DENVER – An analysis of arrests by USA Today and 9News reveals lopsided numbers involving African Americans who've been locked up or cited by police in Colorado.
"That does not mean police are discriminating. But it does mean it's worth looking at. It means you might have a problem, and you need to pay attention," said University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, a leading expert on racial profiling.
Police in Ferguson — which erupted into days of racially charged unrest after a white officer killed an unarmed black teen — arrest black people at a rate nearly three times higher than people of other races.
At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson, a USA TODAY analysis of arrest records shows. That includes departments in cities as large and diverse as Chicago and San Francisco and in the suburbs that encircle St. Louis, New York and Detroit.
In Colorado, 9Wants to Know analyzed the same data acquired by USA Today which includes arrests reported by local law enforcement agencies to the FBI. The data does not include convictions, but shows arrests and citations issued to people for 2011 and 2012.
When comparing arrest data over the two year period to black populations, Arvada has the highest disparity. Blacks in Arvada are six-times more likely to be arrested and/or cited by police.
A spokesperson for the Arvada Police Department said it's important to note the numbers provided to the FBI include people who are not from the community and people who've been cited and released.
Arvada police says they physically arrested and booked 166 blacks over the data's two-year period (2011-2012). The 2010 U.S. Census shows 962 blacks living in the City.
Denise Maes of the ACLU in Colorado said the numbers are worth talking about and may be indications of a subtle racial profiling problem.
"I think it's something that's a lot more subtle. I think it's something that's a lot more unconscious. And I think for that reason there needs to be deliberate, intentional training, and practice and a real conscious effort eradicate it," Maes said.
Maes made it a point to say officers who may intentionally profile are in the minority.
Based on the data, these are the top six communities with the greatest disparities:
- Arvada
- Boulder
- Castle Rock
- Aurora
- Parker
- Lakewood
Law enforcement experts who spoke to 9Wants to Know said it's also important to look at the victims of crimes compared to these numbers.
While there is no available data for victims by race in Colorado, law enforcement experts say, anecdotally, victims are often the same race as perpetrators.
(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
