remember that's Holders DOJ

[GURPS]

Justice Department finds racial bias in Ferguson police practices


(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the Ferguson, Missouri, police department routinely engages in racially biased practices, a law enforcement official familiar with the department's findings said on Tuesday.

The investigation into the police department began in August after the shooting of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson sparked national protests.

Analysis of more than 35,000 pages of police records found racist comments from officers as well as statistics that showed African-Americans make up 93 percent of arrests while accounting for only 67 percent of the population in Ferguson, the official said.

African-Americans also made up most of incidents in which officers used force and all incidents where police dogs bit citizens, said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

 

[Freefaller]

Justice Department finds racial bias in Ferguson police practices


(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the Ferguson, Missouri, police department routinely engages in racially biased practices, a law enforcement official familiar with the department's findings said on Tuesday.

The investigation into the police department began in August after the shooting of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson sparked national protests.

Analysis of more than 35,000 pages of police records found racist comments from officers as well as statistics that showed African-Americans make up 93 percent of arrests while accounting for only 67 percent of the population in Ferguson, the official said.

African-Americans also made up most of incidents in which officers used force and all incidents where police dogs bit citizens, said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

I would say to shut down the Ferguson Police Dept and let the citizens of Ferguson "Self-Police" for, say, 2 years and see how that works out

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I'm interested in the report itself, not some preliminary information, but the DOJ hasn't released it yet.

Based on the findings, one could argue there is a racial bias involved in policing that area. As mentioned above, the population of Ferguson is 67% black with 85% of all traffic stops from 2012 to 2014 consisting of blacks. 85% percent of all cases of use of force during that timeframe involved black people. Black people accounted for 90% of all citations, and black motorists were twice as likely to be searched than whites, but were half as likely to have drugs or guns or other contraband.

Of course, the DOJ is probably being pressured to "do something". They know they can't (and most likely won't) charge Darren Wilson with any civil rights violations.

 

[Bay_Kat]

DOJ will not prosecute former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson

Just had this breaking news.

 

[Gilligan]

DOJ will not prosecute former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson

Just had this breaking news.

Yup. And that's why the other story was issued first. A classic "look!..squirrel!" maneuver to confuse the idiots. DOJ has known as long as everyone else that nothing happened except for a street thug getting his arse shot while attacking a police officer.


http://ace.mu.nu/archives/355313.php

 

[Freefaller]

I'm interested in the report itself, not some preliminary information, but the DOJ hasn't released it yet.

Based on the findings, one could argue there is a racial bias involved in policing that area. As mentioned above, the population of Ferguson is 67% black with 85% of all traffic stops from 2012 to 2014 consisting of blacks. 85% percent of all cases of use of force during that timeframe involved black people. Black people accounted for 90% of all citations, and black motorists were twice as likely to be searched than whites, but were half as likely to have drugs or guns or other contraband.

Of course, the DOJ is probably being pressured to "do something". They know they can't (and most likely won't) charge Darren Wilson with any civil rights violations.

I guess it's all in how you read it. Someone can read those % stats and come up with that very simplistic evaluation. Someone else can read that and come up with the idea that the african american population committs most of the crime. Just depends on how you read it!

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I guess it's all in how you read it. Someone can read those % stats and come up with that very simplistic evaluation. Someone else can read that and come up with the idea that the african american population committs most of the crime. Just depends on how you read it!

I agree, but if black people are targeted more, then of course they'd commit more crimes.

The numbers provided do show that blacks are often involved in use of force cases, account for most citations, and more often searched. If a majority of black people are stopped and charged, it would make sense that numbers show black people commit more crimes, no?

 

[MMDad]

I agree, but if black people are targeted more, then of course they'd commit more crimes.

The numbers provided do show that blacks are often involved in use of force cases, account for most citations, and more often searched. If a majority of black people are stopped and charged, it would make sense that numbers show black people commit more crimes, no?

No. Targeting one group does not cause them to commit crime.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

No. Targeting one group does not cause them to commit crime.

If I pull over 85 black people, and 15 white people (in a community where 67% of residents are black), do you think more white people will be charged?

I'm not saying it causes them to commit crime, I'm saying it could simply make them criminals. If police are coming into more contact with black people (for whatever reason), I think it's reasonable to believe "more crimes are committed by black people".

Don't mistake this discussion for me advocating that black people don't commit crime. I believe the largest driver with crime is poverty. Almost 21% of Ferguson residents were below income poverty levels. Of that percentage, almost 2,600 of them are black, almost 600 are white (other races are very low numbers). 74% of poor families are comprised of a female with no husband present (I don't know if "husband" is the same as "father").

 

[This_person]

I'm interested in the report itself, not some preliminary information, but the DOJ hasn't released it yet.

Based on the findings, one could argue there is a racial bias involved in policing that area. As mentioned above, the population of Ferguson is 67% black with 85% of all traffic stops from 2012 to 2014 consisting of blacks. 85% percent of all cases of use of force during that timeframe involved black people. Black people accounted for 90% of all citations, and black motorists were twice as likely to be searched than whites, but were half as likely to have drugs or guns or other contraband.

Of course, the DOJ is probably being pressured to "do something". They know they can't (and most likely won't) charge Darren Wilson with any civil rights violations.

Unsubstantiated assumptions of causation based on apparent correlation.

 

[GregV814]

I agree, but if black people are targeted more, then of course they'd commit more crimes.




WHAT?????????

 

[This_person]

DOJ will not prosecute former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson

Just had this breaking news.

I listened to the entire 24 minutes. He said one thing that is worrisome: a disproportionate rate of search when looking at race even though the likelihood of finding contraband was disproportionate in the opposite way. That requires further investigation.

Everything else was allegation. If the DOJ investigation concluded unconstitutional behavior, levy legal charges and let the court decide. He said the investigation concluded no other reason for the racial disparities than implicit racism, and I believe that is all they came up with. What I don't believe is that their conclusion is the only possible conclusion.

 

[Hijinx]

I listened to the entire 24 minutes. He said one thing that is worrisome: a disproportionate rate of search when looking at race even though the likelihood of finding contraband was disproportionate in the opposite way. That requires further investigation.

Everything else was allegation. If the DOJ investigation concluded unconstitutional behavior, levy legal charges and let the court decide. He said the investigation concluded no other reason for the racial disparities than implicit racism, and I believe that is all they came up with. What I don't believe is that their conclusion is the only possible conclusion.

It's the only possible conclusion for Holders DOJ

 

[Lurk]

I guess it's all in how you read it. Someone can read those % stats and come up with that very simplistic evaluation. Someone else can read that and come up with the idea that the african american population committs most of the crime. Just depends on how you read it!

Having lived in that area for six years, there is another perspective. Since Ferguson is located on the outskirts of St Louis and is on the pathway to places south of there, how many transients, speeding down the road to get out of town, are represented in the speeder/reckless drivers? DOJ conveniently does NOT tell us that a large percentage of the blacks stopped, ticketed, jailed are from out of town (which sways the statistics WAY out of normal).