Unpromoted Whites Seek to Be Reclassified as Black or Latino

Several white policemen have formally applied to have themselves reclassified as blacks or Latinos to take advantage of an affirmative action plan promoting some minority group members to sergeant, officials said today.

The officers, who identified themselves as white when they joined the force, were passed over for the promotions when the city adopted a quota system to remedy the racial imbalance in the sergeant ranks.

The white officers began applying to have their race designation changed last week, immediately after the affirmative action plan took effect, said George Sanchez, deputy police commissioner for equal opportunity.

He did not say how many applications had been received.

Sanchez said that under federal rules, the officers can qualify by proving that either one parent, two grandparents or four great-grandparents were black or born in a Spanish-speaking country.

“I expect that more people will attempt to use this to their benefit,” he told the New York Daily News. “One guy just put down that he didn’t want to be white anymore.”