The recently released report on racial profiling calls for Penn police officers to receive more consistent training, but was unable to confirm or deny the existence of bias-based action within the department.
A committee on bias-based profiling -- a larger category which includes racial profiling -- was formed in response to an incident on Oct. 11 involving Spruce College House Associate Faculty Master Rui DaSilva. He was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by a police officer who suspected him of stealing bicycles.
An examination of data on police stops and citations issued showed that while African Americans are stopped more than any other ethnic group, the proportion of those who receive tickets or citations is similar across all ethnic groups. But the committee lacked necessary population data to determine if racial profiling was being practiced.
"Although we have resident population ... that's not the same thing as the numbers of people who are driving through the neighborhood," said School of Social Work professor Dennis Culhane, who chaired the committee. "That requires a much more extensive research project."
The report does, however, point to certain trends in police training and interactions with the community that could encourage profiling.
Its chief criticism of the police was that training was inconsistent "with the spirit of the bias-based profiling policy." While the policy prohibits officers from the practice of bias, the report said that stereotyping was "inadvertently being taught to officers."
In response, police officials have vowed to initiate and improve the training regime. Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush proposes to work closely with Culhane and an advisory board training committee to address these issues.
"We don't want to do diversity training that is the same, we want to build on previous lessons," Rush said. "There are trends across America that we want to bring to the attention of officers."
Culhane emphasized the need for annual training, which is meant to be a police requirement but has not been enforced for several years.
"One of the few tools available to prevent racial profiling is through police officer training," Culhane said. "Training would be sequential, build skills over time. It would give officers a better sense of the community they're dealing with."
The report stated that the police were not the only ones who needed training. It noted that citizens learning more about police procedures could ease the interaction between an officer and individual when a stop occurs.
"We're building relationships with the community," Rush said. "Sometimes police officers and [police departments] can be stereotyped just as easily. Every day we have to go out and earn their trust."
Police officials have said that community outreach has always been a vital element of their jobs. Rush pointed to a number of efforts they make so people will become more comfortable around police.
"We are working with the student minority coalitions on a brochure that will help us educate the community on how to respond to police," Rush wrote in an e-mail statement. She added that the police run several liaison programs for the community to personally get to know individual officers.
DaSilva's encounter with the police was not the first time an innocent Penn affiliate has been accosted. On Jan. 19, 2002, College senior Dimitri Dube was stopped by police while walking home late at night.
Dube alleged the stop was due to his race, and a public forum with the police resulted, along with a call for a civilian review board. That suggestion was turned down on the grounds that it would add an unnecessary bureaucratic layer to police work.
Yet Culhane noted that there was still significant room for improvement in police actions and community relations.
There needs to be "a more community-oriented policing-style system," he said. Officers must acquire "the knowledge and competence ... such that this kind of event" does not reoccur.
