selected for study and determine the proportion of people of minority status who are at that location. This is the standard (benchmark) we use to determine whether police are targeting minority motorists or pedestrians. We have worked diligently to find a benchmark to utilize that is less cumbersome than sending observers out to record the race/ethnicity of people who make up the benchmark. Quite frankly, the most available benchmark in many countries, census data, has proven to be so unreliable in the United States that I warn against its use. While data analysis is vitally important in our work, it is not our ultimate goal. To move toward the goal of nondiscrimination it is crucial to work with both police and community members to change their perceptions of each other. In the vast majority of cities where we have worked, we are met with two groups of people with diametrically opposed points of view. The police, almost inevitably, do not believe that they are discriminating against minorities and, quite frankly it is extremely difficult for police agencies to know if they are discriminating without having an analysis done. Members of minority communities are equally convinced that police are targeting them. This means that our work will prove one group’s perceptions to be in error. I estimate that in the 40 or so police departments where I have worked, about half the time we find that police are targeting minorities. In those cases we attempt to convince the police to change their policies, procedures, reward structures and the like to change their discriminatory behavior. In the instances that we find the police are not targeting minorities, we have an equally difficult job of convincing the minority community that it’s long held perception of the police is erroneous.

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