Cops in Durham, North Carolina will undergo racial awareness training and begin regularly analyzing traffic stop data, as part of a series of changes the city is making to its police force in response to intense community pressure to reform police polices and practices. Racial enforcement of drug laws in Durham means those driving while black are three times as likely as white drivers to be targeted for police traffic stops and searches, civil rights advocates charge. The revelation of racial profiling spans more than a decade of the city’s traffic stop data. The policy changes come at a time of heightened national awareness of racial tension with law enforcement after last month’s eruption of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after police shot dead a young unarmed black man. The unrest prompted a national debate over race and the increasing militarization of local police forces. Durham City Manager Thomas Bonfield said the changes were geared to “repairing and rebuilding of a trusting relationship” between the police and the community. The city will also investigate “the unexplained racial disparity” in an 18-month period ending June 30 that found blacks accounted for 86 percent of misdemeanor drug arrests, he added. “It is well documented that racial profiling is one of the most complex issues facing law enforcement professionals today, not just in Durham but throughout the country,” he wrote in response to recommendations made by the Civilian Police Review Board and a city commission that spent months investigating the racial profiling charges.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:48:04 +0000
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