Police
stops in Los Angeles are highly concentrated within just a small
portion of the population, and the Los Angeles Police Department has
been using targeted predictive policing technology that may
exacerbate that focused scrutiny. That’s according to a report put
out this week by the research and activist organization Stop LAPD
Spying Coalition, which draws from the testimony of city residents
and newly released police documents to paint a picture of a “racist
feedback loop” where a “disproportionate amount of police
resources are allocated to historically hyper-policed communities.”
Survey
results included in the report suggest that very few people in Los
Angeles bear the brunt of most police interactions: 2 percent of
residents who responded to the survey reported being stopped by
police between 11 and 30 times a week or more, while 76 percent of
respondents reported never being stopped at all. The 300 survey
respondents were distributed across geography, race, age, and gender.
In focus groups, people who lived in areas heavily targeted by police
described a state of constant surveillance. Asking “how often do I
see police in my area is like asking me how many times do I see a
bird in the day,” said one resident.
What’s
more, the LAPD has been using technology from the data-mining firm
Palantir that may amplify that concentration, as part of a predictive
policing program that targets and surveils specific individuals
within select neighborhoods based off their recent history with the
criminal justice system.
Full
report:
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