Iowa Daily Democrat: Assumed Guilty: “Driving while Black”

[Omaha Steve]

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#BlackLivesMatter - Photo from Wikimedia


http://iowadailydemocrat.com/news/2015/12/driving-while-black/

By Rick Smith12/29/15

A recent panel discussion at Drake University provided an insight into the differing perceptions about getting pulled over by police based on color. The forum was co-sponsored by the Des Moines Register and the NAACP and was promoted as a conversation on racial profiling. Betty Andrews, President of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, served as moderator.

The many recent high-profile police shootings of black men have placed the spotlight on racial profiling. Getting pulled over by the police simply for “driving while black” is a reality in the black community and has led to suspicion and anger.

The diverse panel included State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad; Christopher Barnum, a professor at St. Ambrose University in Davenport and a former police officer; Benjamin Bell, Jr., senior pastor at Present Truth Ministries International in Des Moines; Rondolyn Hawkins, whose sons were stopped by Des Moines Police; and Russell Lovell, a retired Drake law professor who works with the NAACP; and Major Todd Dykstra representing the Des Moines Police.

The stark reality in white and black perceptions was evident when the moderator asked the audience for a show of hands by race on police stops. She asked the black audience members how many believed they had been stopped by police based on their color. Nearly every hand of color in the room went up.

FULL story at link.

[whatthehey]

1. Numbers, properly understood, rarely lie

And I've seen enough data on stops to know it's tilted against blacks.It's just that other than putting more patrols in minority neighborhoods, which are, for many other reasons, generally speaking higher crime neighborhoods where you would want more patrols, I'm not sure how it's happening.

Unless I'm stopped next to somebody at a light I have no idea of their color. Certainly little chance at night when most, at least everywher I've been, stops are made. True the cops can run plate numbers and see it's licensed to a member of a given race, but unless they are tailing the car already how many license plates can they read, enter into the system, and decide to chase or not on a racial basis realistically speaking? Unless they have hawkish eyesight on any road above 30mph they will miss most hidden away as they normally are.

I'm no doubt missing something and willing to be enlightened. Stereotyping based on car and any customization? Loud music styles? Using observation equipment of some kind?

[LanternWaste]

2. All things being equal, I can easily see both race and sex of driver and passenger

"Unless I'm stopped next to somebody at a light I have no idea of their color..."

Odd that. All things being equal, I can easily perceive both race and sex (and often age group) of driver and passenger in any given car within 50 yards of me in my line of sight as I'm driving. And, as my prescription glasses deny me the claim of 'hawkish eyesight', I'm compelled to believe your own eyesight may be rather poor and in need of a quick checkup.