Report Rebuts Charges of Racial Profiling, Chief Says

More than two years after Claremont police shot a young African American man to death during a traffic stop and sent a wave of controversy rolling through the quiet town, the city this week released a traffic study that according to the new chief shows officers do not conduct racial profiling.

“What I can come to a conclusion on is that there is nothing that jumps out to me and says there is racial profiling, based on the data,” said Police Chief Roy Brown, who became the city’s first black police chief last fall.

Brown presented the yearlong study to the newly formed Police Commission on Thursday night during a sometimes contentious hearing. While drawing his own tentative conclusions, Brown cautioned that the study could be interpreted different ways.

Indeed, some of the 40 people who attended the meeting said they felt the data, collected by police from May 2000 through this April, did reflect a proclivity by officers to pull over minority drivers. Some noted that 11% of people pulled over and ticketed were black, while blacks make up 5% of the Claremont population.

What complicates the information, however, is that many motorists drive through Claremont from out of town, on major boulevards such as Foothill and Baseline. Neighboring cities have higher numbers of minorities. For example, Pomona is 14% black and 50% Latino.

There is no accepted sample area whose racial makeup would be a good comparison to the traffic stops, Brown said.

Traffic citations for Claremont residents were 6% black and 13% Latino, which is somewhat consistent with the makeup of the city.

Brown said the data are only preliminary and that the police will continue to look at “how we can get more complete information for a conclusion.” He said there is no national standard to determine a good sample area, but felt the data was consistent with Claremont and regional demographics.

The issue of profiling has created considerable emotion and vitriol since the police shooting of Irvin Landrum Jr., on Jan. 11, 1999. The two officers involved said the 18-year-old man pulled a gun on them and fired. But a later investigation found the gun had not been fired.

The conflicting evidence and the city’s subsequent honoring of the two policemen as employees of the year ignited a firestorm of racial protest, some of which was evident Thursday night.

Evelyn Diaz Brown, who said she was a U.S. Justice Department official living in Claremont, described how scared she was when pulled over with her African American husband for an alleged traffic violation she said was trumped up.

“There is racial profiling in Claremont,” she said.

One African American resident, Robert Clark, alleged an officer came into his house and threatened to shoot his son. He said he and all four of his sons are regularly stopped in Claremont for racial reasons.

The study was part of a plan implemented by City Manager Glenn Southard and former interim Police Chief Bill Ellis. It came at a time when the Claremont Police Department faced strong criticism and charges that its officers used racial or ethnic profiling when deciding which motorists to stop.