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Auditor: Black Residents In Fresno More Likely To Be Interviewed By Police

Ezra David Romero
/
Valley Public Radio

A new report from the Fresno Police Department appears to show a pattern of African-American residents being over-represented in interactions with police. African-Americans were disproportionately more likely to be interviewed than Hispanic or white residents in all areas of the city.

While they only make up about 6% of the city’s population, black residents made up between 20-to-25% of all field interviews according to police logs from the Office of Independent Review.

The racial breakdown of field interviews, which are police interactions triggered by another call or crime, were compiled at the request of the police auditor Rick Rasmussen.

He says he wanted the information based on community complaints that black people were being unfairly targeted.

“By saying ‘look there seems to be some smoke here let’s take a look at the data’. Let’s see if in fact, these stops are happening at a rate not commensurate with the demographics of the area,” Rasmussen says.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the report does not show race-based targeting, but simply reflects crime rates in specific communities.

He says local data show that police know the race of a shooting suspect about half the time, and of that, just over 50% of those people are black.

“So, if we are working an operation and we are looking for individuals involved in shootings then there is going to be, on paper, a disproportionate number of detentions or contacts of a certain race,” Dyers says.

It is important to note that traffic stop data IS NOT included in this breakdown because of a software glitch.

That data is expected to be included in the next quarterly report.

Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.