Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Syracuse is taking a hard look at its police force to see if officers are unfairly targeting minorities.
A study commissioned by the Common Council released on Monday suggests there may be a bias toward blacks and Hispanics. Also released on Monday, a second report commissioned by the Police Department, reached the opposite conclusion.
Although the two studies took place at the same time, the Common Council and the Police Department say they were not conducted to refute one another. Instead, the hope is that the studies will generate dialogue between the City, police, and the people who live and work in Syracuse.
It's probably never going to be a perfect, but City leaders want to make sure it's at least fair between police and people in Syracuse, and not influenced by the color of someone's skin.
"I think Chief Fowler realizes that there are some relationship problems between the people that they are sworn to protect and those people, but he is working on it," said Bill Ryan, chair of the Common Council Public Safety Committee.
For the second time in four years the Common Council has asked for the numbers to be put under the microscope. Ryan says the section that stands out to him the most is one entitled Table 6, which shows that a white person is more likely than a black or Hispanic people to be arrested or ticketed after being confronted by police.
That discrepancy increased over four years, as the numbers show more blacks and Hispanics searched and let go than white people. Table 6a Frisk/Search Analysis by Year for All Stops Year
| Total Number of Frisk/Search
| Caucasian Arrest/Ticket Rate
| African-American Arrest/Ticket Rate (Differential)
| Hispanic Arrest/Ticket Rate (Differential)
|
2006
| 12,830
| 95.68%
| 94.31% (-1.37)
| 92.92% (-2.76)
|
2007
| 13,124
| 94.88%
| 93.38% (-1.50)
| 93.83% (-1.05)
|
2008
| 12,410
| 92.26%
| 88.85% (-3.41)
| 83.91% (-8.35)
|
2009
| 12,952
| 93.58%
| 90.02% (-3.56)
| 86.60% (-6.98)
|
Differentials arrest rates given that a frisk or search has been performed for various parts of the City of Syracuse.
Differentials relative to Caucasian rate. All stops include traffic and non-traffic stops.
Source: From the City of Syracuse Police-Citizen Encounter Study "There's enough data here that's statistically significant," Ryan said. "The question is what do those mean to the people that are affected by it and I don't believe I'm the person to make that judgment. I think the people who are affected by it should make that judgment."
The Syracuse Police Department has written a response that is officially part of the study. In one part, it says their style of putting police in the statistically high crime areas of the City of Syracuse may contribute to the slight discrepancy the study found in the way the department treats persons of different races in Syracuse.
The Police Department's study, completed by the The John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety, Inc., concluded: "We infer from the empirical evidence summarized here that Syracuse police, in general, have not exhibited racial bias in making vehicle stops."
That conclusion was based on data from all vehicle stops from 2006 to 2009 that took place between 5:02 p.m. and 9:23 p.m.
"With the expectation that if there is a racial bias that we'll find a larger proportion of stops of African American or other minorities during daylight hours than during darkness. And we did not find that," said Robert Worden, of the John F. Finn Institute.
"These studies to me, were very inconclusive and I think that we should forget about studies and let the police chief do his job," said 2nd District Common Councilor Pat Hogan.
"I think we should be talking about the shots fired more. I think we should be talking about trying to get the guns out of our children's hands more," said Helen Hudson, of Mothers Against Gun Violence.
Chief Fowler agreed, but still emphasized that any type of biased policing would not be tolerated.
