Bowling Green city officials have called a Tuesday news conference regarding a probe by the U.S. Department of Justice into minority hiring practices at the city’s police department.

The investigation started last summer after the DOJ determined that the number of African-Americans in the department is “significantly lower than would be expected given the relevant demographics,” according to a DOJ letter to the city June 2. The city’s African-American population is about 14 percent, compared to the 5 percent of the police force that was African-American at the time the probe was announced.

In response to the investigation, the city formed a Workforce Recruitment and Outreach Committee in September to help review hiring practices and to help recruit more minorities to the city’s police force.

In February, the city commission voted to hire 10 police officers, including three African Americans and one Hispanic. Members of the workforce committee sat in on interviews of the 17 finalists before the final 10 were selected.

The pool of 173 applicants the city drew from for that hire was more diverse than previous pools, as the city reached out to previous minority candidates encouraging them to apply again, city officials said at the time.

Of the 173 applicants, 27 percent were minorities; in the last seven hiring cycles from 2012 to 2014, only 9 percent of the applicants were minorities, officials said.

The city also did not use a specific written test after the city’s analysis showed the test was disqualifying a disproportionately high number of minority candidates.

Mayor Bruce Wilkerson and workforce committee chair Alice Waddell are scheduled to speak at the 4 p.m. news conference at city hall, according to a city news release.

— Visit bgdailynews.com for live updates Tuesday.

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