Racial
Profiling:
Rhode
Island
Police
Still
Picking
on
Minority
Motorists
8/12/05
Four years after Rhode Island police began tracking the race of motorists they stop, racial profiling continues to be a problem and may even be getting worse, according to a report released Monday by the ACLU of Rhode Island. The report, covering the second quarter of a one-year study of racial profiling mandated by state law, found that minority drivers remained twice as likely to be searched after being stopped by police, even though police were more likely to find contraband on white drivers they searched. Monday's report echoes a Rhode Island ACLU report in May covering the first quarter of the one-year study, but the group said the numbers suggested tendencies to profile by race remained strong. In some cases, the numbers were worse than the first quarter. The percentage of minorities searched, both in absolute numbers and in comparison with white drivers, was up in the second quarter. Even so, white drivers searched in the second quarter were even more likely to be carrying dope than in the first quarter. The study looked at police departments that undertook at least 60 motor vehicle searches during a six-month period, or 21 out of the state's 39 departments. Of those, more than 90% (19 out of 21) searched minorities at higher rates than whites. More than half (11 out of 21) showed higher racial disparities during this study than they did during the state's first racial profiling study in 2001-2002. Although the number of vehicle searches had increased during the second quarter, the results were less than impressive. Only 22% of discretionary searches resulted in the discovery of contraband, compared to 27% the previous quarter. "The statistics for this latest quarter are very discouraging," said Rhode Island ACLU executive director Steven Brown. "While, individually, some police departments are showing improvement in their practices, the data as a whole show that racial disparities across the state have increased since the first three months of this latest study. It is more critical than ever that police departments take concrete steps to address the issue." Col. Stephen McCartney, the Warwick police chief and the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association's spokesman on the issue, told the Providence Journal the racial disparities remained troubling. "The study shows there's an issue here, and there's a problem," McCartney said. As for the study's conclusion that the situation is worsening, McCartney could only say, "I hope not." Still, McCartney complained, one should not assume that "everything is race-related." The study "does not prove racial profiling," he added.
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