Miami officials are refusing to release a five-month-old study on racial profiling in the Miami-Dade Police Department, reports the Miami New Times. A government commission spent $375,000 in 2000 to hire the Alpert Group, headed by criminologist Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina. Alpert submitted the report last November.
The newspaper said it learned that researchers found no discernible pattern of racial profiling regarding traffic stops. But once a stop was made, “There was apparent disparity in treatment based upon race,” said a source. Police were far more likely to ticket black drivers, search their cars, or run computer checks on their license plates. The researchers couldn’t discern why this was happening. When the Alpert team requested more data from the police department to explore this issue, they reportedly were told to end the study. “[The police department] didn’t want to give them any more data,” said the source.
Link: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2005-04-07/korten.html