I think I’m not the only American who, when hearing of “racial disparities” in police stops and arrests, thinks that maybe the reason more Black people are detained by police is because they commit more crimes and engage in more suspicious behavior than White, Latino or Asian people.
Carefully study this graphic, entitled “City of Oakland Victim and Suspect Crime Make-up.” It shows that, in six major felony categories in Oakland, Black suspects constitute by far the majority of those charged with criminal behavior. Black suspects far outnumber their racial counterparts in homicide, attempted murder, robbery, assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, narcotics offenses and weapons possession.
Another chart, from the Oakland Police Department, shows that 70.5% of homicide suspects in Oakland were “African-American,” compared to 20.5% Hispanic, 5.1% White and 2.6% Asian.
I don’t understand why these numbers upset some people. They are simply facts; there is no moral judgment contained or implied. One could, I suppose, argue that the reason more Black people are stopped or arrested is because of conscious or unconscious “bias” on the part of police officers. That was the suggestion of yesterday’s front-page story in the San Francisco Chronicle, headlined “Are the police capable of changing?” It looked at new statistics on police “stop rates” in major California cities, including San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, and found that “Black people are far more likely to be stopped by police than White people.”
The Chronicle’s conclusion, as usual, is that this is due to “bias” on the part of police officers, although, once again, it raises the reasonable question of whether police are stopping people, not because they’re biased, but because they see suspicious or criminal behavior. Now, we can’t get inside an individual cop’s head to find out why he stopped someone. There is an intense debate over, for instance, so-called “pretextual stops,” in which cops pull drivers over for relatively minor offenses, like a broken brake light or an expired license plate. To the extent Black drivers are stopped for these things more frequently, is this because they commit such offenses more often, or is it because of “bias” on the cop’s part? Some police “reformers” have suggested that pretextual stops be banned, but is this really going to make us safer? An argument can certainly be made that it’s a cop’s duty to inquire into driving that’s potentially dangerous, as a failed brake light or expired plate.
I’m sure I’ll be attacked by the Left for pointing out these inconvenient truths, but facts are facts. Progressives apparently demand complete “equity” in stops and arrests, as though Asians commit crime in proportions equal to Blacks. But they don’t. Different racial groups commit crimes in unequal proportions, and there’s no getting around that fact.
The way for people to avoid getting stopped, much less arrested, is to not commit crimes, and to act in accordance with the law, including while driving. If you know your brake light is out, fix it! I’ve certainly been stopped while driving for various things, and I would never, ever challenge a cop, or be anything other than 100% compliant. If a cop stopped me, in fact, I’d be grateful to him for doing his best to protect both me and my society. If any individual cop can be shown to have stopped someone based on racial bias, then throw the book at that cop! But first, make sure you can prove it. If you can’t, you’re just upset with statistics you don’t like.
This should delegitimize the whole concept of “racial disparities” in stops and arrests, but of course, it won’t. Anti-police types, and progressive media such as the San Francisco Chronicle, will continue to publicize such statistics with the intent of, frankly, misleading the public into thinking the police are a bunch of racists with out-of-control biases. What the Chronicle should be doing is thanking the police for their protection and support, and editorializing against crime and the criminals who perform it.
Steve Heimoff