Could You Pass the 1898 Sergeants Promotion Exam?
If you know the answers to the following questions, you’re in luck. You’re one step closer to passing the 1898 Sergeants Promotion exam.
- State the year of the World’s Columbian Exposition, the city in which it was held, and the length of time the Exposition remained open to the public.
- Locate, by streets, the following buildings: Masonic Temple, Monadnock Building, Chamber of Commerce Building, Ashland Block, and the Art Institute.
- Name five important seaports in the United States.
Not all questions were cut and dry. Some required a little imagination:
“Suppose yourself a patrol sergeant. Suppose that, in going over the beat of a certain patrolman, you fail to find him, although you search diligently for two hours. Suppose you finally find him asleep in a saloon. Specify, in detail, all your duties in such a case.”
Would you know how to walk yourself through such a scenario? Would you be able to switch confidently from arithmetic, to geography, to penmanship? Would you remember what to do if you stumbled upon a random fire mid-patrol? You’d need to know all that and more in order to get a passing score.
While it may seem easy now, we often forget that seeking a proper education wasn’t always easy. When push came to shove, bills and putting food on the table often came before completing school.
It’s also not hard to believe that the exam caused a stir over the years.
In the late 1980s, hundreds of Chicago Police Department sergeants rallied together. Their grievance? They believed over 100 police lieutenants had access to exam answers before starting the test – and that those lieutenants had been carefully selected (Chicago Tribune).
Thus the EXAMSCAM campaign was born (maybe you remember spotting these bumper stickers way back then).
The investigation carried emotional weight as well. According to the Tribune, “the 1987 examinations were supposed to end a decade of controversy over police testing procedures and whether those procedures discriminated against minorities.” The fact that certain people had been given answers did not bode well with many Chicagoans.
As details unsurfaced, the EXAMSCAM crowd gained more traction.
The oral exam portion weighed a staggering 80 percent of an applicant’s final score, with multiple-choice questions only accounting for 20 percent. Many critics claimed that the interviewers knew many of the applicants, leaving room for favoritism.
Exam scores raised eyebrows, considering “nine sergeants who held second jobs working crowd control at Wrigley Field managed to all score 100 percent on the test, despite overall passing rates of 23.5 percent” (Chicago Tribune).
To this day, promotional exams remain a heated debate.
At the Scene of the Crime - Totaling Up the Damage
We’ve dug up some old “clear-up” and offense reports. Do you think these look similar to the reports you’ve filed in the past?
Viola Lorenzen - First Female Desk Sergeant in Illinois
Every image has a story, and we love unearthing them! Pictured here is Viola Lorenzen, who at the age of 19 became Illinois’s first female desk sergeant, according to the Atlanta Georgian.
We’ve covered the stories of pioneering women before, like Mary Davenport, Dr. Lois L. Higgins, and Ruth Bidermann, to name a few. We can’t help but wonder what Lorenzen faced in 1918, and how different the workplace must have been.
The news clipping gives us a few hints.
In addition to her duties at the front desk, Lorenzen served as a lock-up keeper. She carried a revolver, which “has no notches on it, but then it has no ribbons, either.” Her male counterparts supposedly showed up each morning with flowers, and the squad room is depicted as a sun parlor and the prison cells as “sweet little sanctuaries.”
Lorenzen seemed to enjoy her new career, stating, “It’s a great life for a woman. Life is a dear…And even the prisoners are darlings. Sometimes it’s harder to get them out of here than it is to get them in.”
Lorenzen also had her mind set on adding a few modifications to the dress code: “I haven’t got my uniform yet, but I’ve planned the sweetest little thing you ever saw… Of course it’ll have to be regulation. But, then, there won’t be any harm to just a bit of a flounce and a belt effect in the back, now will there?”
When asked if she’d ever get married, Lorenzen’s response was firm: “Get married? Never. It’s too late for me to ever get married now. I’ve sworn to preserve law and order.”
She may have been filling out details for a new member of the department, recording data like their marksmanship score, past promotions, and qualifications.
So, we’re curious: did you grow up hearing stories about the CPD–and swear it was your great-grandmother who told you? Maybe a distant relative, or old family friend?
Connecting the dots lead to great opportunities, like interviewing the great-granddaughter of Anna L. Sheridan, one of Chicago’s first female police officers.
Together, we help bring life to the past. Their stories mattered then–and they still matter now
SPECIAL THANKS TO RETIRED CPD COMMANDER MARC BUSLIK FOR THE HISTORIC TEST AND FORMS AND BUMPERSTICKER USED IN THIS POST.
Do you have any information on…
- The EXAMSCAM incident, and any Chicago Police Department members involved?
- Your experience taking the Chicago promotions exam?
- The woman featured in our June blog post?
- Send details and photos to pon@ponetwork.com. Together, let’s dig deeper into history!
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