Cincinnati police officers making traffic stops are most likely to end them with whites by saying something like, “Have a nice day,” and with blacks saying “You’re getting off easy,” or “The ticket could have been for twice this amount.” The Cincinnati Enquirer says that was one finding of a report from the Rand Corp., which has a $1.6 million city contract to analyze police data for signs of racial profiling. The report prompted a new round of police training on cross-cultural communication that began this week.
Overall, the report found no statistical evidence of systematic racial bias by Cincinnati police. It concluded that – when comparing similar neighborhoods and circumstances – black and white drivers were treated similarly. Officers are discussing the Rand findings “in real frank terms,” said S. Gregory Baker, the city’s executive manager of police relations. “If you pull over someone of my age, they might be running some 1967 Birmingham fire-hose footage through his head,” Baker said. “Someone younger, with these kids on the streets today, who knows what they’re thinking about?” The Rand study noted that African-American drivers are often less apologetic and less cooperative than white drivers.
Link: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070104/NEWS01/701040343