The mayor of Bowling Green says he is going to look at the hiring practices of every department in the city. The decision follows notification of a Department of Justice investigation into the police department.
Mayor Bruce Wilkerson will meet with a federal investigator in August, and by then, he hopes to have in place in place to examine every city department. While the probe will be across the board, he says the city will not lower its standards to hire more minorities.
"We're going to aggressively recruit in those areas, but we will look for people who, in the motto of the police department, 'We hire for character but we train for skill,''' Wilkerson told WKU Public Radio.
Mayor Wilkerson says he will also push for hiring an affirmative action employee for the city who will actively recruit minorities.
The changes come as the Department of Justice looks into whether the city discriminates against African Americans with respect to employment opportunities in the police department.
According to the DOJ, the city should have more black officers based on its population.
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