Search For Bilingual Cops Will Not Bump Veterans, Mayor Says

MEDFORD, MA — Medford's push to prioritize the hiring of bilingual police officers will not impact local veterans' position on the Civil Service List, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. The mayor responded to what she called "false information" surrounding the city seeking approval from the state to select officers who speak both English and Spanish, Portuguese or Haitian Creole.

"Let me be extremely clear: this petition does not, and will not change the priority ranking for Medford veterans, nor are we or would we ever seek to bypass veterans. Period," Lungo-Koehn said. "Any assertion otherwise is absolutely false."

More than a third of Medford police officers have military experience, the mayor's office said, adding that every veteran who lives in the city has been offered employment with the police department. One person accepted and was "personally trained" by Lungo-Koehn for the physical fitness running test, the mayor's office said.

"Currently, on a force of 96 sworn officers, only one speaks Spanish, one speaks Portuguese, and one speaks Haitian-Creole," Lungo-Koehn said. "In a community as diverse as Medford we need staff – especially those who interact with and directly serve our community – to be able to effectively communicate with our residents. Therefore, we are seeking the option to also prioritize candidates who speak more than one language now that we have exhausted the resident veteran list."

The order of priority for selection – per Civil Service law - from the current Medford list is:

a. "402A eligible" individuals (a person who has taken the civil service exam and is the child of an officer who has been killed in the line of duty) (1 person)

b. Disabled Veterans who are Medford residents, ranked by score (2 people)

c. Veterans who are Medford residents, ranked by score (3 people)

d. Medford residents who are not Veterans, ranked by score (68 people)

e. Disabled Veterans who are not Medford residents, ranked by score (40 people)

f. Veterans who are not Medford residents, ranked by score (40 people)

g. Non-Medford residents, ranked by score (570 people)

While there are disabled veterans and veterans with non-Medford residency on the list, in order for the city to hire them, the residency portion of the list must be exhausted. The city is in the process of hiring 10 new officers, with a new list coming in September.

With this new list and the amount officers being hired, it is "almost impossible" that any non-residents would be eligible for hire under Civil Service rules, the mayor's office said.

"Our hiring practices are dictated by Civil Service Law and the priority order set for hiring new officers from the Civil Service List," Police Chief Jack Buckley said. "Our petition to also prioritize the hiring of bilingual officers is not, in any way, designed to circumvent any existing law or policy. We are simply asking for the ability to consider more strongly those candidates who self-identify as bilingual in one of three languages, beyond simply utilizing their test scores and ranking from the list of Medford residents. Veterans will continue, consistent with our practices, to be given preference as positions become available."

The department hopes to hire three bilingual officers in each of the three languages, if its petition is approved by the state.

The Medford hiring list can be found here: https://www.csexam.hrd.state.ma.us/eligiblelist/eligiblelistentry.aspx?ListId=1&Location_Id=188&referrer=https%3a%2f%2fwww.csexam.hrd.state.ma.us%2feligiblelist%2fcommunities.aspx%3fListTypeId%3d1%26ListId%3d1&name=Police+Officer+Eligible+Lists