LA police more likely to search black and Hispanic drivers

[Christina Marie]

LA police more likely to search black and Hispanic drivers

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Black and Hispanic drivers in most areas of Los Angeles are much more likely than whites to be searched during police stops, according to a study commissioned by the city.

However, study authors said the data can't determine whether the different treatment is a sign of racial profiling, frustrating members of a police commission who were seeking answers to that question.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still looking for the value of the study," said John Mack, the commission's president.

Racial profiling is one possible explanation, said Michael Smith, an author of the report, but he said there are other possibilities.

"Ultimately, decisions are made by individuals, and an aggregate analysis like this can't climb into the minds of officers out there," Smith told the commission.

The report said racial disparities in the number of motorists who are searched could result from officers' "perceived threats" from motorists, rather than from racial bias.

"Such perceived threats could be attributable to the unique history of gang activity in Los Angeles, most of which is associated with Hispanic and black gangs," the report said.

The collection and analysis of racial data involving vehicle and pedestrian stops was a requirement of a federal consent decree approved by a judge five years ago. The decree was in response to allegations that the LAPD had engaged in a pattern of civil rights abuses, including the framing and shooting of minority residents by members of the Rampart anti-gang unit.

When the department released its first traffic-stop statistics in early 2003, the data also were inconclusive, prompting the city to hire an outside firm.

The firm, Analysis Group Inc., used complicated models that factored in the time of the stop, the location and characteristics of the officers and motorists.

The biggest disparity involved stops by officers not assigned to gang-enforcement units.

"Hispanics and blacks were significantly more likely to be asked to exit the vehicle and patted-down/frisked by non-gang officers in most divisions," the report said.

In the Newton Division in South Los Angeles, even when considering mitigating factors, Hispanics and blacks were more than twice as likely as whites to be ordered out of their vehicles.

The analysis said it was likely that 12.5 percent of white motorists stopped by police in Newton Division would be ordered from their cars, compared with 28.2 percent of Hispanics and 26.5 percent of blacks.

http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California2/C ... 36CA.shtml

[KRDreJ]

Thats a given..