Blacks experience higher rates of police force than Whites and Hispanics, a federal report says.
“Blacks (14 percent) were more likely than Hispanics (5.9 percent) and slightly more than Whites (6.9 percent) to experience nonfatal force during street stops,” the U.S. Department of Justice reported. “Blacks were twice as likely as Whites (0.7 percent) to experience force during contacts involving a personal search.”
In the period from 2002-2011, Whites (20 percent) had a greater rate of police contact than Blacks (17 percent) and Hispanic (16 percent). However, during the most recent contact with police, “Whites were slightly less likely than Hispanics to experience excessive nonfatal force in their encounters with police throughout 2002-2011, the 2015 report added.
The Los Angles Police Department (LAPD) doled out almost $81 million in the last fiscal year to settle lawsuits, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The report stated that of those who experienced force during their most recent contact, approximately three-quarters of the persons confronted described the verbal (71 percent) or physical (75 percent) force as excessive.
Persons in urban neighborhoods (2.1 percent) were more likely than those in suburban communities (1.5 percent) to experience nonfatal force with law enforcement. Among those who did not experience the use of force during their most recent police contact, Whites (73 percent) were slightly less likely than Blacks (70 percent) to report one contact during the prior 12 months.
The report shows Blacks were more likely to experience force by police regardless of whether the contact also involved a personal search. Blacks (1.4 percent) were twice as likely as Whites (0.7 percent) to experience force while also being personally searched. Blacks (1.8 percent) were also slightly more likely than Whites (0.7 percent) to experience force during contacts that did not involve a personal search.
Statistically, males and persons 16 to 25 were subjected to more police contact and the use of force during their most recent contact than females and persons age 26 or older, the report adds.
The information also showed that “a lower percentage of persons who were shouted or cursed at by police believed the forces was excessive (49 percent) compared to those who were pushed or grabbed (79 percent), hit or kicked (97 percent), had a pepper spray used against them (81 percent), or had a gun pointed at them (81 percent).”
In addition, among the residents who experienced force during their most recent contact with police (1.6 percent of all contacts), 13 percent believed the police behaved properly, while 87 percent did not, the report concluded.
