Justice Department to Fault Ferguson Police, Seeing Racial Bias in Traffic Stops

[HOMELESS CAMEL]

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has nearly completed a highly critical report accusing the police in Ferguson, Mo., of making discriminatory traffic stops of African-Americans that created years of racial animosity leading up to an officer’s shooting of a black teenager last summer, law enforcement officials said.

 

According to several officials who have been briefed on the report’s conclusions, the report criticizes the city for disproportionately ticketing and arresting African-Americans and relying on the fines to balance the city’s budget. The report, which is expected to be released as early as this week, will force Ferguson officials to either negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department or face being sued by it on civil rights charges. Either way, the result is likely to be significant changes inside the Ferguson Police Department, which is at the center of a national debate over race and policing.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/us/justice-department-report-to-fault-police-in-ferguson.html?_r=0

[theguru]

Not specifically about the decision but I think good information for a discussion of it:

 

When it comes to racially lopsided arrests, the most remarkable thing about Ferguson, Mo., might be just how ordinary it is.

 

Police in Ferguson — which erupted into days of racially charged unrest after a white officer killed an unarmed black teen — arrest black people at a rate nearly three times higher than people of other races.

 

At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson, a USA TODAY analysis of arrest records shows. That includes departments in cities as large and diverse as Chicago and San Francisco and in the suburbs that encircle St. Louis, New York and Detroit.

 

Those disparities are easier to measure than they are to explain. They could be a reflection of biased policing; they could just as easily be a byproduct of the vast economic and educational gaps that persist across much of the USA — factors closely tied to crime rates. In other words, experts said, the fact that such disparities exist does little to explain their causes.

 

"That does not mean police are discriminating. But it does mean it's worth looking at. It means you might have a problem, and you need to pay attention," said University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, a leading expert on racial profiling.

 

Whatever the reasons, the results are the same: Blacks are far more likely to be arrested than any other racial group in the USA. In some places, dramatically so.

 

Racial gap in U.S. arrest rates: 'Staggering disparity'

[theguru]

More from the link, this map is really informative:

 

Blacks are far more likely to be arrested than people of other races, and in some places, dramatically so. Using FBI arrest records, USA TODAY found nearly 1,600 places where the disparity in arrest rates is more pronounced than in Ferguson, Mo.

 

Compare arrest rates

 

You can see the actual statistics from numerous KY police departments using the above link.

[Hatz]

More from the link, this map is really informative:

 

Blacks are far more likely to be arrested than people of other races, and in some places, dramatically so. Using FBI arrest records, USA TODAY found nearly 1,600 places where the disparity in arrest rates is more pronounced than in Ferguson, Mo.

 

Compare arrest rates

 

You can see the actual statistics from numerous KY police departments using the above link.

 

Are the demographics of race included in the "disparity" Study? For example: If the population is 60 % Black or 60% Hispanic, are the arrests a large disparity to the 60% of population?

[theguru]

Are the demographics of race included in the "disparity" Study? For example: If the population is 60 % Black or 60% Hispanic, are the arrests a large disparity to the 60% of population?

 

You will have to read through everything, I am not sure.

 

Try this from the article to help:

 

More than half of the people Dearborn police arrested in 2011 and 2012 were black, according to reports they submitted to the FBI. By comparison, about 4% of the city's residents are black, as are about a quarter of the people who live in Metropolitan Detroit. Over those two years, the department reported arresting 4,500 black people – 500 more than lived in the city. As a result, the arrest rate for blacks, compared with the city's population, was 26 times higher than for people of other races.

[Clyde]

Are the demographics of race included in the "disparity" Study? For example: If the population is 60 % Black or 60% Hispanic, are the arrests a large disparity to the 60% of population?

 

The numbers are per 1000 people of that particular category.

 

So the Ferguson PD arrests 218 out of every 1,000 black residents and arrests 56 out of every 1,000 non-black.

[theguru]

Also:

 

At least 70 departments scattered from Connecticut to California arrested black people at a rate 10 times higher than people who are not black, USA TODAY found.

 

Arrest rates are particularly lopsided in some pockets of the country, including St. Louis' Missouri suburbs near Ferguson. In St. Louis County alone, more than two dozen police departments had arrest rates more lopsided than Ferguson's. In nearby Clayton, Mo., for example, only about 8% of residents are black, compared with about 57% of people the police arrested, according to the city's FBI reports.

 

Deep disparities show up even in progressive university towns. USA TODAY found police in Berkeley, Calif., and Madison, Wis., arrested black people at a rate more than nine times higher than members of other racial groups.

 

Arrest rates are lopsided almost everywhere. Only 173 of the 3,538 police departments USA TODAY examined arrested black people at a rate equal to or lower than other racial groups.

[Clyde]

KY comparisons:

 

Louisville PD: ~ 2.5X

Lexington PD: ~ 2.8X

Florence PD: ~ 2.2X

Boone County Sheriff: ~ 2.6X

Covington PD ~ 2.6X

[Clyde]

Boston , to probably few's surprise, has the same disparity as Ferguson.

[ggclfan]

This is chicken or the egg kind of thing. You can ask, "why are the police arresting blacks at a much higher rate than non-blacks" or you can ask, "why are blacks committing crimes at a much higher rate than non-blacks"...

 

Both are very valid questions.

[theguru]

So the important questions should be:

 

1. Is there a racial bias among police officers where the officers stop and arrest blacks far more than whites?

 

2. Do blacks commit a lot more crimes per capita than whites and therefore the police are doing their job?

 

===============================

 

This issue is so deep. I really think the studies should concentrate on homicides: White on White statistics, Black on Black statistics, White on Black statistics, Black on White statistics.

 

Then I would look at unsolved homicides by race with primary suspect information by race.

 

I think looking at the unsolved homicides in an objective way to explain away any of the statistics I am going to list below is a smart idea. In other words, don't let anyone or any group of people muddy the water by throwing up unsolved homicides. Think of it this way, we have the actual stats by race (which are pretty telling - people normally kill people of their own race) and if you add the unsolved statistics you would get a fairly accurate overall picture per capita by race. When you look at all those numbers (it is a closed system of only homicides) it would tell us a lot. And I believe homicide is the best statistic to study because it is the most concrete, you have one dead body and you need to match it to one perpetrator. Everything else is noise. And we spend way too much time on noise in this country.

 

===============================

 

From Wikipedia (they have citations):

 

According to the US Department of Justice, blacks accounted for 52.5% of homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008, with whites 45.3% and "Other" 2.2%. The offending rate for blacks was almost 8 times higher than whites (per 100,000), and the victim rate 6 times higher (per 100,000). Most murders were intraracial, with 84% of white homicide victims murdered by whites, and 93% of black victims murdered by blacks.

 

===============================

 

Using the stats above that means that blacks commit murder at 8 times the rate whites commit murder and 93% of black victims are murdered my blacks.

 

I would like to get into unsolved homicides too but in short how can anyone not see the most glaring issue in this example, it is black on black homicide.

 

What really troubles me is "we" spend all this time in America blaming the police and blaming white people. Granted, the police are not perfect and there will always be racists but the real issue isn't white police officers or per capita racial bias.

[theguru]

After researching the FBI numbers for “Suicide of a Superpower,” this writer concluded: “An analysis of ‘single offender victimization figures’ from the FBI for 2007 finds blacks committed 433,934 crimes against whites, eight times the 55,685 whites committed against blacks. Interracial rape is almost exclusively black on white — with 14,000 assaults on white women by African Americans in 2007. Not one case of a white sexual assault on a black female was found in the FBI study.”

 

Though blacks are outnumbered 5-to-1 in the population by whites, they commit eight times as many crimes against whites as the reverse. By those 2007 numbers, a black male was 40 times as likely to assault a white person as the reverse.

 

Black America's real problem isn't white racism

 

===============================

 

My point with bringing this up again is that if blacks commit eight times as many crimes against whites as the reverse and from post #11 blacks commit murder at 8 times the rate whites of course police officers are going to be somewhere around 8 times as likely to have contact with blacks as whites when investigating crimes. I know these are rough numbers and I know it is just a couple of pieces of the crime pie but when the statistics are consistently 8 or so times for blacks that they are whites (and these are actual crimes with identified perpetrators, not speculative investigative stops) the police should be somewhere around 8 times as likely to investigate someone that is black when trying to solve these crimes.

 

However, and this is where the rub comes in, I think that mindset spills over into the rest of policing, officers spend more time investigating blacks than whites per capita because that is what crime statistics teach them. I know some of you will be able to take issue with my wording here but the message is the message. Think of it this way, you wouldn't go to war with another country and ignore everything you have learned about wars in past. You would use all your knowledge of war and apply it. Like it or not, it's just good police work.

[theguru]

Finally, because I don't want to dwell on this, no matter who you are, don't commit any crimes and cooperate with the police if they stop you. If everyone did that, all of our issues would go away overnight.

 

Again, don't commit any crimes and cooperate with the police if they stop you.

[All Tell]

This is chicken or the egg kind of thing. You can ask, "why are the police arresting blacks at a much higher rate than non-blacks" or you can ask, "why are blacks committing crimes at a much higher rate than non-blacks"...

 

Both are very valid questions.

 

I think that these are the most important questions.

 

Another question, could this have the effect of police departments looking the other way when blacks commit crimes so as not to have the wrath of the DOJ come down on them.

 

Finally did anyone think there was any chance that the DOJ wouldn't find "something" after they pre-judged the guilt of officer?

[AverageJoesGym]

They also found racist emails in the police department and city government. Two police officers, Rick Henke and William Mudd, resigned Thursday rather than be fired after they were suspended for their racist emails. Mary Twitty, a city clerk was fired on Wednesday for the same offense.