By David Cruz
Correspondent
As the State Police trumpeted its most diverse classes ever in 2012 and 2013, a lawsuit from a trooper who helped screen candidates for those classes claims that the state pressured her to overlook previously disqualified candidates in order to artificially inflate the number of minority candidates in the class. Acting Sgt. Jaclyn Jiras claims she was permanently denied a promotion and transferred when she complained. Katherine Hartman is her attorney.
“The process was being manipulated in a way that she found extremely disturbing,” alleged Hartman. “She objected to that manipulation and as a result of that objection she was removed as a background investigator and furthermore was disciplined and has been, as a result of that discipline, stalled in her career. She was in an acting spot and she’s not eligible now for promotion.”
Hartman says there are 24 automatic disqualifiers for candidates, including having an active bench warrant, suspended drivers license, domestic violence arrests or a dishonorable discharge. Jiras claims that she flagged 20 individuals who met that criteria and disqualified them.
“A recruit had an active drivers license suspension, so she put him in the automatic disqualifier pile,” recounted Hartman. “A week later, she saw another investigator working on the same candidate. She said, ‘I already disqualified him.’ He said, ‘I was instructed to pull him out of the disqualified pile.’”
Hartman can’t say how many of the previously disqualified candidates actually made it onto the force, but she says she’s confident there were several. And she places the blame for this on the state’s commander in chief.
“It is a governor who was running for president at the time who wanted to be able to say, ‘Look at me; look what I’ve done. I’ve made a diverse State Police class. Aren’t I wonderful?’” she charged.
The state NAACP had sued the State Police for racial discrimination in its ranks and exposed a pattern of racial profiling back in 2000. They threatened to sue again when statistics showed that the number of black recruits had actually dropped between 2000 and 2011, which Hartman says forced the State Police to act. Today, the president of the state NAACP expressed skepticism about Jiras’ motivation.
“I really have no respect for anyone who would participate in something like that, and again, once you get in trouble now, all of a sudden you want to tell the truth,” said NJ NAACP President Richard Smith. “I don’t know if the allegations that are being made are true. They need to be investigated. If we find that they are, we’ll deal with it accordingly. But I believe that I have had an open, transparent and honest relationship with both the attorney general and the colonel of the State Police.”
A State Police charge that Jiras shared personnel information with another state trooper on social media is being appealed. Asked to comment on the suit, the State Police only said that it’s shaken up its candidate screening efforts in the interest of diversity.
“We have put a lot of effort into attracting the best pool of applicants that matches the makeup of our citizens,” said the statement.
Hartman says she and her client support diversity efforts in the department, but says the state did a disservice to all qualified candidates — especially minorities — by lowering the bar to score political points.