It’s been more than a year since I’ve heard anyone discussing or debating “racial profiling,” either in a critical or a defensive manner.
Does that mean it no longer occurs? Does that mean that I, a white man driving through town, am no longer relatively immune from the kind of traffic stops or police attention that someone of a different race might receive?
And, if that is so, here’s my question: Should the police stop collecting racial or ethnic information during traffic stops as a means to address racial profiling? Is there a better way to tackle this divisive and, by definition, discriminatory practice that — as it is presently being addressed — leaves many citizens feeling victimized and many officers feeling unfairly accused of bias?
First some background: Since July 2000, the Palo Alto Police Department has collected demographic data on all enforcement contacts. Its first quarterly report was submitted just one day before September 11, 2001, and hence went virtually unnoticed by the general public.
Nine additional reports have been submitted since. The human relations commission here in Palo Alto has taken the lead in interpreting and analyzing this data, occasionally with the help of Stanford professors and informed citizens.
These reports, compiled from hundreds of traffic stops and including information on both the driver and passengers, appear to highlight a practice of more frequent stops of African Americans and Hispanics relative to the percentage of such groups working or residing in the area. But they are often confusing and difficult to interpret and analyze, which leaves one wondering if the appearance reflects the reality.
As I attempt to make sense of the reports I find myself regretting that I never took Probability and Statistics in college. Further, it is uncertain how accurate a picture the reports present.
For example, if a traffic stop occurs late at night it might not be because of the person’s race — as it may be too dark for the officer to observe the person’s race until the stop occurs. Moreover, many traffic stops have nothing to do with a person’s race, as they result from citizen calls.
In spite of the confusing nature of the reports, the difficulties in interpreting them and questions about their accuracy, they have had positive results by forcing Palo Alto to proactively address discrimination issues, including leading to installation of cameras on patrol cars — which should be an effective means of diminishing racial profiling.
Now, for the debate: The collection of demographic data costs the city approximately $40,000 a year. While this cost may go down as the department becomes more efficient at collecting the information, this expense needs to be considered given Palo Alto’s budget woes.
Do we need to spend approximately $40,000 a year to collect data which is at least confusing and at worst inaccurate, and which recently showed little evidence of racial profiling?
How else, in other words, could we spend $40,000 that could produce clear, tangible results?
How about this: Hire someone part-time to do more outreach to the community, including more forums and community meetings, and to do more diversity training for officers. Or tighten police rules and procedures to root out and discipline officers who have a pattern of complaints against them.
However, it never hurts to explore whether there are better means to end the problem of racial profiling and to seek better, more positive ways to build trust between police officers and members of those groups that have historically been the target of discrimination.
