SFPD underreports Latino, Asian arrests
Shoshana Walter, Bay Citizen, 8/15/12
The San Francisco Police Department has underreported the arrest rates of the city's two largest minority groups for years, classifying Latino arrestees as "white" and Asian American suspects as "other," according to agency records and police officials.
The state has been publishing the erroneous statistics in a report tracking arrests by race and ethnicity since at least 1999, when the California Department of Justice began posting the data online, a Bay Citizen investigation found.
Because of the way the Police Department classifies suspects, the city and federal and state officials have no accurate record of how often Latinos and Asian Americans are arrested in San Francisco. The Police Department blames an antiquated computer system, which officials say offers no alternative to listing an arrestee as "black," "white" or "other."
Over the years, concerns about racial profiling in the city's African American and Latino communities have led to city hearings and policy changes. In 1999, the Police Commission ordered the Police Department to begin tracking racial data from all traffic stops.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SFPD-underreports-Latino-Asian-arrests-3788809.php
