Physical agility proctoring conduct

[akellogg]

Our Department is conducting the physical agility portion of the testing process today. During the test some of the on-duty firefighters were "cheering on" some of the candidates. I was pulled aside by a firefighter and asked if was O.K. for these guys to cheer on a candidate. This firefighter was concerned for the individuals doing the cheering. He thought he had heard that somewhere a department was sued for doing this. The reason being is a possible demonstration of bias towards one or more candidates. Does anyone out there know anything about this or have knowledge of case law regarding this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.