San Francisco police targeted only black residents in drug arrests, lawsuit claims

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Sam Levin in San Francisco
@SamTLevin Email
Thu 4 Oct 2018 16.05 EDT

San Francisco police exclusively targeted black residents during undercover drug arrests as part of a pattern of racial profiling, according to a new lawsuit.

Police in the California city, where only 6% of the population is black, worked with federal authorities to arrest 37 people, all of whom were black, for selling small amounts of drugs, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said in a complaint announced Thursday. During the operations, one undercover officer was caught on camera declining to buy drugs from an Asian woman and waiting to buy from a black woman, who was later prosecuted.

The suit focused on San Francisco police collaborations with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and federal prosecutors in 2013 and 2014, but the ACLU has alleged that the discriminatory policing and harassment of black people in the city has continued.

“We’ve seen time and time again how racial bias has infected the San Francisco police department’s ability to administer equal enforcement of the law,” Novella Coleman, an ACLU staff attorney, said in an interview.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/04/san-francisco-police-black-residents-aclu-lawsuit

[BumRushDaShow]

1. That's the way they roll.

That way they can say - "See! Black people are criminals many times more than whites!!!11!!!!1"

[MichMan]

2. Didn't know a city government like SF was racist

Learn something new every day I guess

[JonLP24]

3. I remember reading bad things about SFPD

Though nothing recent except for the OP.

Dan White was a police officer for example.

[brush]

5. The city government is not the same as the police department.

SF has had AA mayors and reps over the years. It's a pretty left-leaning city.

Police departments are entities in themselves with their own racist culture though and most police departments in most cities target African Americans and other POCs to a lesser degree. Nothing new there.

[MichMan]

6. Doesn't the Chief of Police report to the mayor?

Why would the mayor be given a pass for the actions of the PD?

[brush]

7. Are you new to this country?

[MichMan]

8. It is the elected SF Board of Supervisors that appoints the Police Commissioner

Only visited SF once many years ago, so I thought that the mayor had the overall responsibility like they do in Detroit.

I was incorrect; the Police Commissioner reports to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors are elected by the voters and represent each of 11 separate wards. They appoint the Police Commissioner who is the one that would be responsible for the actions of the Police Department under their watch.

The Board of Supervisors can discipline or ultimately replace the Police Commissioner if they believe he is not doing an adequate job of supervising the department.

[Nitram]

4. Something's got to change.