NU study confirms racial profiling against nonwhite drivers
May 4, 2004
BOSTON -- A crackdown by the state on local police departments because of racial profiling when pulling over motorists could result in less traffic stops, an attorney said.
"De-policing is a real possibility," John M. Collins, general counsel for the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said Monday, one day before a report on racial profiling was to be released. "When somebody is falsely accused, they're not going to continue to give you the bullets to shoot them with."
The study by Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Justice sponsored by the state Department of Public Safety found that three out of four police departments in Massachusetts have engaged in racial profiling against nonwhite drivers, The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday. The study confirmed a Boston Globe study of traffic tickets last year.
Four years ago, the state Legislature ordered a test for racial profiling in the Bay State. Those that failed the test -- as many as 249 departments, including state troopers -- could be ordered by state Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn to submit more documentation on their future traffic stops.
The additional paper work could be required of departments that showed a disparity on any one of Northeastern's four statistical tests: ticketing resident minorities more than whites, compared with their share of the resident population, as judged by the 2000 Census; ticketing all minorities more than whites, compared with their share of the comminity's drivers, as estimated by Northeastern; searching minorities more often than whites, and issuing warnings to whites more often then to minorities.
Police departments that failed at least one test range from the Boston Police Department to the tiny Martha's Vineyard community of Aquinnah, ith 344 year-round residents, nearly have of them American Indians.
According to the study, 15 police departments failed on all four tests, 42 failed on three tests, 87 failed on two tests and 105 failed on only one. The Department of Public Safety said 92 communities received a passing grade on all tests -- the largest being Agawam, a Springfield suburb of 28,000 people.
Police departments can appeal Flynn's decision to Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.
For its study, the Northeastern researchers studied 1.6 million traffic citations issued between April 1, 2001, and June 30, 2003.
© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Thanks Flynn... :2up:
May 4, 2004
BOSTON -- A crackdown by the state on local police departments because of racial profiling when pulling over motorists could result in less traffic stops, an attorney said.
"De-policing is a real possibility," John M. Collins, general counsel for the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said Monday, one day before a report on racial profiling was to be released. "When somebody is falsely accused, they're not going to continue to give you the bullets to shoot them with."
The study by Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Justice sponsored by the state Department of Public Safety found that three out of four police departments in Massachusetts have engaged in racial profiling against nonwhite drivers, The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday. The study confirmed a Boston Globe study of traffic tickets last year.
Four years ago, the state Legislature ordered a test for racial profiling in the Bay State. Those that failed the test -- as many as 249 departments, including state troopers -- could be ordered by state Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn to submit more documentation on their future traffic stops.
The additional paper work could be required of departments that showed a disparity on any one of Northeastern's four statistical tests: ticketing resident minorities more than whites, compared with their share of the resident population, as judged by the 2000 Census; ticketing all minorities more than whites, compared with their share of the comminity's drivers, as estimated by Northeastern; searching minorities more often than whites, and issuing warnings to whites more often then to minorities.
Police departments that failed at least one test range from the Boston Police Department to the tiny Martha's Vineyard community of Aquinnah, ith 344 year-round residents, nearly have of them American Indians.
According to the study, 15 police departments failed on all four tests, 42 failed on three tests, 87 failed on two tests and 105 failed on only one. The Department of Public Safety said 92 communities received a passing grade on all tests -- the largest being Agawam, a Springfield suburb of 28,000 people.
Police departments can appeal Flynn's decision to Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.
For its study, the Northeastern researchers studied 1.6 million traffic citations issued between April 1, 2001, and June 30, 2003.
© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Thanks Flynn... :2up: