Sunday, January 01, 2012

This explains quite a bit.

Court approves police policy barring individuals with high IQs from becoming police officers (because they might get bored):

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.


Another possible explanation is that those running the police department are afraid that they might be challenged by smarter subordinates.

I don't think that high IQ would qualify as a "disability" under California law insofar - it doesn't seem to be a physiological condition under the "physical disability" definition, and it is unlikely that it is recognized as a psychological condition for the "mental definition."

It's really stupid social policy, however.

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