SAN DIEGO — The Center for Policing Equity released its independent findings late last week for the San Diego Police Dept. Now the San Diego NAACP is speaking out about the report and calling on city leaders and the chief of police to make significant changes.
The report was based on data collected over the last four years. The Director says this information helps the police department see where it could improve but the NAACP says the report just points out more of the disparities they’ve seen for decades.
“Racial disparities are important to measure because they shed light on specific sources of frustration and the risk of harmful outcomes in communities," said Michael Burbank, the Director for Law Enforcement Initiatives at the Center for Policing Equity, who says it's reporting is not funded by SDPD.
CPE’s Digital Report shows that from 2017-2020, Black people in San Diego experienced non-traffic stops 3.5 times more than Whites and were searched at the same rate as Whites. When it comes to use of force, Black people were subjected to force five times more often as White people per year on average, based on the population size of each group. The 2019 US Census says Black people made up 6.4% of San Diego’s population and 65.1% of the population is White.
“Disparities do not necessarily indicate that police officers have engaged in bias or discriminatory behavior towards different racial groups,” Burbank said.
The San Diego Chapter of the NAACP pushed back on that idea, saying the data speaks for itself and policy changes in the San Diego Police Dept. are long overdue.
“San Diego needs to do something immediately. The Chief of Police, David Nisleit, has a Black Advisory. Mayor Todd Gloria has a Black Advisory. How much talking can one entity do? We are the 8th largest city. We keep talking and we don’t have new policies and procedures,” San Diego NAACP Chapter President, Francine Maxwell.
Maxwell says the police dept has reached out and held town halls with the community before and yet disparities in policing continue. Mayor Todd Gloria says the city will address the report’s findings head-on.
“The data is very clear. We have work to do. We’ve known for some time about the racial disparities that exist in policing. No matter the reasons behind them, these disparities can stir up pain for members of our San Diego City community. We as a city will own this and will work to be better,” Gloria said.
The Mayor says he’s already announced reforms like limiting consent searches, implicit bias training and finding alternatives to arresting people for low level offenses.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego Black leaders announce new police reform proposal (June 2020)