Study Finds Racial Profiling in Oakland Police Department Stops

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 at 04:43PM
TheSpook

• Do You Believe in the Existence of Racial Profiling? Well, Whites Need Proof. Study after Study.

A study released Tuesday that looked at racial profiling in traffic  stops by the Oakland Police Department found mixed results. The study conducted by Santa Monica-based RAND Corp. for the  Police Department found mixed evidence of racial bias in officers' initial  decisions to stop motorists, but evidence of bias in certain enforcement  actions was found. The study found that during the daylight hours, when the race of a  driver could be easily determined, 50 percent of drivers stopped were black.  This compared to 54 percent of drivers at night when their race could not be  easily determined. Using information given by officers involved in traffic stops,  researchers found that when officers knew the race of a driver in advance, 66  percent stopped were black, compared with 45 percent when the officers did  not report knowing the race in advance. The study also found that officers were twice as likely to conduct  a probable-cause search of a black driver than a non-black driver. Of these  searches, 18 percent resulted in arrests, casting doubt on the reasons the  searches were conducted, RAND reported. [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).