Half of blacks say police have treated them unfairly

A majority of blacks in the United States — more than 3 out of 5 — say they or a family member have personal experience with being treated unfairly by the police, and their race is the reason why.

This information, from a survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, comes as the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, approaches its first anniversary and the nation continues to grapple with police-related deaths of black Americans.

African-Americans said they felt especially targeted by the police. Half of black respondents, including 6 in 10 black men, said they personally had been treated unfairly by police because of their race, compared to 3 percent of whites. Another 15 percent said they knew of a family member who had been treated unfairly by the police because of their race.

White Americans who live in more diverse communities — those where census data show at least 25 percent of the population is non-white — were more likely than other whites to say police in their communities sometimes treat minorities more roughly, 58 percent to 42 percent. And they're more likely to see the police as too quick to use deadly force, 42 percent to 29 percent.

Larry Washington, 30, of Merriville, Indiana, described his encounter with a white police officer when he was arrested for theft in Burbank, Illinois, as a teenager. "When I got to the police station, the officer who arrested me told me that I looked like I wanted to do something about it," Washington said, adding, "And he kept calling me '******.'"

"It's been like this for a long time," Washington said. "It's just now that everybody starting to record it and stuff, it's just hitting the spotlight. Most Caucasians, they think it's just starting to go on when it's been like this."

The AP-NORC poll shows stark differences between whites and blacks when it came to attitudes toward law enforcement: —More than two-thirds of blacks — 71 percent — thought police are treated too leniently by the criminal justice system when they hurt or kill people. A third of whites say police are getting away with it, while nearly half — 46 percent — say the police are treated fairly by the criminal justice system.

—When asked why police violence happens, 62 percent of whites said a major reason is that civilians confront the police, rather than cooperate, when they are stopped. Three out of 4 blacks, or 75 percent, said it is because the consequences of police misconduct are minimal, and few officers are prosecuted for excessive use of force. More than 7 in 10 blacks identified problems with race relations, along with poor relations between police and the public that they serve, as major reasons for police violence.

—Whites and blacks disagreed over whether police are more likely to use deadly force against blacks. Nearly 3 out of 4 whites — 74 percent — thought race had nothing to do with how police in their communities decide to use deadly force. Among blacks, 71 percent thought police were more likely to use deadly force against black people in their communities, and 85 percent said the same thing applied generally across the country. Fifty-eight percent of whites thought race had nothing to do with police decisions in most communities on use of deadly force.

Seventy-two percent of whites said they always or often trust police to do what is right for them and their community, while 66 percent of blacks said they only sometimes, rarely or never trust the police to do what is right.

David A. Clarke Jr, who is sheriff in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, said African-Americans have more encounters with police than whites because of crime rates in urban areas. "If you have more interaction with the police because of the crime and the disorder in our urban centers — the American ghetto I like to say it — it's going to skew the numbers," Clarke said.

David Thomas, 80, of Vienna, Georgia, recalled being treated roughly when stopped by police as a young man in Savannah, Georgia. He said relations between black communities and law enforcement have improved since then.

"Everything is not right, but it's better," Thomas said. "We have bad cops and we have good cops. I don't know where we're going to from here, but we need police." The AP-NORC Poll of 1,223 adults, including 311 black adults, was conducted online and by phone July 17-July 19, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. For results among black respondents, the margin of error is plus or minus 9.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for Amerispeak who didn't otherwise have access to the Internet were interviewed over the phone.

Ah, the lure of institutional racism. It's the excuse for everything...(rolls eyes).

So let's deal with the reality of the situation. I come from a family of cops, and so I can speak with a little authority on the issue.

1)First, where were these surveys done? Are middle class and above minorities represented, or did we go straight to the hood where a white cop ALWAYS gets told the truth in a timely fashion when he's investigating a crime?
2) Of those answering the survey, did they already have experience in the criminal justice system? In other words, how many have a record? If you have multiple arrests, guess what Snowflake, the cops are going to roust you on a regular basis.
3)When 75% of black men also say they knew other people who had issues with cops, are we not now counting some people twice? If my cousin Delroy answered the survey, and then I say, "Well I got a cousin Delroy who's been hassled by the cops", did the people doing the survey account for duplication?
4) As mentioned in the article, areas with the most crime get the most cops. The odds of you interacting with them are that much higher. Reduce the crime, and some of the cops go elsewhere, and you see fewer of them. Being stopped in a high crime black area while driving a car with tinted windows and flashy rims screams 'Thug'. To you, it may be a fashion statement, but getting pulled over is not an instance of 'DWB' or driving while black. Being in a minivan, wearing a Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt, having a 'My kid is on the honor role' bumper sticker, and getting pulled over on a fishing expedition while in the suburbs? THAT's a 'driving while black' traffic stop.

There are so many peaceful, honest, and wonderful minorities in the world who are not represented in the discussion on police vs minority crime. The reason is that cops are not arresting them. They are usually victims, and if you ask THEM what their experiences are with cops, I would suggest that they are usually positive. They feel the cop is professional, tries to help, and will do their best. What sets cops off is working in high crime areas where no one cares enough to testify, provide info, even call a snitch line like Crimestoppers until there is some high profile death, like an infant killed in a drive-by. Then there's a huge uproar about violence, guns, gangs, how we need money in the hood to help people, and on and on. The poverty pimps line up for the money to start training centers, job banks, recreation centers, and it seems the problems never get solved. The hood goes back to sleep, does its drugs, its booze, buys its stolen goods, and just falls into a state of apathy until the next moral outrage. Are there sincere people who want to help? Sure. They get pushed out of the way by the Jacksons, Sharptons, and Farrakhans mugging for the cameras and yelling into the megaphone about how George Bush and Dick Cheney are still responsible for what happens in the hood.

Pretty frickin' depressing ain't it? Thus endeth the sermon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmeriSpeak_by_NORC_at_the_University_of_Chicago

AmeriSpeak by NORC at the University of Chicago is a multi-client, household panel funded and operated by NORC at the University of Chicago. AmeriSpeak provides measurement and analysis services to NORC clients based on a nationally representative sample of U.S. households known as the AmeriSpeak panel.

Beginning operations in 2014, NORC invites randomly selected U.S. households to join AmeriSpeak as panel members. AmeriSpeak panel members participate in public opinion surveys and other types of research on current events, health care, social and political trends, new consumer products and services, and other topics.


AmeriSpeak is a probability-based panel [1] (in contrast to a non-probability panel) since panel households are selected with a known probability of selection from a documented sample list (technically called a “sample frame”). Selected households are invited to join AmeriSpeak by telephone or by web, and then participate in short research studies approximately two to three times a month. NORC conducts research studies using the AmeriSpeak panel on behalf of NORC researchers and its clients such as governmental agencies, academic researchers, and media and commercial organizations. For example, AmeriSpeak polls are conducted for the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs...............

Wouldn't people that have had run ins with the police be biased?

To me it's like saying "half of kids say mom treated them unfairly."

Would they be the best judge of what's "fair?" or who is getting unfair or fair treatment?



I feel especially targeted by the IRS each quarter.


Other than that, it seems polls anymore are no different than dating site forum threads.
"How many older women like young guys?"
"How many women are attracted to bad boys?"
"How many black people are treated unfairly by cops?"

Race is not an excuse.

interesting information OP

black people don't listen and are rude to police

there are people in every race who dont listen and/or are rude to the police

what has that to do with anything?

so many incidents wouldn't have happened had there been respect for the law

keep believing that is an excuse

'respect' for the law generally doest end in a run in with cops in the first place

but of those who dont have the 'respect' to avoid doing things that cause police to notice,,there are other factors in play when police choose how to handle those situations,,,

and keep believing that "being black" is an excuse too... respect goes a long way, on both sides...

don't hit a cop, put out your cigarette and stop resisting arrest

ty
I was glad to post this useful information.

Mathematically speaking, more whites are shot by police.

Whites are rude and have no respect for the law.


....

Point is, race is not an excuse.

don't commit a crime and don't hang around where there is crime.

being black is not an excuse to commit crime
or a reason for someone suspected of crime to die

Just heard a breaking story in Durham NC where a black unarmed man was charged with robbery and felony posession of a firearm after a plain clothes police officer rushed his car with his gun drawn and never identiftied himself as a policeman. A struggle ensued, the driver though that he was being carjacked and the white female apartment complex manager stated she just saw a guy running towards the car with a gun.

Seems kinda funny that the evening news broke the story near Charlotte NC that local news made no mention of. A former college football player who had just wrecked (totaled) his car at 2:30 am walked to a nearby house to ask for help. Police responded to a home invasion report and immediately tazed the man who took of running, they yell stop a few times and shoot several shots until he is dead claiming the 'suspect' was charging them (unarmed).

Moral Monday, a peaceful group of organized notified protests in public areas of government buildings lead by Reverend William Barber president of the local NAACP, end up repeatedly having people including the obese aging reverend arrested but an unannounced protest today held by illegal aliens who did not have a permit to protest inside the entire building aside from locked offices with brooms mops dusters and the governor Pat McCrory (R) released a statement about today's protest for drivers licenses denying them the EARNED PRIVILEGE.
But here's the kicker, outside on the steps of the building, police present, an argument breaks out between state workers and one of the protesters in front of news cameras 0 ARRESTS.

The reverend himself has been arrested at least ten times for planned notified (news broadcasted notification) peaceful protest. Reverend William Barber is a college educated tax paying civil rights activist and a citizen of the United States.

and i call BS^^^^^^ just watch the NBC nightly news, seen nothoing of that,,JMHO

Just looking at the title of the article, I have to ask:

Who said life was fair? Because guess what, it isn't.

Sorry, WTVD channel 11 News, ABC affiliate
And ABC Evening News with David Muir