ACLU LAPD Race

The LAPD & Racial Profiling

lapd-racial-profiling.jpg

On Monday the ACLU released a report
stating that a significant percentage of LAPD officers are still engaged in racial profiling. The Police Protective League, predictably howled that the study—which was conducted by a guy named Ian Ayres at Yale—had it entirely wrong. (“Dr. Ayres is trying to manipulate existing data to prove what 9,700 individual officers are thinking when they make traffic stops—which is an exercise that might work on a spreadsheet at Yale, but doesn’t work on the streets of Los Angeles.” Blah, blah, blah. Hey, we understand. It’s the union’s job to support the troops.)

And LAPD Chief Bill Bratton said the study was bogus (or words to that effect) because it was based on figures that were much too old.

He had something of a point. Ayers and company analyzed upwards of 700,000 cases in which Los Angeles Police Department officers stopped pedestrians and/or drivers—but the figures came from between July 2003 and June 2004.

Ayres and the ACLU would have liked newer data, they said, but they were unable to wrench it away from the department.

Now Dr. Ayres has volleyed the ball back at his critics with an excellent Op Ed in this morning’s LA Times.

In it he challenges LAPD Chief Bill Bratton to let him do a brand new racial profiling study, but for the cops themselves this time, not for the ACLU—and using the departments most recent stats.

Here are some clips from Ayers’ Op Ed.

The study, which I wrote with my research assistant, Jonathan Borowsky, asked not simply whether African Americans and Latinos are stopped and searched by the LAPD more often than whites — it’s clear that they are — but the more complex question of whether these racial disparities are justified by legitimate policing practices, such as deciding to police more aggressively in high-crime neighborhoods.

We found persistent and statistically significant racial disparities in policing that raise grave concerns that African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles are, as we put it in the report, “over-stopped, over-frisked, over-searched and over-arrested.”

[SNIP]

Now consider this: Although stopped blacks were 127% more likely to be frisked than stopped whites, they were 42.3% less likely to be found with a weapon after they were frisked, 25% less likely to be found with drugs and 33% less likely to be found with other contraband. We found similar patterns for Latinos.

Not only did we find that African Americans and Latinos were subjected to more stops, frisks, searches and arrests than whites, we also found that these additional police actions aren’t because of the fact that people of color live in higher-crime areas or because they more often carry drugs or weapons, or any other legitimate reason that we can discern from the rich set of data we examined.

Police Chief William J. Bratton quickly rejected these findings, primarily because the study used data that was more than 4 years old. This is a fair point. But we had no other choice: The department has not released the more recent stop data that it has been collecting, nor has it analyzed the more recent data to test for racial disparities. If Bratton is truly confident that unjustified racial disparities are a thing of the past, he should be able to show the change in the current data. I would be happy to organize a group of respected academics to help analyze it.


I was talking to Connie Rice the other day
, and she mentioned that, while Bratton and the LAPD brass were really quite enlightened these days (and I would agree), she didn’t think the enlightenment had filtered down to the majority of the rank and file on the street. What did I think? Yes and no, I said. I think it has for some, not so much, for others.

We talked about the excellent officers we know….and those who fall in the still-needs-improvement catagory.

“I wish someone would study the issue and find out,” she said. “We need to ask how much the department has changed at a street level. And how much does it still need to change?”

A comprehensive racial profiling study with full access to all the departments’ facts and figures would take a giant leap the direction of answering Connie’s question.

So, how about it, Chief?

(But let’s get those rape kits done first.)

29 Comments

  • Interesting ….all three people in the picture look to be people of color. If the current LAPD hiring trend continues the LAPD will soon be accused of hiring only people of color.

  • Profiling can be a useful tool to prevent crime. I do it in my neighborhook, where we have a neighborhood watch that is posted and encouraged by the police. If you come drving back-and-forth through here and look as if you don’t belong, then you’re going to be reported. I have done that only once, and the police said others had called and they suspected those people were burglars scouting houses. I’ll continue doing this, especially after a house down the street was recently burglarized.

    We should also be doing profiling at our airports.

    Regarding the situation in L.A., if the police had a high failure rate of catching criminals whom they profiled, then they would stop doing it. The problem is that they do have a high success rate because some groups are involved in illegal activities.

    As robbers go to banks because that’s where the money is, police go to certain suspects because that’s where the arrests come. It helps protect us.

  • Flawed Study does not Account for Age
    The average age of the white population (per 10,000 residents) is substantially higher than black or Hispanic populations.
    Young Black and Hispanic residents are much more likely to commit crimes, than older residents.

    Surprise, Surprise –(white) grandmothers and grandfathers don’t speed or commit crimes as much as (black / Hispanic) teenagers.

  • The color or ethnicity of the police officer has no bearing on racial profiling, sometimes it makes it worse. Example; you have a Mexican American who was raised in a mainly white suburban community, who was influenced by parents who’s desire was to move away from their working class, rough, marginalized Mexican American community. So far nothing wrong with this picture, the American Dream, but so often the children get nothing but negative stereotypes in spades from the parents about the old Mexican influenced varrio and it’s people. This suburban Mexican American officer who was raised to totally reject and even despise the old culture sometimes stereotypes and profiles the inner city Mexican American denizens in a more severe, punitive, and overbearing manner than his “white” counterparts.
    I have seen this same attitude with African American officers and anyone who has grown up in these ethnic inner city neighborhoods can tell you stories that would enforce this description.
    As far as profiling and the complaint by Chief Bratton that the study wasn’t current enough, baloney.
    Although I think Chief Bratton is trying to do a good job and be less secretive, attempting to shed the old LAPD culture of “US vs The Assholes” (the rest of us), he has to realize that the LAPD has always resorted to profiling and it will take more than a few years to end this practice.

  • This is a ridiculous study with outdated data from back in 2003. All the ACLU does is defend gang bangers and have consistently proven to be against LAPD. They whine and complain like babies yet failed to provide any real solutions to the violence in our city. All anyone has to do is go to a community meeting in South LA or the Eastside and see the difference a couple of years make. Those communities have great relationships with their officers now and work together to try and prevent the crime. Truth be told is many parents go to those meetings and want the police to arrest their sons because they are violent not only to the community but to their own parents. Kudos to LAPD for sticking up for the rank and file. This is all a load of crap once again from the ACLU

  • “Flawed Study does not Account for Age”

    Right on Pokey,
    Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.
    – Aaron Levenstein

  • From Drudge Report: SHOCK: MCCAIN VOLUNTEER ATTACKED AND MUTILATED IN PITTSBURGH ‘B’ CARVED INTO 20-YEAR OLD WOMAN’S FACE… DEVELOPING…

  • Hmmm. My full comment didn’t post. Let’s try again.

    From Drudge Report: SHOCK: MCCAIN VOLUNTEER ATTACKED AND MUTILATED IN PITTSBURGH ‘B’ CARVED INTO 20-YEAR OLD WOMAN’S FACE… DEVELOPING….

    Now, let’s not profile.

    I tell you what I would profile…potential civil disturbances. If Obama loses, by some wild chance, the police are preparing for riots. I wonder where. Do you think that they are covering white neighborhoods in the event that McCain loses?

  • The Palin-McCain ticket is on LIFE SUPPORT. . . the wheels are falling off the bus. It seems obvious that Palin has read the handwriting on the wall and is ready and ambitious enough to throw old John under the bus and make a run at the Presidency in 2012. John McCain’s mother was probably very aggressive with him and he’s taking out his frustration on all other women but her. He treats her like gold and everyone else is the “c” word.

  • Did you guess right? If so, you can profile.

    …the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face….

    The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

    I think I’ve seen him.

  • You know I have been guilty of profiling too.
    Eight years ago when Dubya and Herr Cheney were running for office I profiled them as greedy Right Wing Robber Barons, war mongers, people who would trash the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Lying scheming Bastards who would sell out the American people for twenty pieces silver, Social Darwinist’s who would cause financial ruin and grief for the average American and at the same time enrich themselves and end up living in Dubai or Paraguay.
    God I feel guilty, but right!

  • Pokey, very good catch. I think you’re right. The study doesn’t seem to control for age. That’s a big flaw. Excellent work.

    Janet, I always respect your POV when it comes to law enforcement. And it is definately the job of the union to stand up for the rank and file. (Although sometimes they’re more nuanced than at other times. This time, not so much, IMHO.)

    Bratton has more of a point when he says that the stats are outdated, which is inarguable.

    On this particular issue, I’m guessing that the truth of the issue is somewhere in between the stance of “no racial profiling”—and the point of view of the ACLU, which seems to skew too far to the other direction.

    I would, however, like to see a more nuanced study that pulls some of these issues apart better, as I suspect that either pole is not accurate.

  • MCCAIN: “SHE NEEDED CLOTHES”
    $150,000 worth of clothing for a campaign of 90 days? Palin’s clothes cost the RNC more than weekly ads in six states. Palin needs a $150K education about the U.S.Constitution. The truth about Palin’s “need” for such spiffy clothes is that Cindy McCain wasn’t willing to wear dresses off the rack while she was on stage and she was gonna’ make our Sarah look pretty shabby in comparison.

  • “She needed clothes,”?????

    The pitbull with lipstick left Alaska with only the clothes on her back and returns to Alaska a month later with a dozen suitcases containing $150K worth of clothes….

    “She needed clothes,”… Wow… Tom Cruise The Original Maverick would call that an earmark!

  • Celeste comments;
    “I would, however, like to see a more nuanced study that pulls some of these issues apart better, as I suspect that either pole is not accurate”

    Celeste be forewarned, that’s also what the Roman Catholic Church said when condemning the theory’s (that the Earth revolves in orbit around the Sun and not vice versa), of that most famous “Pole”, Copernicus.

    Please do not also profile the Polish People!

  • The truly galling part isn’t just the findings of this survey, so much as it seems like every two years that a study finds results like this. Every two years, we all act shocked.

  • Woody, $150,000 is a huge number — more than Palin’s $108,000 annual salary as Alaska’s governor. It exposes Palin as a fraud, and Republicans are wondering why their campaign contributions went for fashion. Pundits are wringing their hands about Neiman Marcus tastes in a Wal-Mart economy and legal experts are saying the clothes might be treated as taxable income when the Palins file their next 1040.

  • Yeah, well, what about McCain spending over $5K/month on make-up! They put on the white eye-liner, the tooth paint, the eye drops, do the facial lipo-suction, the face-painting, trowel-on the pancake, and he still looks like a desiccated dwarf. Imagine what he’d look like with a naked face. Jane the Plumber probably can’t afford a $150,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys and Bloomingdale’s.

    There once was a gal from Wasilla

    Who sought to become a Moose killa

    But when faced with the task of a national bask

    She gave the RNC the billa . . .

    Ya’ll is mad stupid.

  • Ron Howard is the latest star to voice his support for Obama, and he did it alongside his old costars Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler in a video for Funny or Die. Watch him strip down, trim his nose hair and don an Opie wig for a black and white call to action before fast-forwarding to “Happy Days.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/ron-howards-call-for-obam_n_137214.html

    Interesting that none of the cast from “Northern Exposure” are doing promos for Palin…hmmm. I wonder why?

    …hey Woody did you do your homework?

  • Can we get back to the subject of LAPD racial profiling?? I was a speaker on a panel pertaining to gang injunctions. From personal experience I know they work and in fact have shut down some of the most violent notorious gangs in LA. Now I’m a Latina however, some people think I’m another race. After I spoke out in support of gang injunctions audience members told me how would I know anything about gang injunctions because I wasn’t Latina. This is the same crap and racial profiling the ACLU is talking about. Its ignorant and lame. When you have a population of 46% Latino in Los Angeles and LAPD officers are driving on the Eastside they are not going to stop Chinese. What’s interesting about this so called study is the timing of its release. This is old data from back in 2003 so why are they just releasing it now???

  • Joe McCain Calls 911 To Complain About Traffic…
    John McCain’s brother (Joe McCain) earlier this week called the police emergency line because he was angry he was stuck in traffic. The 911 call came into the City of Alexandria on Oct. 21st.
    Operator: 911 state your emergency

    Caller: It’s not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic’s coming the other way?

    Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

    Caller: “(Expletive) you.” (caller hangs up)

    The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge, outrageous enough that the 911 operator called back. The voicemail on the other end, appears to belong to Joe McCain, brother of presidential candidate, John McCain.

    “Hi this is Joe McCain I can’t take this message now because I’m involved in a very (inaudible) important political project… I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John.”

    But that wasn’t all. McCain apparently called 911 again, to complain about the message the operator just left him, warning him such use of 911 is criminal.

    Appears to be Joe McCain: Somebody gave me this riot act about the violation of police.

    Operator: Did you just call 911 in reference to this?

    Appears to be Joe McCain: Yeah.

    Operator: 911 is to be used for emergencies only not just because you’re sitting in traffic.

    “I think it’s horrible I can’t believe somebody would tie up valuable resources to complain about traffic,” said District resident Nancy Case. – DUH!

    Video:

    http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913_video.html?ref=newsstory

  • “When you have a population of 46% Latino in Los Angeles and LAPD officers are driving on the Eastside they are not going to stop Chinese”

    No Janet but why would they stop Latinos either if they are not commiting a crime? Being a Chicano on the Eastside of LA shouldn’t mean that you are subject to get rousted just because you fit a profile.
    You don’t think this occurs? Then you either haven’t lived there or you’ve got blinders on.

    And as far as the gang injunctions go, they work for a short time true but many of the gang infested areas have had injuctions and mass arrests, and flooding an area with LE for a period of time ect; ect; ect; but those kind of tactics are short term solutions at best and over the long haul is like putting band aids on a hemoragging artery.
    Real solutions take real effort and that usually entails money which on the Eastside means rarely.

  • Politico is saying:
    Blame game: GOP forms circular firing squad. . .
    Coordination between the campaign and RNC is now nearly dysfunctional, with little high-level contact and intelligence-sharing between the two. . .

    With despair rising even among many of John McCain’s own advisors, influential Republicans inside and outside his campaign are engaged in an intense round of blame-casting and rear-covering—-much of it virtually conceding that an Election Day rout is likely.

    A McCain interview published Thursday in the Washington Times sparked the latest and most nasty round of Washington finger-pointing, with senior GOP hands close to President Bush and top congressional aides denouncing the candidate for what they said was an unfocused message and poorly executed campaign.

    McCain told the Times that the administration “let things get completely out of hand” through eight years of bad decisions about Iraq, global warming, and big spending. . .
    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14891.html

  • The ACLU is hardly an objective source when it comes to cops and anything, and the Yale prof is predictably biased to the left. It may well be that young black and Latino males are stopped more often than whites — maybe it has to do with how they’re dressed, the gang clothes, baggy pants and white tanks and tattoos and bald heads and the rest. I’m sure whites who looked like that would be, too.

    Here in LA when I see them pulled over on the Strip or Beverly Hills and other tony areas, that’s how they often look and they’re driving either run-down older cars or those on the other extreme, like pimp cars. I’ve seen some pretty aggressive driving from some of them. Gangs have started to congregate at the clubs there and in Hollywood, and the Strip is liberal West Hollywood and the Sheriff’s Dept., not LA and LAPD. You may have read that the House of Blues has had so many fights involving blacks and Latinos whenever there’s a program that attracts them, that the club might lose its license. Someone was killed there recently.

  • So it’s the burden of African-Americans and Latinos to prove to society that we are not being harassed for a good reason?

    When is white America going to get proactive in dealing with the race problem?

    The LAPD tactics historically were based on racism and I’m going to bet if you controlled for age it would be MORE bias of police officers bothering African-American and Latino men for no reason.

    My father is Honduran he “looks” black. I know my father has been harassed more than any of his white counterparts.

    I would love to see a study on the LAPD that does account for age, if that was let out the LAPD probably would get sued.

    Browne

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