Police Profiling Found in Georgetown, Adams Morgan

By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 1, 2007

D.C. police officers stopped black and Hispanic pedestrians in Georgetown and Adams Morgan at higher rates than others on the street, according to a year-long study commissioned by the police department.

The review was the department's most ambitious examination yet of racial and ethnic profiling. It found that police appear to be targeting blacks at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street NW, in the heart of Georgetown, and Hispanics and blacks at 17th and Euclid streets, in the Adams Morgan core -- two of the city's biggest commercial and tourist magnets.

An outside consultant reviewed data covering traffic stops and pedestrian stops from February 2005 through January 2006 at 25 intersections across the city. The police stops were made for panhandling, jaywalking, suspicious behavior, attempted car theft and "anything a police officer could stop a pedestrian for," said John C. Lamberth, the author of the study.

The study flagged no problems at 23 locations and identified no concerns about traffic stops. But it raised questions about the pedestrian stops at the two intersections.

At Wisconsin and M, black pedestrians were nearly six times as likely to be stopped as anyone else, the study found.

At 17th and Euclid, Latino and black pedestrians were about twice as likely to be stopped as others.

Lamberth's firm -- Lamberth Consulting, based in West Chester, Pa. -- specializes in racial profiling assessment. Its report said that the findings suggest that a "limited, yet significant" number of D.C. police officers are acting "in a manner consistent with the definition of racial profiling."

The report urged police to bolster training and monitor police activities at the intersections, particularly those where most pedestrians are white. The study was first reported by WTTG-TV (Channel 5).

Acting Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she was pleased with the 23 intersections that showed no racial bias but was concerned with the other two.

"I don't want there to be a higher ratio anywhere," she said. "We're going to take steps to deal with it."

Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who oversees the police districts that include Georgetown and Adams Morgan, said the department is in the process of improving diversity training for all officers, especially the ones who patrol those intersections. He said the department is considering calling community meetings to discuss the findings.

Former chief Charles H. Ramsey, who stepped down in December, ordered the study as part of the Biased Policing Project, which he started in 2002 to examine whether the force had a problem.

The intersections monitored for racial profiling were in all seven police districts. Twenty were monitored for traffic stops, and five were monitored for pedestrian stops.

The study relied upon "odds ratios" to determine whether racial or ethnic groups were stopped at higher rates than their overall population.

First, researchers studied and counted the population at each intersection. Then, when police officers made stops at those locations, they recorded information about race and ethnicity.

The researchers then compared the numbers and ratios.

According to the survey, the odds ratio is best explained by filling in this blank: "If you are a black motorist, you are X times as likely to be stopped as if you are not a black motorist."

If no racial profiling is occurring, the ratio will be 1.

In Georgetown, police stopped 77 black people at the intersection, resulting in a 5.8 ratio.

In Adams Morgan, police stopped 49 black people, for a 1.8 ratio. At the same intersection, police stopped 52 Hispanic people, for a ratio of 2.

Philip K. Eure, executive director of the watchdog organization Office of Police Complaints, hired an independent consultant to analyze the report. He called attention this week to the Georgetown and Adams Morgan findings and said the study was a first step in looking at racial profiling in the District.

"I think it's a terrible thing for a Latino man or woman or an African American man or woman to think there may be problems with them going into predominantly white areas of the city," Eure said.

Ronald Hampton, executive director of the National Black Police Association and a former D.C. police officer, responded to the findings by saying: "I'm not surprised."

"Black people in Georgetown are seen as being in the wrong place," Hampton said. "If you're driving a nice car, you're not in the right place, because the majority of people who live there are white."

This issue ignited over the summer when British activist Alan Senitt was killed in Georgetown and three black people were charged with the crime. At a Georgetown community meeting, Andy Solberg, the commander of the 2nd Police District, said that "this is not a racial thing to say black people are unusual in Georgetown." He was responding to a resident who asked how to look out for suspicious people.

The comment led to a public outcry, and Solberg was temporarily removed from his post. Solberg publicly apologized, and after people from across the city sent letters supporting him, he was reinstated.

In the Adams Morgan Hispanic community, activists said they have been asking the police department for more Spanish-speaking officers. Eugenio Arene, executive director of the Council of Latino Agencies, said the relationship between Latinos and police has been tense.

Of the police department's 3,800 officers, 256 are Hispanic, according to police.

"You want officers to know the culture and the language," Arene said.