NEWS > 21 April 2008

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Columbia Tribune
21 April 2008

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Racial review of police compla

A recent review of Columbia Police Department�s complaint data from 2005 to 2007 shows that nearly 30 percent of complaints filed by white residents resulted in a finding of "improper" conduct by officers, compared to 3.2 percent of complaints filed by black residents.

Some are taking those numbers as evidence of a racial bias within the department. Columbia police said the only thing the numbers show is the ability to use statistics to fit a pre-conceived idea.

The report, compiled for the Citizen Oversight Committee, the group charged with deciding whether the police department needs civilian review, lists all of the 130 complaints filed with Columbia police the past three years along with the findings of those complaints.

Out of 62 complaints filed by black residents, the officer was found to have acted improperly in two; the officer was exonerated or the charge was determined to be unfounded in 50; and information was insufficient to make a determination in 10.

Of the 68 complaints filed by white residents, the officer was found to have acted improperly in 19, the officer was exonerated or the charge was determined to be unfounded in 48; and information was insufficient to make a determination in one.

Rex Campbell, co-chairman of the Citizen Oversight Committee, said the numbers in the report surprised him. "I didn�t expect to find this very stark difference between the way that one group was handled versus another group," Campbell said. "That�s the only way I can read it. If you look at the data, the pattern is clear. One category was handled one way, and another category was handled another way, and that�s clear."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said the committee shouldn�t come to any conclusions without considering things such as the low total number of complaints.

For example, Boehm said, a case in 2005 involved 10 people filing complaints about the same incident, a party. The officer was suspended for improper use of unnecessary force, but nine of the complainants were white and one was black. That incident skews the data simply because of the makeup of the group, even though the officer was found to have acted improperly.

Also affecting the numbers, Boehm said, is when race is included for complaints generated from entities the department deals with, such as the municipal court. For example, if an officer fails to show up to testify in court, the data reflects the race of the person who called from municipal court. Boehm there were six such complaints in the three years, none of which should have been included.

"When you�re dealing with a very small number of complaints, that has a significant impact, particularly if you�re trying to allege that we�re treating complainants differently based on race," Boehm said. "There were 130 complaints during a three-year period and over 413,500 contacts with citizens. If our officers were doing a poor job of dealing with the public, I just can�t believe that number would be that small."

Campbell said the report is not the only thing that might indicate a racial bias in the department; there have been three things showing bias his committee has reviewed since it began its work in December, two of which deal with numbers from the police department.

"Unfortunately, they all lean in the same direction," Campbell said. "There�s the traffic-stop data, which strongly suggests racial profiling; the testimony from people who appeared before us, those were uniformly one way; and this set of data here. So those three sets of information seem to be consistent with each other."

In an e-mail last month to City Manager Bill Watkins, Campbell said the cause of the problem might be "aversive racism," which he defines as "consciously knowing and professing that all people are equal, yet subconsciously treating and judging some groups differently."

Campbell said the complainant report will be presented to the committee May 1, and two weeks later, Columbia police will be invited to share its side.

Donald Weaver, president of the Columbia Police Officers Association, said he believes some members of the committee are biased and are collecting information to support civilian review. He said his group supports civilian review as long as it follows the code of ethics laid forth by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law.

In a Saturday news release, Weaver called for the committee to "abandon the fa�ade of exploring whether or not they believe a need exists for civilian oversight and begin the process of creating a fair and impartial civilian oversight system without delay," he said.

Committee member David Tyson Smith said he thought the numbers regarding the complaints were "startling" and said Campbell has worked with the department to ensure the data were correct so that there wasn�t a bias.

"Rex went to great lengths to make sure this data was fair," Smith said. "There are a lot of professionals on the committee who are very objective, and we don�t want to get into trading barbs with the police department or mud-slinging with other groups."

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OFFICER CONDUCT CHARGES FILED BY BLACKS, 2005-07
Charge category Total Complaints Improper conduct Proper/
exonerated/
unfounded Undetermined
Force 24 1 (4.2%) 19 (79.2%) 4 (16.7%)
Improper Behavior 18 1 (5.6%) 11 (61.1%) 6 (33.3%)
Improper Procedure 20 0 20 (100%) 0 (0%)
Total 62 2 (3.2%) 50 (80.6%) 10 (16.1%)
OFFICER CONDUCT CHARGES FILED BY WHITES, 2005-07
Charge category Total Complaints Improper conduct Proper/
exonerated/
unfounded Undetermined
Force 48 9 (18.8%) 39 (81.3%) 0 (0%)
Improper Behavior 13 9 (69.2%) 4 (30.8%) 0 (0%)
Improper Procedure 7 1(14.3%) 5 (100%) 1 (14.3%)
Total 68 19 (27.9%) 48 (70.6%) 1 (1.5%)
Source: Columbia Police Department
* Figures may not add up because of rounding

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Columbia Tribune21 April 2008

Racial review of police compla

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Columbia Tribune
21 April 2008