Pubdate: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Ben Stocking, Mercury News Staff Writer 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.'' - --- MAP posted-by: allan wilkinson