From the City of Decatur and Decatur Police…
Today the Decatur Police Department released its first data since it began tracking the demographics of persons stopped by the police on Aug. 1. The first ever quarterly report shows that the racial make-up of those involved in police-initiated stops mirrors the racial make-up of Decatur, DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta, which shares a border with Decatur. Quarterly reports will be released and posted to www.decaturpolice.com going forward.
“It is still very early, but the police department’s tracking of demographic data of persons stopped by the police, whether on foot, bicycle or in a motor vehicle, seems to be working well,” said Decatur Mayor Jim Baskett. “The City Commission believes this and all the data collected by the Decatur Police Department are key to ensuring our city’s police department remains the responsible team of dedicated professionals that Decatur expects and deserves.”
In addition to recording the race of individuals stopped by the police, the Decatur Police Department tracks citizen complaints, use of force by officers and police pursuits of suspects. This week, all Decatur Police officers and the city’s management team completed a diversity program led by trainers from the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute (ADL.org).
“Our detailed focus on data, analytics and training is part of the Decatur Police Department’s commitment to enforcing a higher standard in law enforcement,” said Decatur Police Chief Mike Booker. “In the past two years, we have taken steps to ensure we are best serving the needs of everyone in Decatur. This includes buying new body cameras for officers to supplement the dashboard cameras already in use on police vehicles and creating the position of Community Information and Education Officer (currently held by Sgt. Jennifer Ross) to facilitate the flow of information to the community and coordinate free crime prevention classes, including the R.A.D. self-defense course for women.”
In October, the Decatur City Commission approved a proposed timeline and budget for Phase I of a process to create a Community Action Plan for a Compassionate Decatur. In order to draw on the experiences and knowledge of the community, the city’s efforts are intended to be comprehensive, intentional and take a holistic approach to developing a community action plan that appreciates diversity and supports a community of inclusion and compassion based on justice and equity.
“Principle B: Encourage a Diverse and Engaged Community is one of the four core principles in the city’s 2010 Strategic Plan,” said Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss. “Over the next year, we will work to develop a Community Action Plan that reflects the community’s wants and needs, with many opportunities for input and discussion.”
Pie chart taken from DPD report
I thought “PC police” was a term of art, not an actual law enforcement branch.
Actually, isn’t this a record of citations, not mere “stops”? If you look at the report, it’s broken down into Decatur resident vs. not. How would they know if someone is a resident of Decatur from just a stop?
Maybe they run the plates and/or check the ID of everyone they stop.
Yes, both.
From my (very frequent) observations, this is absolutely true. If you get stopped, your tag and license are recorded and checked. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Protects both sides of the interaction.
Doesn’t mean much unless you know what the percentage of Races that are driving through Decatur.
i.e. That would suck if only 1041 “African Americans” drove through Decatur..
But perhaps only 5000 whites drive in Decatur and 40,000 African Americans are driving through Decatur.. I feel like a target now..
If these data were being used as either scientific or legal proof, I would agree that denominator data and rates are imperative. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of recording race because I’d prefer that the police concentrate on suspicious behavior, not on the color of skin. However, I believe that the logic for recording race is to help the police become aware of biases and try to avoid them. I’m not sure I agree that this is the way to do it but I certainly agree with the motivation. I have spoken to really great City of Decatur residents who have been profiled and it doesn’t sound like fun.
It really hurts my heart when I learn of folks feeling like they’ve been profiled by DPD officers. What I’ve spent a great deal of time mulling this past year is how if you’re a person of color, you don’t know how the encounter/reason for questioning might come across if you were white. A couple of white commenters have said that they’ve felt they’d been treated rudely when trying to engage with an officer. I’ve also had a couple of interactions where the officer seemed a bit aloof. (What? You’re resisting my attempts at banter? Well goodness gracious!) It wasn’t until I read the article below that I gained a better understanding of where the disconnect is likely occurring. I hope folks will read it and give it some thought.
http://www.lorussolawfirm.net/blue-line-lawyer/2014/03/25/officer-friendly-meets-officer-tactical/
That is helpful to remember. I’ve always thought that there’s little more stressful than being a police officer in the field–maybe being in the trenches as infantry or being an emergency room neurosurgeon at LA County, Cook Country, or Grady Hospitals with their constant gunshot admissions. That’s why I think it’s so important that excellent training be given on how to recognize true indicators of danger vs. subconscious hunches based on skin color. Reacting to the wrong clues could be harmful to the police officer as well as the person profiled. I know most police officers have the experience and training to avoid relying on inaccurate, illogical profiles that could trip them up. But since they are city employees, the city needs to give them the training and tools that helps them respect residents at the same time that they protect them. Not easy–I’m sure I don’t know exactly how to do that.
AHID, I love ya but you have GOT TO STOP blithely commenting on this. DPD officers haven’t just been tripping along unaware of biases or the perception of biases.They are well trained in every aspect of the job, including annual diversity training for every officer (which has been going on for years.) That the City hasn’t highlighted it is a lapse on city mgt’s part, not DPD’s. Unfortunately, there’s been quite a bit of bungling by the very folks who should have had DPD’s backs from the start. That’s why I strongly feel it’ll take grassroots community efforts to bring better understanding between residents and the DPD. While the City’s Compassionate Plan is a good thing for overall Strategic Plan goal purposes, it’s not what’s going to mend strained relations or help folks to interpret the why’s/how’s of policing.
Well, I’m definitely not a principal actor in this story so I defer to those who are. It does sound like good people are disagreeing with other good people about what’s happening or not happening. I would prefer that the focus be on crime, not skin color, however that is best achieved.
You’re a resident and you care, right? While there may be some principal actors, there’s room for a full cast. Good people act. Otherwise, if folks keep on keeping their heads down, then isn’t the silent message to residents of color one that the folks who feel profiling’s going on are just going to have to deal with it on their own? Isn’t it pretty much saying to DPD, “Thanks for putting your lives on the line for us daily, but.. well… we don’t really have your backs either? ” I despair to think we’re a community of bystanders– especially when we know folks are hurting.
With some of the driving I observe in Decatur, texting while driving I don’t care what color you are.
COD should stop and ticket and if you do the crime you pay the fine.
DecaturDuck brings up a point about knowing how many people of various races drive in Decatur to give context to the numbers. While we may not know that, a quick check at the Census Bureau suggests Decatur is 74% white and 20% black while DeKalb County as a whole is 37% white and 55% black. Small percentages of Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, mixed race people make up the rest, which, I assume, is the reason we’re tracking white, black, and “other” in these statistics.
Since Decatur’s moat remains unfinished, and as the county seat and a restaurant and shopping destination, likely Decatur attracts visitors from the surrounding county. So stop percentages of 43% white, 49% black, and 8% other look rather similar to the racial composition of the county, with some adjustment up for white and some adjustment down for black and other to reflect the city’s composition. Non-residents comprising 86% of the stops supports this. Although we don’t have county breakdowns of the non-residents, Atlanta is 38% white and 54% black. Assuming (and yes, that is dangerous) the vast number of non-resident stops were of DeKalb County and City of Atlanta inhabitants, this report indicates Decatur’s police traffic stop racial composition is roughly in line with what I would expect.
Not being a statistician, I simply gave this the eyeball test since I’m missing information including percentages of each group that drives and how much they drive in and through Decatur plus more detailed breakdowns of non-resident stops demographics. Given all that, all in all, I’ve been very happy with our small town police department since I moved to Decatur a dozen or so years ago and this report reinforces that.
In my trip to traffic court earlier this year, the majority of the traffic stops in front of the court, including mine, were for going a bit too fast on Scott Blvd. Much of the traffic on Scott is just passing through a corner of Decatur on the way from DeKalb/Gwinnett to Atlanta. I’d be curious about what percentage of the stops were on this stretch of road.