuss the motion adopted on May 18, 2015 to allow for
the hiring of permanent residents as police officers in the Village of Mount Prospect. Michaele
Skowron, Chairperson of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, will serve as the
spokesperson for the BOFPC.
Staff recommends amending the Village Code to permit the hiring of permanent residents as
police officers by the Village. Staff includes the following options for consideration to enhancing
our ordinance as other communities have done across the United States:
Option One:
Amend Chapter 4, Article VIII, Section 1, Paragraph C of the Village Code to read:
"C.No person shall be appointed to the position of sworn police officer unless the person
is a citizen of the United States of America, or a permanent resident duly authorized to
work in the United States of America."
Page 8 of 9
MOUNT PROSPECT POLICE DEPARTMENT CHF 15-45
FORMAL MEMORANDUM CONTROL NUMBER
Option TWO:
Amend Chapter 4, Article VIII, Section 1, Paragraph C of the Village Code to read:
"C. No person shall be appointed to the position of sworn police officer unless the person
is a citizen of the United States of America, or a permanent resident duly authorized to
work in the United States of America who has maintained residency for five years or
three years if married to a United States Citizen and has applied for United States
citizenship."
Please contact me if you have any questions.
\Attachment
c: Deputy Chief M. Eterno
Deputy Chief T. Griffin
Commissioner M. Skowron, BOFPC Chairperson
Commissioner C. Bennett, BOFPC
Commissioner M. Busse, BOFPC
Commissioner J. Hinabar, BOFPC
Commissioner J. Powers, BOFPC
Mr. E. Hill, Klein Thorpe and Jenkins, Village Attorney
Page 9 of 9
20 N.Wacker Drive,Ste 1660 15010 S.Ravinia Avenue,Ste 10
Chicago,Illinois 60606-2903 Orland Park,Illinois 60462-5353
T 312 984 6400 F 312 984 6444 T 708 349 3888 F 708 349 1506
KLEIN, THORPE & 1ENKINS, LTD.
Attorneys at Law
DD 312 984 6420 www.ktjlaw.com
emhill@ktilaw.com
MEMORANDUM
To: Chief Janowick
From: Erin Lavery; Buzz Hill
Date: April 27,2015
Re: Citizenship Requirement for Police Officers
Issue: Is the Village of Mount Prospect's ordinance,which requires all sworn police officers be a
U.S. citizen valid?
Answer: Although it is not settled law, the Village's local ordinance should be permissible
pursuant to Section 1324b(a)(2)(C) of the Immigration Reform and Control Act ("IRCA").
Additionally, the Village may argue that the Village can enforce a U.S. citizen requirement,
pursuant to Section 10-2.1-6(a) of the Illinois Municipal Code. However, it is important to note
the lack of judicial interpretation of Section 1324b(a)(2)(C) as it applies to local government
legislation.
Section 1324b(a)(2)(C) permits "discrimination because of citizenship status which is
otherwise required in order to comply with law, regulation, or executive order, or required by
Federal, State, or local government contract ..."1 Congressman Barney Frank, the author of most
of the key provisions of Section 1324b, stated the following with regard to the phrase "otherwise
required in order to comply with law. . .": "Mr. Chairman, in the first place, if you had
requirements that you have to have citizens imposed by some state law or some federal contract,
you would be O.K. The amendment makes provision for that (emphasis added)."2 The Office of
Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice has also interpreted the phrase to mean that
"based on the plain language of the statute, action taken pursuant to any `law, regulation, or
executive order' of the state or federal government is exempted from the definition of `unfair
' 8 U.S.C.A. § 1324b(a)(2)(C).
2(Emphasis added) 132 Cong.Rec.H9708(daily ed.October 9, 1986).
344980_1 1
immigration-related employment practice."3 Taking the exception a step further,the Office of the
Chief Administrative Hearing Officer ("OCAHO"), which is responsible for the general
supervision and management of Administrative Law Judges who preside at IBCA hearings has
applied Section 1324b(a)(2)(C) to excuse acts of citizenship status discrimination taken pursuant
to state law", federal laws, federal regulation,6 or government contract.7
An opponent of our citizenship requirement might argue that the term "law" is limited to
only state or federal laws and regulations. However, that is clearly a gloss on the plain language
of the law. And since OCAHO has yet to rule on the issue. The phrase "otherwise required in
order to comply with law" should include a home-rule municipal ordinance. This interpretation is
supported by the following statutory canons: where a statute is clear on its face and no further
interpretative assistance is required, it is proper to look only to the statute's plain language;8
when general words precede a distinguishable clause of a more specific enumeration, they should
be read generally.9 Additionally, the fact that the more specific enumerations include local
governments within their application bolsters the argument that local ordinances were intended
to be included in the general clause.
Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit has declared in dicta that that "Section 1324b(a)(2)(C)
releases from the constraints of Section 1324b(a)(1) all federal, state, and local government
employers who have adopted a regulation that mandates discrimination based on alienage."
(Emphasis added) The Ninth Circuit noted that the language in the statutory exemption
demonstrates that Congress intended to allow public employers wide latitude with respect to the
anti-discrimination provision of IRCA; a latitude that Congress did not extend to private
employers.
Based on this authority, the term "law" should apply broadly to include local, state and
federal laws. However, it is again important to caution that there is no Seventh Circuit authority
expressly authorizing this interpretation.
3 13 U.S.Op.Off.Legal Counsel 72(O.L.C.), 1989 WL 595861 (March 16, 1989).
4 see, e.g., U.S. v. Patrol&Guard Enters., Inc.,8 OCAHO no. 1040,603,628(2000)(New York law required
security guards to be citizens or lawful permanent residents),Anderson v. Newark Pub.Sch., 8 OCAHO no. 1024,
361, 372(1999)(New Jersey law limited tenure for public school teachers to United States citizens);Elhajomar v.
City and County of Honolulu, I OCAHO no.246, 1581, 1589(1990)(Hawaii law limited state,county,and
municipal employment to citizens and lawful permanent residents);
5 Parkin-Forrest v. Veterans Admin.,3 OCAHO no. 516, 1115, 1119(1993)(federal law restricted employment of
noncitizens by the Veterans Administration).
6 Tovar v. United States Postal Serv., 1 OCAHO no.269, 1720, 1731 (1990),affd in part, rev'd in part, and
remanded by 3 F.3d 1271, 1282(9th Cir. 1993)(postal regulation excluded aliens other than lawful permanent
residents),Sosa v. United States Postal Serv., I OCAHO no. 115,752,758-60(1989)
Sepahpour v. Unisys,Inc.,3 OCAHO no.500, 1012, 1019(1993)(contract incorporated federal security rules
requiring exclusion from certain projects of designated country foreign nationals).
8 Tovar,3 F.3d at 1274 citing Mt. Graham Red Squire v. Madigan,954 F.2d 1441 (9'h Cir. 1992).
9 Elhajomar,, 1 OCAHO no.246 citing Sunstein,"Interpreting Statutes in a Regulatory State," 103 Harv.L.Rev.405,
455(Dec. 1989)("the initial clause of general words in Section 1324b(a)(2)(C)precede a distinguishable clause of a
more specific enumeration,and,as such,should be read generally.")
344980_1 2
Even if some Federal agency were to apply a narrower interpretation of Section
1324b(a)(2)(C)whereby Section 1324b(a)(2)(C) only applies to state and federal laws,the
Village can argue that Section 10-2.1-6(a)of the Illinois Municipal Code is, indeed,just such a
state law that brings our municipal ordinance within the scope of Section 1324b(a)(2)(C)'s
protections. Section 10-2.1-6(a)provides that
[a]ll applicants for a position in either the fire or police department of the
municipality shall be under 35 years of age, shall be subject to an examination
that shall be public, competitive, and open to all applicants (unless the council or
board of trustees by ordinance limit applicants to electors of the municipality,
county, state or nation) and shall be subject to reasonable limitations as to
residence, health, habits, and moral character.) 10
This provision and the accompanying municipal ordinance should serve to exclude the Village
from ICRA's anti-discrimination provision. The fact that the Village is a home-rule municipality
further bolsters its authority to enact laws. That the Civil Service in Cities Act requires civil
service officers to be U.S. citizens further illustrates the permissibility of the ordinance under
State law."
Accordingly, it is our opinion that the Village ordinance is within the scope of Section
1324b(a)(2)(C)exception to the anti "immigration discrimination"regulations and, therefore, our
citizenship requirement is valid.
1065 ILCS 5/10-2.1-6(a).
116 5 ILCS 5/10-1-7.
344980_1 3