LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s callingfor the LAPD’s Metropolitan Division to stop pulling over as many cars as they’ve been doing in recent years.
Just over three years ago the Mayor announced the elite division would double in size to fight increasing crime. That’s led to a dramatic increase in the number of vehicle stops in the city.
The LA Times reported recently African-American drivers were five times more likely to be pulled over, relative to the overall population, than drivers of other races and ethnicities.
But given the proactive approach to policing is designed to crack down on the subset of gang offenders, is the overall population comparison relevant?
We reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department to request comment, but as of the airing of this segment we have not received a response. We will update this story if we hear back from them.
Guests:
Peter Moskos, professor of law and police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City; he tweets
Alberto Retana, CEO and president at Community Coalition, a community outreach group based in South Los Angeles; he tweets