Yet Another Study Documents Police Bias in San Diego
For years, law enforcement agencies have claimed common societal bias had nothing to do with who ended up being stopped, searched, arrested, or subjected to the use of force.
More often than not, people making negative claims about police conduct were ignored or cast as enemies of an orderly society. The prevailing culture within law enforcement generally, and San Diego in particular, has historically insulated itself from criticism through political clout and backroom deals.
“Everything is fine,'' we've been told. Politicians have promised that any problems have been addressed. The millions of dollars awarded in damage claims in recent years are, we’re assured, not part of any systemic problems.
These assertions are once again challenged by the results of a study, commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Campaign Zero, an advocacy group working to end police violence, reported on about 230,600 officer and deputy stops between July 1, 2018, and June 20, 2019.
Analyzing data collected under the state Racial and Identity Profiling Act, the report says both the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department show bias against Blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities in their search practices.
San Diego police officers made 35,038 stops involving black people; there are about 88,500 black residents in the city. More severe forms of force against were used against black people than other groups, even after controlling for arrest rates and alleged level of resistance.
Broken down by beat, the SDPD and SD Sheriff Deputies stopped black people at higher rates than white people in 106 of 125 jurisdictions. Black people were stopped at rates 10 times higher than white people in 18 of those beats — including East Village, Mission Valley and Pacific Beach.
Sheriff's deputies were found to be more likely to use force against Asians / Pacific Islanders than whites during arrest.
Those perceived to have mental disabilities underwent more search disparities, with 81% more likely to be searched by the SDPD and 112% more likely to be searched by sheriff's deputies during a stop than people who were not perceived to have a disability.
The departments did not report finding contraband in 77% of all searches. Black and Latinx people were less likely to found possessing contraband during these searches. Less than 1% of searches by either department reported finding a gun.
Citizen reports police of discrimination or excessive force werer upheld less than 1% of the time. Of the 21 civilian complaints of police discrimination, 75 use of force complaints and 2 complaints alleging criminal misconduct by the SDPD, exactly zero were sustained.
Civilian complaints alleging misconduct by the Sheriff's Department misconduct were sustained 4% of the time. Excessive force allegations were upheld in 0.4% of cases and 0% of police discrimination allegation were sustained.
Using methodology developed by the Center for Policing Equity, the study found both departments not only were more likely to use force against black people but also used higher levels of force during these encounters compared to other groups.
On average, when SDPD uses force against black people they use a level of force 1.3x more severe than when using force against white people. For SDSD, it was a level of force 2.7x more severe. Both departments used more severe levels of force against black people than white people even after controlling for the level of resistance officers reported encountering.
Today’s Union-Tribune reports a 16th person died at the San Diego jail over the holiday weekend. Multiple reports have called attention to the high rate of fatalities, and a fourth (!) study looking at the problem has been funded by the County Board of Supervisors.
After accounting for the adult jail population in each county, San Diego Sheriff's Department had a rate of 8.1 jail deaths per 1,000 jail population. As such, people were more likely to die in jail in San Diego County than 18 of the 25 largest counties in California - suggesting the need for urgent intervention to address treatment and conditions within jail facilities in San Diego.
The ACLU-funded study also made policy suggestions; eight for the SDPD and ten for the Sheriff’s Department.
One suggestion for both departments that struck me as addressing a particularly absurd situation is a ban on shooting at moving vehicles “unless an occupant of the vehicle is using deadly force by means other than the vehicle (for example, shooting at someone from the vehicle.”
And then there is the recommendation for both departments to stop using Carotid Restraint Holds.
San Diego's use of force procedure allows officers to use Carotid Restraint Holds (a form of stranglehold) against civilians in situations where deadly force would not be authorized. From 9/25/2016 - 12/31/2018, San Diego police used this dangerous tactic on 208 people. Only 6 of these cases (3%) reportedly involved a "life-threatening" level of resistance from the subject, while 153 cases (74%) involved someone who was reportedly "passively" or "actively" resisting.
San Diego Sheriff Department reported seriously injuring 28 people through the use of carotid restraints - a form of stranglehold - from 2016-2018. This represents 21% of all people seriously injured by this tactic statewide during this period - more than any other police agency. SDSD's use of force guidelines allow carotid restraints to be used even when no threat of imminent death or serious injury is present. Of the 205 people SDSD used a stranglehold on from 2016-2018, only 18 (9%) displayed "aggravated active aggression" which is the level of resistance defined by SDSD as involving a perceived threat of death or serious injury.
Needless to say, local law enforcement officials contested the facts and played the victim card (“we’re the ones being discriminated against”).
From the Union-Tribune:
Law enforcement officials from both agencies pushed back against the report. San Diego police Capt. Jeffrey Jordon said the findings unfairly suggest that officers discriminate against members of minority communities. Sheriff’s officials said while they had not had time to review the entire report, some of the statistics didn’t match their in-house numbers.
“This document is completely designed to push a political agenda,” Jordon said. “There’s no context. There was no conversation with us about it. This isn’t about problem solving, and it’s not about enhancing public safety. It’s about pushing these agenda points.”
These denials might have more credibility if we didn’t know about a previous effort by the SDPD/City of San Diego to study bias in police stops.
The earlier report was delayed repeatedly and critics maintain the final version was watered down. And to add insult to injury, the report was shelved.
From Voice of San Diego:
But even the toned-down report had little impact. At the Dec. 7 committee meeting, Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman acknowledged the study’s findings, but when asked repeatedly by Emerald whether people of color were sometimes treated differently by her police officers, Zimmerman responded only that “every human being has bias.”
Zimmerman did say that her department was committed to taking a “proactive approach” to combating bias.
In February, the City Council voted to accept the report, but declined to implement any of its recommendations. Alvarez and Councilwoman Georgette Gomez, who replaced Emerald, were the only “no” votes. They both argued that the study’s recommendations, particularly that the department improve its data-collection efforts, warranted further discussion. The study had recommended that the department, at the least, collect basic information on the officer making the stop. “Without these data, it is impossible to know, for example, whether black drivers were treated differently by white cops,” Chanin said.
In an exchange with Alvarez at the meeting, Chanin said the department could easily collect such data under its existing system. Alvarez said he was disappointed recommendations went ignored.
Here’s the conclusion of an article on the racist roots of policing at The Conversation:
But the persistence of racially biased policing means that unless American policing reckons with its racist roots, it is likely to keep repeating mistakes of the past. This will hinder police from fully protecting and serving the entire public.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s pit bull is issuing not-very-vague threats against communities pushing for reform:
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that if some communities don’t begin showing more respect to law enforcement, then they could potentially not be protected by police officers.
The country’s top cop made the questionable remarks while giving a speech at the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing.
“But I think today, American people have to focus on something else, which is the sacrifice and the service that is given by our law enforcement officers,” Barr said. “And they have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves ― and if communities don’t give that support and respect, they might find themselves without the police protection they need.”
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