Driving while Brown 1
The Chicago Tribune reports on a numbers game in McHenry County, Ill., west of Chicago, in which brown persons who spoke Spanish were listed as white, rather than Hispanic, on police officers’ traffic stop reports:
- The problem grew worse each year. By 2009, the statistical analysis showed, 1 in 3 Hispanics cited by deputies likely were mislabeled as white or not included in department data reported to the state.
- If mislabeling and underreporting are taken into account, the department’s official rate of minority stops would have towered over its Chicago-area peers rather than appearing average.
- Department brass repeatedly missed warning signs of potential problems, even after a deputy complained that some peers targeted Hispanics.
Follow the link and draw your own conclusions.
April 1, 2011 at 2:45 pm
[…] Earlier this week, I linked to a Chicago Tribune story police in McHenry County, Illinois, falsely classify Hispanic drivers stopped for traffic violations are “white”; the implication was that this was done to avoid charges of profiling. […]