As a timely follow-on to my erroneous Kristmas with the Klan post comes this report from the Journal-Sentinel revealing the role that race still plays  in the law enforcement community.  The study [...]]]> A Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Watchdog report finds racial bias in traffic stop data for Milwaukee and Dane counties and some issues with the State Patrol.

As a timely follow-on to my erroneous Kristmas with the Klan post comes this report from the Journal-Sentinel revealing the role that race still plays  in the law enforcement community.  The study reviews traffic stop data from three sources: The Milwaukee County Sheriff, The Dane County Sheriff and the Wisconsin State Patrol.  The results are not encouraging. (The methodology is available here)

[Milwaukee County Sheriff] The data shows Hispanic drivers were searched at the highest rate of racial and ethnic groups: 10.2%. That compared with 8.6% for black drivers and 4.2% for whites.

But deputies found contraband items such as weapons or drugs at a lower rate in searches involving Hispanic drivers – 8% – compared with 17% for blacks and 11% for whites.

In the words of Sala from Raiders of the Lost Ark, “They’re digging in the wrong place!”  This is what prejudice does, you pre-judge people and it causes you to make errors in judgement.  In this case, you assume that Hispanics are more likely to be criminals so you stop and search more Hispanics.  Meanwhile, white drivers go by, their cars full of contraband.  Sheriff Clarke defended his department, questioning the manner in which the data were collected and analyzed, but the fact that the same sorts of prejudice were found in other law enforcement agencies in the state leads me to dismiss his criticism as a defensive reaction by a man under pressure to reform his department.

These same erros in judgement were on display in Dane County as well, though the target was African Americans.

[Dane County Sheriff] The data shows that black drivers were most likely to have their person or vehicles searched.

Once stopped, black drivers (5.8%) were searched more often than Hispanics (3.6%) and whites (1.6%). However, sheriff’s deputies found contraband at lower rates for black (40%) and Hispanic drivers (27%) than white drivers (42%).

The Wisconsin State Patrol fared a little better than the local sheriffs departments.

[Wisconsin State Patrol] A review of the patrol’s records shows little disparity among the stop rates for Asian, black, Hispanic and white drivers.

However, American Indian drivers were twice as likely to be stopped as any other racial or ethnic group. Once pulled over, black drivers (3.2%) were the most likely to be searched, followed by American Indian drivers (2.4%), but troopers found contraband in black motorists’ vehicles at a lower rate than white and American Indian drivers.

I expect the “stop rates” are similar because the majority of State Patrol stops occur on the highways where cars drive by too fast to allow racial bias to take effect (the officer cannot identify the race of the driver so cannot use that as a factor in the decision to stop the car).  But once the car is stopped, the bias is reasserted in the officer’s judgement.

Structural racism is pernicious and permeates American law-enforcement culture.  Indeed, it permeates our whole culture.  We are not the people we tell ourselves we are.  There is no equal opportunity in this country.  It’s a lie.  We are constantly judging one another with biases and prejudices based on nothing more than skin color and ethnicity.  How is this possible?  It happens because we deny that it happens.  Denial is a powerful force in an individual, at the societal level it’s positively pathological.

A recent study by Harvard Ph.D. candidate Seth Stephens-Davidowitz found that racial animus cost President Obama 3 – 5 points in the 2008 election and, had the election been closer, would have been a decisive factor.

If the whole country held the same views as the most racially tolerant communities, the researcher found, Mr. Obama would have earned between 56.7% and 58.7% of the popular vote, compared with the 53.7% he won in 2008.

Racial bias manifested itself in two ways in terms of turnout: Some Democrats stayed home rather than vote for Mr. Obama and a similar number of Americans (who wouldn’t have voted otherwise) turned out for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, according to the paper.

Tim Wise has devoted his life to exposing the institutional racism in America.  His words are frightening.

What happened to Dr. King’s dream of a nation that judges men for who they are not what they look like?

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

In Wisconsin, you can dream, but don’t get caught DWB (Driving While Black) or DWH (Driving While Hispanic).

We still have a long way to go, Wisconsin.

While I’m hardly a full-throated supporter of County [...]]]> According to a report by Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Republican State Rep. Jeff Stone and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a Republican too afraid to run as what he really is, are both considering challenging incumbent Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele in 2012.

While I’m hardly a full-throated supporter of County Executive Abele, he’d be guaranteed reelection in 2012 if his opponent happened to be Jeff Stone or David Clarke, and seeing Abele faced off against either would make for some great political theater.

So here’s a question for you, dear readers: are retreads like Jeff Stone and David Clarke really the best Milwaukee County’s conservatives can come up with to oppose Chris Abele?

Oh, and speaking of Sheriff David Clarke, you should go read Bruce Murphy’s absolute excoriation of Clarke; it’ll be worth your time and effort.

If he does [...]]]> Apparently Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke didn’t get the memo that he’ll never win any elected office other than the one he currently occupies.

Clarke said his losing bid for mayor in 2004 was premature. Clarke said the bug he had about a need to run for mayor was gone.

If he does decide to run for something else, it would be for a position where he could affect major issues, Clarke said. Jobs that fit that include mayor, Congress or the Legislature, and not so much county executive, Clarke said.

“So there are a number of offices that intrigue me,” he said. “If the timing were right, if everything was there. . . . But that’s not how I go to sleep at night.”

There may be a number of offices that intrigue David Clarke, but he’ll never get elected to any office other than the one he occupies right now.

However, Clarke conveniently forgot to mention Prosser took it easy on a pedophile priest when Prosser was Outagamie [...]]]> Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has taken to the radio airwaves in an ad supporting Justice David Prosser for reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and in the ad Clarke claims Prosser is tough on crime.

However, Clarke conveniently forgot to mention Prosser took it easy on a pedophile priest when Prosser was Outagamie County District Attorney:

In 1979, then Outagamie County District Attorney David Prosser told a mother he did not want to prosecute a Green Bay priest who had abused her sons because “it would be too hard on the boys,” newly released documents indicate.

The priest, John Patrick Feeney, who is now 81, went on to abuse other children before he was sent to jail in 2004.

H/T to the Brew City Brawler.

But Clarke is now threatening deputies with layoffs or [...]]]> Apparently Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke isn’t afraid of jeopardizing public safety in order to send a message to his deputies:

Milwaukee County deputies got a reprieve from Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.’s order to switch to new gray-and-black uniforms under threat of suspension.

But Clarke is now threatening deputies with layoffs or unpaid furloughs if he’s forced to cover the $213,000 cost of providing one new set of the gray-and-blacks to each deputy. He won’t pass on the cost to taxpayers, Clarke said.

“We will absorb any added cost of uniforms through privatization initiatives, furloughs and layoffs, if necessary,” Clarke said in a statement Friday.

Putting uniform color above public safety….you stay classy, Sheriff David Clarke!