- Police Brutality Watch

The city of Los Angeles may drop a key aspect of a racial profiling study of its police officers, which doesn't sit well with the American Civil Liberties Union. The proposed change would violate one of the key terms of the consent decree the city reached with the federal government after the Rampart corruption scandal. The proposal would cut out a key question from the study - whether Los Angeles police officers generally pull over minority drivers more than white drivers. A-C-L-U attorney Ricardo Garcia says the phenomenon known as driving while black or brown is a key issue that should be examined. But a national research firm analysis of racial data collected by Los Angeles Police Department officers determined there was no way to reliably gauge the racial breakdown of motorists. Researchers say the issue is complicated by the fact that many officers don't know the race of the people they pull over until they step up to the car window. [more]