Not exactly sure which “local newspaper” San Francisco Police Department Chief Greg Suhr is referencing today, so this bit from Chris Roberts posted yesterday in the San Francisco Examiner will have to suffice:
Report: Blacks Arrested Four Times As Often As Whites For Marijuana
Looks like the ACLU report applies to the whole country, Vermont, Iowa, Illinois:
Anyway, here’s the response from Chief Suhr:
“SFPD Response to ACLU Arrest Racial Disparity Report.
In one of the local newspapers this morning, it was stated that African Americans are arrested at a far higher rate than whites, according to an ACLU report issued today. This is not so. The San Francisco Police Department does not racially profile. No one is arrested in sufficient numbers for marijuana possession here in San Francisco to substantiate such a claim. In fact, the article even states that there were only 11 people arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in all of 2011, Chief Suhr’s first year as Chief.
To put this number in context, in 2011, the SFPD made over 23,000 arrests, of which 14,000 were classified as misdemeanors. Today, Chief Suhr reviewed all 11 misdemeanor marijuana arrest reports from 2011. All 11 misdemeanor marijuana charges were secondary to other charges, e.g., outstanding warrants, weapons possession, drunk in public, for which the person (four white males, three black males, two black females, one Hispanic male, and one white female) were arrested and booked.
It is evident that the misdemeanor marijuana arrests cited in the article were made using sound police procedure pertaining to criminal activity and not by racial profiling.
http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?appType=5&recordid=685
San Francisco Police Department
sf-police.org”
Does somebody want to look into these arrests, to see if the SFPD is using sound police procedure pertaining to criminal activity and not by using racial profiling?
Well, be my guest and let us know how it goes.
Until then, it looks like ACLU 0, Greg Suhr 1.
