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However, Mayor D. Michael Collins, during his campaign,
strenuously asserted that the TPD does not engage in racial
profiling. This position, of course, became a thorn in
Collins’ relationship with the black community and
ultimately led to the resignation of former Police Chief
Derrick Diggs.
With Chief of Staff Bob Reinbolt quarterbacking the Collins
administration, former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner coaching from
the sidelines, and the unions calling the plays, current
Police Chief Bill Moton is not even in the huddle or on the
field. Collins’ practice is to deal directly with the unions
and Deputy Chief Kral on police matters while Moton holds
the clipboard and is regularly bypassed.
The classes of the most recent police recruits are nearly
all-white at a time when blacks on the force are retiring in
great numbers. The newest officers have been described as
those who “have little knowledge of the community’s needs
and culture, and bring a policing perspective derived from
television programming.”
Does the Toledo Police Department engage in racial
profiling?
If racial profiling is defined as “the unconstitutional use
of race as an indicator of criminal suspicion,” then the
answer is a deafening YES!
Police officers are normal individuals like the rest of
society and inherently carry the same biases and frailties
that we all do. Therefore, though difficult to prove, most
(if not all) police departments across the nation profile
based upon race.
The problem is that racial profiling creates a sense of
alienation from the dominant society among those singled out
and exacerbates the friction and lack of trust that already
exists between the community and the Collins administration.
Profiling also makes the community less safe because
citizens are more likely to expect to be treated badly by
the police and are therefore uncomfortable calling them to
report criminal behavior. Crime is then likely continue to
thrive in poor areas of color.
What then, does the community want from Collins?
What the black community does not want is the
continued denial of the TPD’s targeting of African Americans
in traffic stops. Nor do we want silence, indifference or
ignoring of the problem.
Rather, the community wants transparency and to hear how
Collins plans to deal with the issue of racial profiling in
Toledo.
Recent research (Alpert et al. 2007) suggests
that specific initiatives should be developed and
implemented to address the problem and show the
administration’s commitment to diversity and fairness in
policing. Explicit policies that prohibit racial profiling
should be implemented and enforced. Police officers and
administration officials should also undergo training and
education on the impact of racial profiling in communities
of color. Most importantly, relevant data that accurately
measures police activity should be kept and monitored in
order to provide meaningful assessment and evaluation.
Yet, the buzz from the uppermost floors of
One Government Center indicates that plans are in the works
to discontinue the Toledo Community Initiative to Reduce
Violence (TCIRV), a successful evidence-based program to
reduce gang-related violence. Other data-driven policing
activities are also being dismantled including plans to end
the purchase of any additional crime cameras.
In the meantime, the National Science
Foundation has funded a California policing research
organization with a $1 million grant to develop the first
national data base on police profiling and inequitable use
of force. The project, called “The Justice Database,”
provides a universal and scientific way to measure
disparities and equity in police activity. More than 40
police departments and law enforcement agencies across the
nation currently take part in the project.
Should the Toledo Police Department choose to
participate in data driven research like The Justice
Database, racial profiling in Toledo will no longer remain
underground or be a matter of debate.
Instead, the problems with bias and
unconstitutional policing, so apparent to African Americans,
will be readily and accurately identified for all to see.
Otherwise, this summer could be long, hot and
quite interesting.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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