Racial Profiling Data

The LAPD's consent decree with the Justice Department required police officers to collect information about the race, age and gender of every person involved in a traffic or pedestrian stop. This data, gathered from July to November of last year, was released yesterday and seemed to indicate that Blacks and Latinos were more likely than whites or Asians to be searched during a traffic or pedestrian stop. But Mayor James Hahn and LAPD Chief William Bratton warned Angelenos against jumping to conclusions claiming the information is "too raw" to provide any meaningful insights about racial profiling by LAPD officers. Larry speaks with Dr. K. Jack Riley, Director of The Public Safety and Justice Program for the Rand Corporation, Catherine Lhamon, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, and Mitzy Grasso, Vice President of the Police Protective League about the incomplete nature of the data and the issue of how to determine whether racial profiling exists.