California IN BRIEF : FRESNO : Police Accused of Discrimination

A dispatcher and a reserve officer filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, charging that they were denied jobs as regular police officers in Fresno because they are women. Tania Keller and Donna Mackey said they were passed over in favor of men, despite finishing in the top 10 on tests. In December, six black Fresno officers filed discrimination complaints against the department with the Civil Service Commission, charging that they were denied promotion to sergeant because biased testing procedures pushed their test scores down. The Civil Service Board is holding hearings on the charges. Police spokesman Ron Hults said the city Personnel Department makes most of the final hiring decisions. “Often, final hiring decisions are out of our hands,” he said. Maren Rinne, city personnel director, said: “It’s not appropriate to comment now. We have filed our response to one of the complaints and will file the other one within a few weeks.”