Elgin Police Recruiting Trip To Puerto Rico Stirs Controversy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Elgin Police Department recruiting trip to Puerto Rico has drawn criticism from two city council members.
WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports Elgin police officers were in Puerto Rico this week to recruit and administer entrance exams for about 150 prospective cadets.
It's part of a wide-range recruitment effort to bring more diversity to a department that is 80 percent white in a town where the population is 44 percent Hispanic. The department is recruiting in Illinois and 13 other states, in addition to Puerto Rico.
At Wednesday night's city council meeting, Elgin City Councilman John Prigge voiced his objections to the trip to Puerto Rico.
"The citizens of Elgin do not want us picking police officers, guys who can have guns on their hip and a shotgun in their trunk, based on skin color and ethnicity," Prigge said. "We need talent, and I'm against picking people for jobs based on their ethnicity and the color of their skin."
He said, if the department wants more diversity, there are plenty of people to recruit in northern Illinois.
"Do we need to go ... to the Caribbean to get applicants, with that in mind?" he said.
Prigge said the department should focus on recruiting locally to reduce unemployment in Elgin and throughout Illinois.