|
 The ACLU said that its study of a four-month period last year
showed "that African Americans are disproportionately subjected to
stops when compared to their white counterparts. Black Chicagoans
were subjected to 72 percent of all stops, yet constitute just 32
percent of the city's population."
The ACLU issued the report at a time of increased scrutiny of
policing practices and nationwide protests over the shooting and
chokehold deaths of unarmed African American men.
The CPD, the second-biggest police force in the country, said in a
statement that it has improved training to make officers aware of
its prohibition on racial profiling.
When Chicago police stop someone on the street but don't make an
arrest, they fill out a contact card about the person and the reason
for the stop. The police department sees those stops as part of
community policing efforts.
 The ACLU said half of a sample of 250 contact cards that they
examined did not meet the constitutional requirement for a stop -
reasonable suspicion that the person is doing or is about to do
something illegal.
"Chicago is out of step with other cities in terms of this type of
data collection," said Karen Sheley, staff attorney at ACLU
Illinois, and one of the authors of the report.
The police response to the ACLU report also said that the racial
breakdown of contact cards was very closely aligned with the
profiles of suspects identified by third parties in reports on
criminal cases.
[to top of second column] |
The racial breakdown of contact cards is 9 percent white, 72 percent
African American and 17 percent Hispanic, while the racial breakdown
of suspects in criminal cases is 9 percent white, 73 percent black
and 19 percent Latino.
The ACLU called on Chicago to collect data on all stops or contact
with civilians and to make it public.
Last summer police in Chicago - a city with 400 to 500 homicides a
year - stopped a quarter of a million people who were not arrested,
the ACLU said, noting that New York City has scaled back its
stop-and-frisk practices due to complaints that it was
discriminatory.
(Editing by Alan Crosby)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
