Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice recently ordered the city of Dayton to lower the bar on exams for future police officers. It did so to try to increase the numbers of African-Americans on the force.

The exam in question was designed by an outside company. The company specializes in creating exams that are race neutral. If you scored 66% and 72% on the two parts, you passed. 

After the next batch of candidates took it, the DOJ stepped in. Not enough African-Americans had passed. So it ordered the passing grade be lowered to 58% and 63%.

Now, maybe particularly bright white guys took the exam. Maybe brighter African-Americans were not interested. We don’t know. We only know that the U.S. government has lowered the bar for the exam. In hopes this will bring more African-Americans onto the force.

 Police work is a lot more than cruising around in patrol cars. If an officer is incompetent, criminals can escape prosecution. Because the officer did not follow the proper procedures when arresting the criminals. People die because some police officers act stupidly in crises. People die when police officers forget life-saving training they have been given.

If this is the case, how can our government force a city to lower its standards for police officers?