Racial bias apparent in Philadelphia stop-and-frisks: New report

A new report has indicated that Philadelphia police are influenced by racial bias in their implementation of stop-and-frisk procedures.

The report, issued on Tuesday by the ACLU, found that 33 percent of police stops and 42 percent of frisks in Philadelphia were unlawful, CBS3 reported, adding that the unlawful procedures impacted blacks and Latinos 80 percent of the time.

Commissioner Richard Ross said the report’s findings were not due to a racial bias but rather on a need to police black areas more heavily, an Associated Press article reported by 6ABC stated.

“That is a fact that you can’t deny,” Ross was quoted in the AP report. “When people talk about neighborhoods being overpoliced, where would you suggest we have them?”

Ross said that police will add accountability measures and improve officer training on reporting stops more accurately, CBS3 added.

“The bottom line is the truth will be in the numbers coming forward,” Ross was quoted by CBS3.

The report also found that frisks of minorities are less likely to have substantial results than frisks of whites, according to the AP article reported by 6ABC, which added that the lawyers who filed Tuesday’s report said they will seek sanctions from the court this year if the department does not make “rapid and significant progress.”