CMPD defends hiring practices after concerns about ‘pressure to bring in recruits’
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department late Friday defended its hiring practices after two former employees alleged in a radio interview the department cut corners and hired lower-quality employees.
The interview with WBT Radio’s Brett Jensen prompted a response from CMPD that it posted to the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“For years, CMPD’s hiring qualifications were significantly higher than what the State of North Carolina required for law enforcement certification,” the department said in the statement. “We continuously evaluate our standards so that they meet or exceed state standards while ensuring we recruit the most qualified individuals.”
Some standards have changed “in recent years,” but all qualifications still meet or exceed state standards, the department said. In North Carolina, those state standards include completing Basic Law Enforcement Training, being at least 20 years old and having a high school diploma or its equivalent and not having committed a felony crime, among other things.
CMPD’s criteria says applicants cannot have a serious misdemeanor or a DWI on their record in the prior five years. Criteria on its recruitment website also references passing “an extensive background investigation, including psychological examination, polygraph examination, etc.”
The hiring dispute comes shortly after CMPD celebrated its largest recruit class of 81 officers and during a shortage of hundreds of officers, The Charlotte Observer reported.
But it’s not alone. Police departments across the country have struggled to hire and keep officers in recent years.
Among them: The Asheville Police Department has long wrestled with a staffing shortage, which hovered around 40% of its positions for months. The challenge of recruiting and retaining officers was so severe that APD hired a company to advertise its job openings on various websites.
Polygraph tests failed
The two people identified in the radio interview as former CMPD employees raised concerns to WBT about apparent changes to the department’s hiring processes, describing CMPD as rushing in new officers who shouldn’t be there.
At particular issue: Polygraph tests.
“I think they have a lot of pressure to bring in recruits because the numbers are so low,” said Lauren Frazier, who said she conducted polygraph tests on police recruits. “So, they’re putting a lot of funding and energy into recruiting people. Because of that, there’s a lot of pressure on both recruits and polygraphs to get people through that process as easily as possible.”
Frazier said she was concerned when she was asked to conduct a polygraph on someone who had just come out of a physical fitness test and a recruiting interview.
She raised those concerns, and wound up in internal affairs, she said.
CMPD’s polygraph exams are just one part of the application process, the department said.
Other concerns
Officers are being hired based on lower standards — some with notable criminal histories — former Police Officer Shannon Finis told WBT. The pair of former CMPD employees also made allegations about officers landing jobs because of nepotism, including when prospective officers “failed” a polygraph.
When Frazier raised concerns about rules being broken, CMPD changed those rules, she said.
The department said it changed its policies after consulting the North Carolina Polygraph Association.
“We seek to hire the most qualified candidate regardless of their affiliation or relationship with a current or former employee,” it added. “At no point are employment decisions based on an applicant’s personal relationship with a current employee.”
CMPD spokesperson Lt. Kevin Pietrus said the department would not confirm former employee information without a public records request.
