Thursday, March 28, 2024

Traffic Stop Data Finds LA Police Search Black Drivers Most – Even Though Whites Have More Drugs

police - cop - Depositphotos_41106635_s-2019

*A recent analysis from the Los Angeles Times has revealed that Blacks and Latinos in L.A. are more likely to be stopped and searched while driving even though whites are more likely to be in possession of drugs.

According to LA.Times authors Ben Poston and Cindy Chang, “17 percent of blacks and 16 percent of Latinos stopped and searched were found with contraband such as drugs and weapons, compared to 20 percent of whites,” the report states.

The traffic stop data from a 10-month period starting in July 2018, revealed police stopped and searched 24% of Black drivers and passengers, compared with 16% of Latinos and 5% of white people. 20% of the time, white drivers were found with drugs or other contraband, a higher rate compared to 17% for Black people and 16% for Latinos.

“Today’s Los Angeles Times damning report confirms what many city residents know far too well,” a spokesperson from PUSH L.A. (Promoting Unity Safety & Health Los Angeles) said in a statement. “Police Department officers target Black and Latinx drivers and passengers in pretextual stops and searches.”

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The analysis found people of color were over three times more likely to be harassed, removed from the vehicle, handcuffed and arrested.

“These stops lead to the death of our people,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA. “For anybody who lives in communities like mine, the data is not a surprise. It’s a validation of what we already know.”

She added, “The stops aren’t based on more criminality among black and brown folks … There is evidence of racism within LAPD, and these stops absolutely have to end.”

via The Guardian:

LAPD was forced to release the data under a new California law requiring departments to disclose traffic stop statistics. The LA Times analyzed records of more than 385,000 drivers and passengers pulled over from July 2018 through April 2019.

Push LA’s campaign is calling on LAPD to compensate people who have been searched recently and had nothing on them, said Retana: “A small step the city can take is to pay back people for the undo harm created by these stops.”

In a statement to the Guardian, Michel Moore, LAPD’s chief, defended the agency: “While the numbers presented reflect racial disparities when compared to the proportions of residential population, they do not define or describe the circumstances of each stop or search … [and] neither prove nor disprove racial profiling or other improper action.”

He added that LAPD “has no tolerance for any officer that would use race as a basis for a stop or search.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti called the report “important and timely” in a statement, adding that the department had launched “recruitment campaigns to embrace and expand diversity,” according to the report. 

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