Boston police engaged in racial bias
Boston police in the US state of Massachusetts have engaged in widespread racially biased encounters with blacks, according to a four-year study by a prominent US human rights organization and its state affiliate.
Thousands of black people in Boston were observed, stopped, interrogated, frisked, or searched by Boston Police Department (BPD) officers because of their race, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Massachusetts reported on Wednesday.
“The findings confirm what many people have long suspected: Boston police officers targeted both communities of color and people of color at far greater rates than white communities or white people,” the ACLU wrote on its website.
“This data from the Boston Police Department is clear and compelling: Boston needs to adopt reforms to ensure fair and effective policing,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.
The analysis found that over 60 percent of BPD’s encounters with civilians between 2007 and 2010 targeted African-Americans.
In addition, BPD gave little or no justification for 75 percent of more than 200,000 encounters in that period.
“These findings are clear evidence of racial bias in BPD policing,” said Matthew Segal, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts.
“This practice contradicts the principle of equal protection under the law, which is guaranteed by both the US and Massachusetts Constitutions. We hope that we can work collaboratively with the BPD to address this problem.”
Among the findings of the preliminary analysis was that young black men were more likely than young white men to be frisked, searched, observed, and interrogated.
The study also found that the unjust tactics were not effective in fighting crime.
Police brutality and the unnecessary use of heavy-handed tactics have become a major concern across the US in recent years.
US police shoot and kill an average of 1,000 people a year, 1 in 4 of whom are unarmed, according to a report by the Police Policy Studies Council.
AHT/AGB