GOOD START ON PROFILING

Although a year-long study on racial profiling by Denver police shows that
minorities are more likely to be searched than whites, it may be premature
to conclude the cops are biased. The report resulted from a task force
formed in November 2000, including law enforcement as well as community and
advocacy groups.

For a long time, the perception among Denver's minority residents has been
you can be busted here for driving or walking while black or Latino. Denver
cops, to their credit, have incorporated anti-bias and cultural sensitivity
programs in their training in recent years.

In commenting on the report, Denver Chief Gerry Whitman said there is "no
smoking gun." True, but there may be a squeaky brake pad. It's clear to us
that more study is needed.

The report prepared by Deborah Thomas, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado
at Denver covers 199,410 contact cards collected by Denver officers from
June 1, 2001, to May 31, 2002. Of the total, more than 154,000 cards were
from traffic stops and more than 41,000 from pedestrian stops.

Thomas found that 48.2 percent of all traffic stops involve whites, but
only 4.1 percent of whites are searched. African-Americans accounted for
16.6 percent of stops and Hispanics, 31.3 percent. But blacks and Hispanics
were searched in 13.2 percent of traffic stops.

Fewer than half the drivers stopped lived in Denver, but more than 70
percent of pedestrians stopped live here.

Latino drivers and pedestrians were searched more than any other group but
were less likely to be found with contraband, such as drugs or guns. Whites
who were searched were most likely to be arrested.

Pedestrians were stopped in equal numbers of whites, blacks and Hispanics.

At first glance, the minority percentages, especially on pedestrian stops,
seem disproportionate in Denver, where the population is just under 52
percent non-Hispanic white; 31.7 percent Hispanic and 10.8 percent
African-American.

The study showed (and Whitman noted at a press conference yesterday) that
many minority stops and searches occurred in either west, northwest or
northeast Denver, which have large minority populations. But that may be
because the department responds to residents' needs and demands for service
by assigning more cops to those neighborhoods.

Denver traffic stops tend to follow major highway corridors such as
Interstate 25 or I-70, hence the high percentage of non-residents.

Another factor is that Denver's daytime population balloons as
non-residents pour into the city to work. (Both Whitman and Thomas warned
against basing conclusions solely on comparisons with Denver's census figures.)

The report suggests documenting police contacts for another three years to
get more meaningful data so police and the communities involved can address
the problem of racial profiling. That makes sense: The better the "map" the
better the chances of reaching the right destination.