MAPS FOR: Jurisdictions Collecting Data | Legislation | Litigation | Community Groups

Community and Civil Rights Initiatives

How Communities Become Involved

In 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a nationwide campaign against racial profiling. Called "Arrest the Racism: Racial Profiling in America," the campaign includes: research; a communications program synchronized with litigation efforts across the country; a special report entitled "Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on our Nation's Highways"; a special hotline for reporting incidents (1-877-6PROFILE) and an online complaint form; advertising campaigns that include print, radio, and billboard features; advocacy for state and federal legislation; and a special web feature. Local chapters of the ACLU are some of the most vociferous advocates against racial profiling.

The ACLU campaign has sparked racial profiling work across the country by local, state, and national organizations. Community organizations have been involved in advocating for legislation, increasing visibility of their racial profiling concerns, and encouraging police departments to begin data collection. One of the most important ways community groups can get involved is for representatives to initiate or serve on a task force around the issue of racial profiling. By discussing the issue with law enforcement officials in a constructive and informative framework, community and civil rights groups can tackle the issue of racial profiling in their communities and make a difference.

This website provides tools for community and civil rights groups to get started in the campaign against racial profiling or to join the ongoing debates and efforts in their local or regional areas.

The section on Community and Civil Rights Groups provides information on community groups across the country that are working on local, state, or regional racial profiling campaigns. This information can help groups plan efforts in their own areas based on previously successful campaigns. If you have any information that can help update or supplement this list of community groups, please contact us at racialprofilinganalysis@neu.edu.

The Testimonials section offers narratives about racial profiling from community voices. These voices demonstrate the effect that the perception of racial profiling can have on individuals and their families. We would also like to add stories about how data collection has helped strengthen police-community relations. Please email us at racialprofilinganalysis@neu.edu if you have a story to share.

The Getting Started and Going Ahead resource kit provides basic tools and ideas for how community groups can get involved in data collection efforts.

ANALYSIS OF RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT'S STOP, QUESTION, AND FRISK PRACTICES

RAND Corporation

In 2006, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stopped a half-million pedestrians for suspected criminal involvement. Raw statistics for these encounters suggest large racial disparities — 89 percent of the stops involved nonwhites. Do these statistics point to racial bias in police officers’ decisions to stop particular pedestrians? Do they indicate that officers are particularly intrusive when stopping nonwhites? The NYPD asked the RAND Center on Quality Policing (CQP) to help it understand this issue and identify recommendations for addressing potential problems. CQP researchers analyzed data on all street encounters between NYPD officers and pedestrians in 2006. They compared the racial distribution of stops to external benchmarks, attempts to construct what the racial distribution of the stopped pedestrians would have been if officers’ stop decisions had been racially unbiased. Then they compared each officer’s stopping patterns with an internal benchmark constructed from stops in similar circumstances made by other officers. Finally, they examined stop outcomes, assessing whether stopped white and nonwhite suspects have different rates of frisk, search, use of force, and arrest. They found small racial differences in these rates and make communication, recordkeeping, and training recommendations to the NYPD for improving police-pedestrian interactions.

TENNESSEE: POLICE CLAIM LEGITIMATE ARREST; WOMAN CLAMS RACIAL PROFILING

Juana Villegas, who is nine months pregnant, was arrested for driving without a valid license. Villegas believes she was a victim of racial profiling. During the traffic stop, Villegas was able to produce a valid vehicle registration and consulate photo identification: two documents that should have averted an arrest. Villegas was jailed for about a week.

MISSOURI: RACIAL PROFILING DATA RELEASED FOR 2007

For the eighth year in a row, the Barry County Sheriff's Department and all six area police departments have submitted traffic stop data for the Missouri Attorney General's 2007 Missouri Vehicle Stops annual report. The report collects data from law enforcement agencies throughout the state and summarizes it to track racial profiling trends. The reporting of this data is mandated under a state law that was enacted in August of 2000 to address allegations of racial profiling by law enforcement officials. Click
here for access to the full report

NEW YORK: POLICE TOLD TO GIVE STREET-STOP DATA

The New York Civil Liberties Union has been granted access to the New York Police Department’s internal database to search for racial bias in stop-and-frisks. The police department argued that releasing access to the database would pose a risk to police officers as their personal information is contained in the database, however the judge ruled that such information could be blacked out.

COLORADO: GROUP LAUNCHES RACIAL PROFILING HOTLINE

In an effort to track instances of people being pulled over by the police on the basis of race, The Colorado Progressive Coalition has started a statewide hotline for racial profiling. Beginning in April 2008, the hotline has received 70 calls statewide so far. Most callers are of Latino and African-American descent.

OHIO: POLICE, SHERIFF DISCUSS RACIAL PROFILING PRACTICES

At a panel discussion at the Clark County Public Library, residents were urged to file a report if they believe officers acted unjustly toward them. Neither Springfield Police nor the Clark County Sheriff's Office have had many complaints about racial profiling in the last few years. Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly and Springfield Police Division Chief Stephen Moody said their departments routinely undergo training to learn to deal with the issue appropriately.