Race and policing

Special collection

Again and again the data show that people of color in the U.S. are disproportionately, and systematically, stopped, frisked, arrested, and exposed to the use of force by police. Police departments and communities across the U.S. are struggling with these realities and with what has become a glaring divide in how Americans experience and relate to policing. This special collection includes research from nonprofits, foundations, and university based research centers, who have not only described and documented the issue but who also provide much-needed recommendations for addressing this chronic and tragic problem.

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An Analysis of Race and Ethnicity Patterns in Boston Police Department Field Interrogation, Observation, Frisk, and/or Search Reports

June 15, 2015

The report, authored by researchers from Columbia, Rutgers and the University of Massachusetts, analyzed 200,000+ encounters between BPD officers and civilians from 2007–2010. It is intended to provide a factual basis to assess the implementation of proactive policing in Boston and how it affects Boston's diverse neighborhoods. It found racial disparities in the Boston Police Department's stop-and-frisks that could not be explained by crime or other non-race factors. Blacks during that period were the subjects of 63.3% of police-civilian encounters, although less than a quarter of the city's population is Black.

Racial Bias & Profiling; Stop & Frisk

Our Homes are Not Battlefields

June 1, 2014

Militarization of local law enforcement, disproportionately targeting the poor and people of color.

Policing Dissent: Police Surveillance of Lawful Political Activity in Boston

November 1, 2012

The Boston Police Department (BPD) and its fusion spying center, the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), have for years been tracking and creating criminal "intelligence reports" on the lawful political activity of peace groups and local leaders, including a former Boston City Councilor and the late Boston University Professor Howard Zinn, according to documents obtained by the ACLU of Massachusetts and the National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter (NLG). Officers monitor demonstrations, track the beliefs and internal dynamics of activist groups, and document this information with misleading criminal labels in searchable and possibly widely-shared electronic reports. This collection and retention of data regarding people's constitutionally protected speech and beliefs — with no link to terrorism or a crime —violates federal privacy regulations and the BRIC's own privacy policies.