>Study: Blacks, Hispanics fare worse in traffic stops
>
>Associated Press
>
>
>WASHINGTON - Black, Hispanic and white drivers are equally likely to be
>pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to
be
>searched and arrested, a federal study found.
>
>Police were much more likely to threaten or use force against blacks and
>Hispanics than against whites in any encounter, whether at a traffic stop
>or elsewhere, according to the Justice Department.
>
>The study, released Sunday by the department's Bureau of Justice
>Statistics, covered police contacts with the public during 2005 and was
>based on interviews by the Census Bureau with nearly 64,000 people age 16
>or over.
>
>"The numbers are very consistent" with those found in a similar study of
>police-public contacts in 2002, bureau statistician Matthew R. Durose,
the
>report's co-author, said in an interview. "There's some stability in the
>findings over these three years."
>
>Traffic stops have become a politically volatile issue. Minority groups
>have complained that many stops and searches are based on race rather
than
>on legitimate suspicions. Blacks in particular have complained of being
>pulled over for simply "driving while black."
>
>"The available data is sketchy but deeply concerning," said Hilary
>Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. The civil rights
>organization has done its own surveys of traffic stops, and he said the
>racial disparities grow larger, the deeper the studies delve.
>
>"It's very important to look at the hit rates for searches - the number
>that actually result in finding a crime," Shelton said. "There's a great
>deal of racial disparity there." He called for federal legislation that
>would collect uniform data by race on stops, arrests, use of force,
>searches and hit rates.
>
>"This report shows there are still disturbing disparities in terms of
what
>happens to people of color after the stop," said Dennis Parker, director
>of the American Civil Liberties Union's racial justice project. He also
>said better reporting is needed.
>
>Publication date: 04-30-2007
>
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