By Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporter
About 25 percent of the state’s minorities believe the State Patrol uses racial profiling in its policing practices, but two studies released today by Washington State University say it’s a perception and not reality.
WSU reviewed different kinds of traffic stops — involving radar, aircraft and at night — when a trooper was unlikely to know a driver’s race prior to the stop and they said they found no significant difference between those and daytime stops.
The study found the racial breakdown of those stopped, cited and searched for the most part reflected the makeup of the local community.
A second study focusing on customer service indicated that almost 25 percent of the 11,000 minority households surveyed in 2007 still believed the patrol used racial profiling. “It’s a very deadly belief to think your police are not fair in this regard,” said Dr. Nicholas Lovrich, one of the researchers.
That perception can be created simply by hearing of a racial-profiling case in another part of the nation, Lovrich said, and not by any contact with the State Patrol.
“As long as that perception exists, it’s a problem for us,” said State Patrol Chief John Batiste in announcing the results at a news conference at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
He said the Patrol plans to do more community outreach, especially in minority communities, to explain what they do.
The surveys by WSU’s Division of Governmental Studies and Services indicated that 82 percent of those who received tickets felt they were treated fairly.
This is the fourth time the State Patrol has asked WSU to look for evidence of racial bias and the eighth time the university has looked at how the public views troopers. Previous studies have shown similar results.
“If you are trying to send a message out, being fair in a traffic stop is very important,” Lovrich said.
blog.seattleduifirm.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading blog.seattleduifirm.com every day.