The Oregonain (Portland, Oregon) 
October 6, 2006 

GROUPS SUGGEST HOW TO END RACIAL PROFILING
Police - The chief likes most of the ideas, except the analysis of individual officers' traffic stops
By Maxine Bernstein

The Portland Police Bureau should begin collecting and analyzing data on individual officers' traffic and pedestrian stops to determine if certain officers are improperly basing their stops on race, a coalition of community groups recommends.

The tracking of individual officers' stops is one of six recommendations that Oregon Action, along with the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center and the Center for Intercultural Organizing, will bring to the City Council on Oct. 19 after hosting five community meetings on racial profiling.

The meetings were held in May and June after the Portland Police Bureau released data from 2004 and 2005 that showed officers stopped African American motorists at more than twice the rate of white motorists and were more likely to search them after a stop. Yet, African Americans were less likely than other drivers to have drugs or other contraband on them when searched, the data showed.

"Is this a systematic problem or is this a result of a few bad apples? There's no way to know this without the police tracking individual officers' stops," said Alejandro Queral, executive director of the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center.

But Police Chief Rosie Sizer is cool to the idea of identifying officers who display a pattern of stops that appear racially based. Currently, the data is collected without officers' names. She's concerned other factors, such as an officer's assignment working black gangs, could skew the data, and that the practice will make some officers reluctant to take action on the street.

"I'm concerned about officers being stigmatized and labeled around it when we don't really know for sure that a pattern is an indicator of racial profiling," Sizer said.

Sizer, though, supports some of the other recommendations and continues to meet regularly with Queral and Jo Ann Bowman, of the advocacy group Oregon Action.

"We are certainly looking for partners in reaching out to minority communities and for us to find ways to teach officers about neighborhoods that are not through 9-1-1 calls," the chief said.

The groups' recommendations are outlined in a two-page executive summary, released to The Oregonian on Thursday, of a larger report that will be presented to the City Council later this month.

By December, the groups seek the creation of a Racial Profiling Commission, made up of community members and Police Bureau and rank-and-file police union members. The commission would meet regularly and monitor the bureau's traffic stop data collection, review police policies and take community input on how to eliminate racial profiling.

The bureau began data collection in 2001 under former Chief Mark Kroeker, who formed a Blue Ribbon Panel on Racial Profiling. The information on stops was meant to be reviewed and released quarterly, but before this year, the last time data was released was in 2001, and the panel dissolved.

The other recommendations are:

Community groups should educate the public on the "attitudes and behaviors" that are appropriate during traffic and pedestrian stops to minimize conflict with police.

The Police Bureau, with community input, should develop a written plan to eliminate racial profiling and develop incentives to reward officers who foster positive relationships with minority communities.

Community groups should help citizens file complaints when they believe an officer has treated them inappropriately.

Community groups should host other "listening sessions" that encourage continued dialogue between police and residents.

©2006 The Oregonian