from
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/report-black-people-and-native-americans-get-stopped-by-seattle-police-at-a-far-higher-rate-than-white-people/

(Best to go to the citation to view the charts.
Message is clear, if Blacks are 7% of city's population,
these watchdogs judge they should only be stopped 7%
of the time. No rationalizations!! No excuses!
And stop picking on that Native American!! )

Report: Seattle police stop Black people, Native Americans at far higher
rate than white people
July 26, 2021 at 6:00 am Updated July 26, 2021 at 4:32 pm

Mike Carter By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

Seattle police watchdogs and civil libertarians say they are alarmed and
disappointed by a new report showing officers — despite nearly a decade
under federal oversight partly intended to address bias — continue to
stop and use force against Black people in the city far more often than
white people.

The report found that Black people, per capita, were seven times more
likely to be subjected to force by Seattle police than white people, and
five times more likely to be stopped and questioned. Native Americans in
the city were nine times more likely to be stopped, it said.

The greatest disparities were found in incidents where force was used
against children or young adults: the report noted that , while Black
people make up 7% of the city’s population, “most children and young
people who were subjected to SPD force were Black.”

The 54-page document, completed in January and posted without fanfare on
the Seattle Police Department’s website on July 15, was compiled by the
Center for Policing Equity, a Los Angeles-based social justice and
policing think tank. It analyzed SPD data on tens of thousands of
citizen interactions between 2015-2019.

The Community Police Commission, one of three Seattle police oversight
and advisory bodies, said in a statement the CPE report “reiterates
problems our community has known and experienced for far too long — the
Seattle Police Department’s policies and practices continue to subject
our communities of color to more intensive and forceful policing than
our white communities.”

“Now is the time for action,” wrote commission co-chairs La Rond Baker
and Erin Goodman. “It is … clear that SPD current policies and practices
are insufficient to address these disparities and adequately protect our
community.”

“The community wants a system it can trust,” said CPC Executive Director
Brandy Grant. “Under the current system, the use of force against Black
people is seven times the per capita rate as white people. That does not
breed trust or equality.”

Interim Seattle police Chief Adrian Diaz declined to be interviewed
about the report, but said in a statement posted on the department’s
website that SPD “is committed to full transparency, open communication
about our data, and addressing all disparities for which the department
is responsible.”

“The SPD will not hide from the hard work ahead but will embrace our
mandate to end bias in policing,” the chief said.

The report noted that the data was incomplete and that officers failed
to fill out race-related information on roughly 1 of every 6
use-of-force reports examined. The bulk of the report focuses on
so-called “Terry stops,” named after a 1968 Supreme Court ruling, Terry
v. Ohio, that allows officers to briefly detain someone for questioning
without making an arrest. The group was able to review information from
36,511 stops and nearly 4,000 incidents where force was used, the report
said.

Over that five-year period, the data shows that between 31% and 35% of
all stops involved Black people, who make up just 7% of the city’s
population. By comparison, white people, who make up 70% of the city’s
population, made up about 55% of the stops.

“Of all racial groups stopped by SPD, white persons appeared to be
treated more leniently than any other group” the CPE found. “They were
stopped less frequently per capita than Black or Native American
persons; once stopped, they were least likely to be arrested and most
likely to be released without citation or arrest.”

Moreover, while Black people were searched more often by officers, the
data showed that when white people were searched, they “were much more
likely than their nonwhite counterparts to be found with a weapon.”

“Our analyses of Terry stops … found racial disparities in stop rates in
every SPD sector in the city,” the report said. “Black and Native
American individuals experienced the heaviest burden.”

Black people were overrepresented when it came to the use of force, as
well, the CPE found. While 7% of the city’s population, Black people
account for nearly 35% of all use-of-force cases. And the study found
that Black people were subject to more serious force than whites.

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The greatest disparity was found when force was used against children.
Of 44 incidents between 2014 and 2019 in which police used force against
a child 14 years old or younger, 23 cases involved Black children, the
center found. Likewise, Black people were involved in fully 59% of
incidents where force was used against young people aged 15 to 21 — 332
of a total 563 incidents of force over five years.

The study found that Asian and Latino individuals were underrepresented
by percentage of the population when it came to police stops and use of
force.

The report makes five recommendations, including requiring more detailed
records of all police traffic and pedestrian stops and incidents where
force is used. It also suggests the department expand and clarify its
use-of-force definitions, particularly regarding holds that might
restrict breathing (chokeholds and neck restraints have been banned).

The report also praised the department for cooperating and found
“reasons for optimism and identified opportunities for improving SPD
practices in the service of fair and equitable policing.”

Chief Diaz said the department had already adopted most of the
recommendations, and announced a new public dashboard for access to
police stop and arrest data.

The issue of police detentions and searches without arrest has been a
source of friction ever since the U.S. Supreme Court issued the ruling
that defines them, Terry v. Ohio. That law says police may briefly
detain a person, without making an arrest, if they reasonably suspect
the person is involved in criminal activity.

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Abuses of the practice have included the infamous “stop and frisk”
policy of police in New York, Chicago and other major cities where
similar racial disparities have surfaced. In Seattle, SPD previously
issued two critical “disparity assessments” as part of its obligations
under the 2012 consent decree with the Department of Justice that arose
from findings that SPD’s officers routinely used excessive force during
arrests, usually involving people of color or people with mental-health
or substance-abuse issues.

SPD is entering its 10th year under federal oversight and has found
compliance with the consent decree daunting. The city was on the verge
of asking the federal judge to dissolve the agreement, claiming it had
reached compliance, when the murder of George Floyd, and the violence
that rocked the city during the summer and fall of 2020, changed city
officials’ minds. A federal court hearing on the status of those efforts
is set for next month.

When the Department of Justice completed its investigation into the
Seattle Police Department in 2011, concluding officers routinely used
excessive force during arrests, it stopped just short of a formal
finding that SPD engaged in biased policing.

Department attorneys warned, however: “Our investigation raises serious
concerns about practices that could have a disparate impact on minority
communities. These practices undermine SPD’s ability to build trust
among segments of Seattle’s diverse communities.”

Chief among those practices was the city’s improper use of Terry stops,
which the DOJ said appeared to be targeting people of color, although
data was lacking at the time. Now it’s not, and the CPE report shows
Terry abuses remain an issue today.

“SPD’s continued use of force and biased policing during the decree and
following the DOJ investigation is alarming and disappointing,” the
Washington chapter of American Civil Liberties Union said in a
statement. The ACLU led the coalition of community groups that convinced
the Justice Department to investigate the SPD following the 2010
shooting death of Native American woodcarver John T. Williams.