The Eugene Police Department has begun a racial profiling survey
to find out if complaints that officers have been making traffic stops
based on race are valid.
Since starting the survey Aug. 20, EPD patrol officers have ended
each traffic stop by asking whether the motorist would like to
participate in the survey and tell the officer his or her race. Only 30
of the EPD’s 118 patrol officers are participating in the program
because it is still in its pilot stage.
The program will remain in the trial period until January, EPD
Patrol Capt. Becky Henson said.She said the survey will, ideally,
give the EPD statistical proof that it does not stop and question
motorists simply because they are a certain race, a practice she
said the EPD is firmly against.
“We had been getting feedback [from the community] that they
think some people have been getting stopped because of their
race,” she said.
It was hard to convince people otherwise, Henson said, because
the EPD “didn’t really have any other info than the word of our
officers.”
Now she expects the survey will provide the real numbers to show
the community that every traffic stop is conducted fairly and without
a bias. If there do appear to be any trends, Henson said the EPD
will change some of its policies and training methods.
“We’re just trying to find out if there are any trends or patterns we’re
doing that have a negative impact on the community,” she said. “I
think it’s really going to be a neat deal, quite frankly.”
Following the trial period, results from the official survey will be
analyzed by Vik Gumbhir, a Graduate Teaching Fellow with the
Oregon Survey Research Laboratory at the University. The data
collection has already cost the police department about $15,000.
State Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, introduced a bill against racial
profiling during the last legislative session. She said the EPD was
doing the right thing in acting on complaints.
“I think it’s fabulous,” she said. “Eugene is working very hard to
overcome the perception they’re engaging in racial profiling.”
Walker’s bill to combat racial profiling was later signed into law,
but as a different version. The law asks state law enforcement
agencies to incorporate language against racial profiling into their
mission statements and set up a committee to help fund police
forces establishing a survey like the EPD’s.
Walker said in her work on the issue, she heard from several
students and community members in Eugene who accused the
EPD of racial profiling.
“It’s a multicultural University, and I’ve heard complaints from
people of Middle Eastern and Indian origin,” she said, adding that
people of other races also complained.
But Walker said all those complaints were anecdotal, so it is good
that the EPD is conducting the survey to see whether there is any
truth to them.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “I’m really excited about it.”
ASUO Vice President Joy Nair also said the survey is a good step,
but she offered more tempered enthusiasm.
In her work with the University’s Multicultural Center and other
student groups, Nair said she has campaigned against racial
profiling. She said the ASUO discussed the survey during a recent
meeting, and while many on her staff have “some doubts about
the motivations and the effectiveness” of the EPD’s actions, they all
still agreed it was a good first step.
“When we started to really analyze it, we decided some data
collection is better than none,” she said.
Nair added that as the year progresses, the ASUO will remain
active on the issue and will respond to what the EPD discovers in
its survey.
Now that the EPD has begun its data collection, it joins many other
law enforcement agencies already analyzing their traffic stops.
Sgt. Scott Miller, a patrol supervisor with the Oregon State Police,
said the agency has been conducting a survey for a year. He said
the OSP uses codes in its reports to identify age, race and gender
and has not changed any departmental policy since it started to
keep track.
“In case somebody questions us, we can say, ‘Look at this, we’re
not harassing anyone,’” he said.
However, the time and cost of equipment needed to conduct a
survey have kept some agencies from beginning a program like
the EPD’s.
“It really comes down to a question of stretching resources,” said
Capt. Bret Freeman, the police services commander with the Lane
County Sheriff’s Office.
He said the sheriff’s office has an “active internal affairs” division
that investigates any complaints against the office and will be
incorporating some of the EPD’s tracking software into a joint
computer system it shares with the EPD and the Springfield Police
Department.