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More Than Half Applying To Be El Paso Cops Fail Initial Written Exam

They’re El Paso’s finest but ABC-7 has learned the officer accused of sexual assault while on duty failed his initial police entrance exam.

Turns out, he was one of many who didn’t pass.

“I’m having our training division look at the hiring of this individual as an error to begin with,” El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said of Zake Rivera, the four-year veteran of the force accused of sexual assault while on duty.

Records show Rivera failed his initial police entrance exam, scoring a grade of 60 out of 100. To pass, applicants have to receive at least a 70.

“When an applicant takes the examination and does not pass, they cannot take it again for a year without applying through the civil service commission,” City of El Paso HR director Linda Thomas said.

That’s exactly what Rivera did.

“I have educated myself better by taking English test on defenititions (sic) grammar and have gone to El Paso Community College in the summer of 2005 to pick up my GPA higher than 2.0,” Rivera’s letter stated.

Rivera was placed on academic probation after failing nearly all of his classes one semester at community college. But he certainly wasn’t the only one receiving a failing grade on the police written exam.

In April 2005 — when Rivera took the test — 62 percent of applicants failed. Three years later, that number dipped, but only slightly, to a 54 percent failure rate.

All applicants must take the written exam that lasts about three hours and consists of reading, writing and decision making skills.

“There’s historic evidence across the country where people or departments hire just for the sake of getting numbers,” Allen said Feb. 24. “Sometimes you get poor quality and that, in this case, a possibility.”

Thomas said there are no quotas to fill.

“We decide decide how many people are going to be accepted into the academy and then we do the examination and then we select from there,” Thomas said.

This year will be the first year since 2008 that the El Paso Police Department starts accepting applicants for the police academy. In addition to the writing exam, candidates mush also pass a background check and physical test.

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