Racial profiling investigated; police gather data from county

By Louie Meizlish

Daily Staff Writer

Across the Midwest, local and campus police departments are either planning or conducting studies to determine whether their officers profile drivers according to race.

Ann Arbor police have been collecting data on pedestrians and motorists that officers have stopped since this August. This data includes the motorist or pedestrian's race, gender and what part of the city in which they were stopped.

Ann Arbor Councilwoman Elisabeth Daley (D-Ward V) sponsored the resolution that instructed police to collect this data.

"I feel I've observed it," Daley said.

She alluded to her previous job of waiting tables at local restaurants and noticing that blacks were frequently being stopped by the police, "but not the white guy," she said.

The council will soon be asking for bids from individuals and companies to analyze the data.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department has also been gathering data of its practices since late July, including the suspect's age. The data they collect will be shipped to Prof. John Lamberth of Temple University, who analyzed similar data in lawsuits against the states of New Jersey and Maryland regarding allegations of racial profiling against their respective state police departments.

The county, in addition to the study, holds a two-day seminar for officers to teach them the importance of cultural awareness and effective communication in law enforcement.

The county "didn't want to wait for a community rising" to investigate the issue, but rather it wanted "to hold itself accountable," said Commander Jerry Clayton of the Sheriff's Department.

Before the end of the year, the Department of Public Safety hopes to begin a study of racial profiling on campus.

The difficulty lies in the department's current record keeping system, which does already contain some data. But, "it's in a record system that doesn't provide analyzes for these fields," DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown

Campus police departments at other universities have begun investigations already.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison Police began to offer its officers the choice to collect a motorist's sex, race and age in July. The process became mandatory a week ago. Before last week, 80 percent of the officers were voluntarily collecting data.

Wisconsin has no plans for data analyzation, although it will make the data available to anyone who requests it. The study, said Capt. Dale Burke, "helps build trust. It is something the community wants and the community expects." The data, Burke stressed "is not the only answer to the question. The data is merely a crumb along the trail. You need to keep following the trail."

Michigan State University police have also begun collecting data. Prof. Charles Corley from the Michigan State School of Criminal Justice will analyze the data. The study has no set termination date, but new data will be re-evaluated every two years.

The department will also issue a brochure titled "What Should I do if I am Stopped by the Police?" During each semester, there will also be three police-minority student partnerships designed so that minority students and police can "get to know each other. That's where the fear comes in - they don't know what we're all about," Lt. Kelly Beck said.

Daley and Deputy Police Chief Don Leach both said they think the study in itself will reduce racial profiling, but one downside that Daley mentioned was that since every police officer has to collect data on the people he or she stops, "they will be less inclined to have casual interactions" with them.