The Eugene Police Department began a racial profiling survey this summer 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. EPD spokeswoman Jan Power said there still has not been significant results from the survey so far.
Only 30 of the EPD’s 118 patrol officers are participating in the program because it is still in its pilot stage and it 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 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 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.
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 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 EPD and the Springfield Police Department.