Boston Police Department's Determination of Fitness is Not Fit To Support Bypass

Attorney James Hykel successfully defended a victory at the Civil Service Commission from a Superior Court challenge by the Boston Police Department. Here, the BPD rejected a candidate, claiming that he was not psychologically fit to be a police officer based upon second and third-hand accounts provided to the Department. This is one of many decisions
that have overturned Department claims about alleged psychological unfitness of candidates.

The Commission agreed with the applicant, then represented by Attorney Leah Barrault, that the BPD's bypass decision was based on incorrect information and an unreliable opinion. The Department psychologist, for instance, incorrectly believed that the applicant was untruthful about why he left a previous job. The psychologist also claimed that applicant was defensive despite no history of aggressive behavior. The Commission found his opinion to be unreliable.

Instead of making amends for the Department's unjustified bypass of a qualified police officer candidate, the Department appealed the decision to Superior Court. Today, the judge rejected the appeal, concluding the Commission made a reasoned and thoroughly supported decision that rejected the Department's psychological analysis.