BLACKS, LATINOS STOPPED MORE

S.J. Police Release Traffic-stop Report

San Jose police stop black and Latino drivers at far higher rates than
whites and Asian-Americans, according to a long-awaited report on
racial profiling released by the department Friday.

The report found that Latino drivers are stopped more frequently than
any other ethnic group in the city and well out of proportion to their
share of the population. They account for 31 percent of San Jose's
residents but made up 43 percent of the drivers stopped by police.

Chief Bill Lansdowne said there is a reasonable explanation for the
disparities and no evidence to suggest that San Jose police
systematically have been discriminating against minority drivers.

``The community asked for the numbers and we gave them,'' Lansdowne
said. ``Up until this point, all we had were anecdotes. We can't be
afraid to look at the statistics.''

Although local civil rights leaders credited the department for
gathering the information, they said that racial profiling remains a
problem despite the flurry of new data. And they didn't seem satisfied
with the chief's explanations.

``I'm sad to say it is obvious by the way that minorities are being
stopped that they are being targeted,'' said Victor Garza, chairman of
La Raza Roundtable, a San Jose Latino organization.

San Jose police agreed to study the issue earlier this year after a
series of highly publicized incidents across the nation drew attention
to the issue of ``DWB'' -- or driving while black or brown.

Civil rights groups maintained that police routinely pulled over
drivers because of their skin color, using minor traffic violations as
a pretext for stopping them. Critics have charged that officers use
the stops as an excuse to look for evidence of more serious crimes,
such as gang affiliation or drug trafficking.

The San Jose Police Department was one of the first in California to
voluntarily agree to collect data on traffic stops. Since then, more
than 50 police agencies in the state have agreed to do so.

The study, which looked at all traffic stops conducted by San Jose
police from July 1 to Sept. 30, also found:

Blacks made up 4.5 percent of the population but 7 percent of the
drivers stopped.

Whites made up 43 percent of the population but 29 percent of all
drivers stopped.

Asian-Americans made up 21 percent of the population and accounted for
16 percent of the stops.

At a news conference at police headquarters, Lansdowne said the
traffic-stop statistics made sense given the socio-demographic
realities of the city, and the way the department deploys its officers.

The department assigns more officers to the parts of the city that
generate the most police calls, he said. And those neighborhoods have
higher concentrations of minorities than other police precincts, the
report said, although it didn't provide a district-by-district
demographic breakdown.

Lansdowne stressed that the higher rates of crime in those precincts
is the result of socioeconomic factors, not the race or ethnicity of
the people who live there.

Because more officers are present in those districts, Lansdowne said,
more are available to make traffic stops. As a result, black and other
minority drivers are pulled over more frequently than whites, who tend
to live in districts with fewer reports of crime and fewer police
officers assigned.

``The vehicle stops that we make in San Jose are demand-driven,''
Lansdowne said. ``Where you put the most cars is where you are going
to make the most stops.''

According to the report, the racial breakdown of traffic stops roughly
mirrors the racial breakdown of other police statistics. As the police
see it, these numbers suggest that officers are administering traffic
laws fairly. For example, the report said, the racial breakdown of
traffic stops is similar to the racial breakdowns of arrests and calls
from crime victims.

Lansdowne stressed that the report was based on just three months'
worth of data, and only represented a preliminary analysis. More
meaningful conclusions can be drawn after the department has a year's
worth of statistics to look at.

``We have been asked for this information, and we are producing this
information,'' he said. ``It's going to take this community, working
with the police department, a while to look at the numbers and try to
figure out exactly what they mean.''

Lansdowne acknowledged that the numbers don't reveal whether
individual officers had stopped drivers because of their race. But he
said they strongly suggested that no widespread discrimination exists.

According to Lansdowne, his department was the first in the state to
release racial breakdowns of traffic stops. ``The San Jose Police
Department is leading the effort to rebuild community trust,'' he
said. ``I think it is very clear across the country and very clear
here that there is a problem with trust between minority communities
and law enforcement.''

Lansdowne shared the report's findings with local civil rights leaders
at a private briefing Wednesday night. Several of them were present at
Friday's news conference, and they praised the chief for gathering the
data and working with them to address the issue of racial profiling.

Although they tried to strike a conciliatory tone, several were
clearly concerned about the numbers. And they raised several questions
about the way the data had been gathered and interpreted.

``It's not an explanation that I buy,'' said Aminah Jahi, president of
the San Jose NAACP, referring to the department's analysis.

The report says that when each of the city's 16 police districts is
looked at individually, the racial breakdown of police stops in each
one roughly mirrors the population that lives there. But because the
report didn't provide a district-by-district population breakdown,
it's impossible to assess the accuracy of that claim.

``We need to know who lives in each district in order for us to know
if profiling is actually going on,'' Jahi said.

The statistics are missing another crucial piece, one that would more
clearly show whether individual groups were being harassed, said
Michelle Alexander, an attorney with the San Francisco office of the
American Civil Liberties Union. Even if two different groups are
stopped at the same rate, she said, they might be treated differently
during the stops because of their race.

``Without information about who is being frisked and searched, it's
hard to know whether racial profiling is occurring,'' Alexander said.

Garza, of La Raza Roundtable, said he was confident that Lansdowne
would work with civil rights groups to improve the department's
performance.

``I know the police chief, he's a helluva good guy, and I know he
wants to correct this,'' Garza said. ``Now we have a base to work from
and correct the inequities.''

Mike Lyons, a member of the Santa Clara County Human Relations
Commission, said he remains convinced that racial profiling happens,
no matter what the report says.

``Why are African-Americans and Hispanics being stopped more?'' he
asked. ``No one can explain that.''