A report from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found Pacific Islanders are pulled over three times more than expected for traffic stops based on their population.
That’s the second worse, behind Blacks who are four times more likely to be stopped for a traffic violation in San Francsico.
Whites and Asians are pulled over at a rate lower than their population.
“Why don’t the officers come into our neighborhoods to greet us and join our celebrations rather than parking at the corners watching us and waiting to catch us?” said one person at the Samoan Community Center.
“Police can pull us over and say it was a mistake after but that doesn’t take away the trauma we go through during the stop when
our children are inside the car,” another said.
The report issued recommendations in four key areas to reverse the trend.
It called for a ban on all biased stops without a suspect description and based on a person’s race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion,
gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, dress, appearance, or neighborhood.
It called on police to stop enforcing missing one license plate, expired or missing tags, break lights not working except after sunset, objects hanging from mirrors, littering and signaling, parking infractions and other minor infractions.
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