The Trump administration’s killing of several Biden-era lawsuits against local police and fire departments may be a strike against DEI initiatives but will the move pique interest in law enforcement careers?

Earlier this week, Attorney General Bondi ordered the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to drop lawsuits against jurisdictions that were accused of discrimination because of their rigorous testing systems. The Biden administration had argued that the departments’ admission standards — including written and physical exams, aptitude tests, and credit checks — were aimed at excluding minority applicants. 

“Despite no evidence of intentional discrimination — only statistical disparities — the prior administration branded the aptitude tests at issue in these cases as discriminatory in an effort to advance a DEI agenda,” reads a Justice Department press release. “It sought to coerce cities into conducting DEI-based hiring in response and spending millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for payouts to previous applicants who had scored lower on the tests, regardless of qualifications.” 

The four cases dismissed involved police and fire departments in Georgia, North Carolina, and Indiana, as well as the Maryland State Police. Consent decrees reached with three of the agencies required the departments to provide compensation, retroactive seniority, and preferential hiring to applicants who had previously been ineligible.

The Durham Fire Department issued a new written test that included race-based considerations, made 16 priority hires among minorities, gave each retroactive seniority and hiring bonuses, and created a $980,000 settlement fund to be distributed to African-American applicants who failed the previous written exam. A similar agreement in South Bend changed written and physical exams to accommodate black and female entry-level officers, giving back pay and retroactive seniority for those who passed the new tests. 

The Trump White House argued that challenging the “race-neutral mechanisms” in the hiring process led to “lowered standards and endangered public safety.”

“Hiring first responders and law enforcement officers must be based on MERIT. Safety has to come before DEI,” Ms. Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle posted on X. 

While the administration contends that written exams will lead to higher quality candidates, police forces across the nation are suffering from a dearth in recruiting and lower morale as a result of longer hours and riskier assignments. Several have sought to combat the shortages by throwing out some of the requirements for qualification onto the force. 

New York City, for instance, is facing a nearly 6,000 officer shortage. The city’s police commissioner  announced this week that the police department is lowering the number of college credits applicants need to become cadets, though it is bringing back a physical fitness test that requires candidates to run 1.5 miles in under 14 minutes and 21 seconds, or about 9.5-minute miles. 

Other departments have proposed bonuses and waiving application fees. Baltimore’s officer shortage, at crisis level less than two years ago, led the city police to reduce its eligibility requirements to permit candidates as long as they are not currently on probation or parole and have had misdemeanor charges expunged, among other concessions. 

But with a slew of upcoming retirements in the NYPD and just 8,177 applicants signed up to take the city’s police exam last year — 10,000 fewer than just seven years prior — the force’s replacement rate may soon be in the negative.

“Tweaking the hiring standards alone won’t solve the NYPD’s staffing crisis,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry. New York City is competing with other jurisdictions that have lower education requirements and better benefits and quality of life.

Whether the Feds sue police departments or not, the political impact does not change the fact that not only are not enough people applying for the jobs, but the profession doesn’t offer the same cachet it once did, said former law enforcement officer and police consultant, Barry Reynolds.

“Raising or lowering the standards is not the answer,” Mr. Reynolds told the Sun. “The answer is repositioning who we are as a profession, what we stand for, what our beliefs are, and using that to appeal to the people that we want to bring into the profession, not people that wouldn’t otherwise consider joining the police force if they didn’t offer a $5,000 bonus.”

The dismissal of the Biden-era lawsuits follow up on Mr. Trump’s executive orders directing federal agencies to terminate DEI-related grants and contracts and prohibiting federal contractors from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusiveness requirements.