Swimming black cops

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. -- The North Miami police department dropped a swimming requirement for applicants, saying they need new officers and want to encourage blacks to sign up.

North Miami police say they are dropping the requirement for a year. They say few departments require swimming and their officers rarely save people in water.

Officials also believe the requirement discourages African-Americans and Haitian Americans from applying. The issue surfaced a year ago when a Haitian-American city councilman asked police to drop the requirement because he said blacks historically can't swim.

FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUMENT:

How about we just broadcast to all the North Miami bad guys that if you’re being chased on foot by a black police officer, you should just jump into one of the many canals and ponds and swim across to the other side?