Wednesday, 26 November 2003
By L. Anne Newell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR State officials are looking into how state Department of
Public Safety officers treat motorists - after an Arizona Daily Star review
showed a wide racial and ethnic disparity in which motorists are searched, Gov.
Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.
The review found that when DPS officers make traffic stops, they're more likely
to search the vehicles of black or Hispanic drivers than Anglo motorists but
are less likely to find contraband. Experts said the finding itself doesn't
mean officers are racially profiling but said it's a "red flag" that
merits further examination.
It's an issue that was familiar to Napolitano long before the Star's Nov. 16
story.
When she was state attorney general, Napolitano spearheaded some efforts to
combat racial profiling, the illegal practice of singling out minorities because
they're thought to be responsible for more crime than Anglos.
"I am troubled if the state's main law-enforcement agency is falling into
that, if that's what the stats really show us," she said at her weekly
news briefing in Phoenix.
Officials are looking into internal procedures and record-keeping at the DPS,
she said, and will look into further analysis of the DPS' stats, including who
is arrested and who is taken to a detention facility.
She added that officials have not been able to schedule a briefing with DPS
Director Dennis Garrett but plan to do so.
A DPS spokesman said Tuesday that he had no new comment on the review. Earlier,
Officer Steve Volden questioned its accuracy and scope. He and other officials
also have said repeatedly that they're committed to determining if officers
are racially profiling but that don't believe they are.
The Star review included more than a quarter-million records gathered statewide
from January through August 2003. It found:
* When given a choice, officers searched minority drivers more often than non-Hispanic
whites. For example, officers searched about 1 of 18 blacks and about 1 of 25
Hispanics in nearly 2,700 searches. That's compared with about 1 of 48 Anglos
in nearly 3,500 searches.
* Officers made a higher rate of seizures from Anglos than from minorities.
For instance, searches of about 1 of 3 Anglos yielded contraband compared with
about 1 of 4 blacks and about 1 of 5 Hispanics.
The DPS has been accused of racial profiling for several years, and the agency
previously was held in contempt of court for destroying records of stops along
Interstate 40.
Still, the agency has been a state leader in collecting detailed traffic-stop
data for analysis and was among the first to include in its officers' orders
a ban on racial discrimination.
* Reporter Barrett Marson contributed to this story. Contact reporter L. Anne Newell at 629-9412 or at lnewell@azstarnet.com.