Do Oakland police officers target people for law enforcement action based on race, ethnicity, or other biases? If so, how might the people of Oakland work with the police and other officials to make law enforcement more fair?

On Thursday, Dec. 9, Oakland's Citizens' Police Review Board (yes, we have one!) is holding a policy forum to discuss "bias-based policing" (also known as "racial profiling"). This event is free and open to the public. It starts 6:15 pm in Council Chambers at City Hall, Oakland.

This event will start with a definition of bias-based policing by Patrick J. Caceres, acting manager of the Citizens' Police Review Board. This will be followed by presentations by:

• Chief Ron Davis, East Palo Alto Police Department
• Jack Glaser, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, whose specialties include hate crime, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and unconscious social cognition
• Captain Paul Figueroa, Oakland Police Department, head of Internal Affairs
• Attorney Jim Chanin, whose specialties include civil rights and police misconduct.

Does Oakland have a bias-based policing problem? Lately this has been the subject of community speculation. For instance, in an April opinion piece on Laney College's The Black Hour, Reginald James wrote that the Oakland gang injunction encourages racial profiling and gentrification.

What do the data show? In a 2004 study, the RAND Corporation found mixed evidence of racial profiling by Oakland police. According to the press release:

"RAND researchers analyzed Oakland traffic stops during a period just before the end of daylight and a similar period just after nightfall -- when officers are less likely to be able to identify a driver's race in advance. The researchers found that 50% of the drivers stopped during the daytime study period were black, compared with 54% during the nighttime period.

"'This measurement shows no evidence of racial profiling in the traffic stops made by Oakland police officers during the study period,' said Greg Ridgeway, the RAND researcher who headed the project.

"However, signs of racial bias were apparent when researchers analyzed traffic stops based on police officers' own reports of whether they could determine a motorist’s race before they made a stop. When officers reported knowing the race of the driver in advance, 66% of the drivers stopped were black, compared with 45% when police reported not knowing the race of the driver in advance."

Note that this study only analyzed data from traffic stops -- not other police activity such as crowd management during protests, street drug busts, or questioning for suspicious activity.

How to get involved with the Oakland Citizens' Police Review Board: The CPRB holds public meetings the second Thursday of each month at 6:15 pm at City Council Chambers.

Board members are nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. The appointments for the current CPRB expire Feb. 15, 2011 -- so Mayor-elect Jean Quan should nominate new Board members soon. To apply to the CPRB Board, fill out the City of Oakland Board application form. For more info on CPRB events, call 510-238-6914.

Below is the flyer and agenda for the Dec. 9 policy forum. Come out and share your views.

CPRB Agenda Flyer Dec 9 2010 Policy Forum