Some Chicago police sergeants who received word Thursday they had passed the first part of a promotional exam for the rank of lieutenant are expected to learn Friday they actually failed–or vice versa–officials have disclosed.
The police-promotion exam process, long dogged by controversy, suffered another major setback when the city said Thursday that test scores for sergeants who took the lieutenant’s exam this spring were being recalled due to a computer glitch.
The announcement, which was distributed over police district teletype machines about 6 p.m., outraged many sergeants who had just received their test scores in the mail earlier in the day.
The blame, according to city officials, rested clearly on the shoulders of Ernst & Young, the firm that administered the test. The firm learned of the mistake through a complaint.
Both city and union officials said approximately 600 of the 700 sergeants who took the first part of the mostly multiple-choice exam passed. The problem, however, was in the way the scores were matched by the firm’s computer to the name of the test takers, according to Bruce Engstrom, president of the police sergeants association.
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“I believe this was a computer glitch; it just picked up and matched the wrong scores,” Engstrom said. “This could lead to lawsuits because some people got letters that said they passed and now they might get one that says they didn’t. . . . The taxpayers are getting shorted; we paid all this money for these tests.”
The city has paid the firm $2.9 million to administer seven promotional exams, including this latest test, according to Adrianne Bryant, Mayor Richard Daley’s deputy chief of staff.
Previously, troubles surfaced in January when there were allegations of cheating at the promotional exam for the rank of sergeant.
“After the sergeants fiasco, we thought the best thing to do was to get rid of Ernst and Young,” said Bill Nolan, Fraternal Order of Police president.
City officials said Ernst & Young has been instructed to correct the error and mail out new letters to all candidates by the end of the business day Friday.