Article published January 30, 2002
Profiling or precautionary?
Those who believe police make traffic stops based on the vehicle occupants' race might not change their minds after reviewing new statistics.
The 2000 Census figures show that Toledo's population is 70 percent white, 23.5 percent black, 5.5 percent Hispanic, and 2 percent other races. Yet between April and December of last year, 39.1 percent of those stopped - nearly four in 10 - were black. Whites were 54.6 percent of the stops; 4.1 percent were Hispanic.
But police say reading too much into the numbers is unfair. Police Chief Mike Navarre argues that most of the stops are in areas where there is more crime, calls for service, and gang and drug problems. But in West Toledo, where just 6.8 percent of the population is black and 2.9 percent is Hispanic, 18 percent of the drivers stopped were black.
Interestingly, more tickets were issued to white and Hispanic women, while more Hispanic and black men were arrested.
Now, the question is what will police do with the information? More explanations as to why stops are made is important for the public to understand that police are not racially profiling motorists. Suspicions to the contrary, right or wrong, are not easily overcome.
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