DC Police Chief
Believes that Racial Profiling may not be a problem because there are a
proportionate number of Black and Latino Police on the force. (As
if Black Cops can't be foul also! BW bets that the thousands of young Black
and Brown men who are followed, stopped and pulled over everyday
by Black & Latino DC Police Officers would disagree.)
Civil rights groups and a key D.C. Council member
expressed concern this week that city police officials are backing away
from plans to collect data on traffic and pedestrian stops to measure
possible racial profiling. Since 2001, D.C. Police Chief Charles H.
Ramsey has publicly pledged on several occasions to collect such data,
saying it would provide "important insight" into the activities of
officers. But Ramsey said this week that he has not decided whether to
go ahead with plans to track the race and gender of people stopped by
the police. The Police Foundation, which was hired by the city to study
racial profiling, issued a draft report in May that recommended that
the department gather the data. Ramsey noted that the police force
nearly mirrors the population of the District -- about 65 percent of
officers are black, 25 percent are white and 8 percent are Hispanic. [more ]