DETROIT (AP) — A black Detroit police sergeant who was rejected by the Michigan State Police accuses the agency in a lawsuit of following a pattern of discriminatory conduct and cultural bias in State Police trooper recruitment.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the lawsuit was filed this week in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Marlon Carter and is proposed as a class action.
Carter is a sergeant with the Detroit Police Department who passed the State Police written test in 2012 but was denied a job with the agency.
The lawsuit alleges that cultural bias in the test and other criteria used in 2012 “have a disproportionately disparate impact on African Americans.”
State Police officials say they’re recruiting much more actively in large Michigan cities, where there are larger black populations.
