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Associated Press
Apr. 22, 2004 02:31 PM
NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - The police department in this seaside town has dropped
its swimming requirement for new officers - in part, to recruit more blacks to
the force.
North Miami officials said knowing how to swim is not really necessary. And they
said the requirement has discouraged some blacks in this Haitian-American
enclave from joining the department.
"They have been intimidated because they don't swim. Very few of them swim,"
Mayor Joe Celestin, who is Haitian-American.
In fact, experts said blacks in general are less likely than whites to be
proficient swimmers.
North Miami has long required that police recruits be able to swim 150 feet
while wearing all clothing except shoes.
In explaining the change in policy, Celestin said Thursday he wants the police
force to reflect the diversity of North Miami, which is 60 percent black. He
also cited a dire need for officers: There are 14 vacancies on a force budgeted
for 129 officers.
Assistant Police Chief Doug Brown said the department's decision also was based
on the relatively few drowning cases in the city. Since 1986, North Miami
officers have entered the water only eight times for rescue attempts.
Several departments in South Florida have eliminated a swimming requirement,
saying officers rarely have to enter the water despite the hundreds of miles of
beaches, lakes and canals.
Nationally, police departments in coastal states are more likely to require
swimming proficiency, while most inland departments do not.
The issue surfaced in North Miami a year ago when a Haitian-American city
councilman asked police to drop the requirement because, he said, many blacks
cannot swim. Recently, Police Chief Gwendolyn Boyd-Savage, who is black, went
along with the idea.
According to a 2001 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
black Americans reported more limited swimming ability than other races or
ethnic groups. Also, CDC statistics have shown that minorities drown in
disproportionate numbers to whites.
Historian Marvin Dunn said that blacks traditionally have had less access to
swimming lessons and pools than whites, especially during the era of
segregation. He said the lack of swimming ability among blacks is not stereotype
or myth, but a "part of black racial history in this country."
"We suffer a terrible cultural deficit when it comes to swimming," said Dunn, a
professor at Florida International University. "The mass of urban black dwellers
have no access to water, except for a bathtub. That's why we can't swim as good
as whites."
Robert Hampton, executive director of the National Black Police Association,
said he has never heard of a swimming requirement for recruits who do not want
to join harbor patrols or dive teams.
"If these black folks in policing have observed systemic obstacles that prevent
the police force from representing the community they serve, then remove them,"
Hampton said. "They're doing the right thing."