A study conducted on Sacramento police shows that local cops have a tendency to participate in pulling people for "DWB": Driving While Black.
A $250,000 study conducted by Sacramento has revealed that police tend to pull over Black (or African American) drivers at a significantly higher rate than other drivers- almost 50% more.
The study focused on 34 different intersections in Sacramento. The number of Black, White, Asian and Hispanic drivers in those areas were counted. According to the study, Asians and Whites were pulled over less than their percentage of drivers; Hispanics were pulled over at their percentage level; but Blacks were pulled over at twice their percentage.
Another discovery was that Blacks and Hispanics were asked to step out of their vehicle more often and that Hispanics were patted down more.
Some, however, say the study is flawed. Representatives of the police union say that a police officer's training in pulling over vehicles hasn't been taken into account.
"It doesn't take into consideration that it was my training and experience that caused me to take a second look at that vehicle. The study doesn't reflect that," said union Vice President Mary Tyndale.
Councilwoman Lauren Hammond understands their position, but says the facts are the facts and the city must work together to find out what the problem is. Councilwoman Bonnie Parnell also agreed, stating that
"You can poke holes into any study, and if you continue to do that we will never solve the solution. We have a problem here. So we need to figure out a solution to the problem ."
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