A sensible approach to searches
Unlike other states, California gives police officers the authority to search an individual on parole or probation without a warrant and without cause. The potential for abuse by implicit bias is not hypothetical. It was well documented in a 2016 study by Stanford University researchers that showed significant racial disparities in Oakland residents’ encounters with law enforcement.
Some 60% of traffic stops during the 201314 study period (April to April) were of African Americans, even though they represented just 28% of the city’s population.
The researchers found that officers were far more likely to ask an African American driver if he or she is on probation.
The stakes in such situations are enormous. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, nearly 1 in 5 of the inmates entering a U.S. prison in 2016 was there for a parole violation.
The Oakland City Council took a sensible step in recently passing a policy that would stop officers from asking people if they were on probation or parole at the beginning of an interaction. The policy, crafted by the city’s police commission, spells out that a search could not be “arbitrary, capricious or harassing.”
Before taking effect, that change would need to be reviewed and approved by Robert Warshaw, the federal monitor who is overseeing the department as part of its 2003 settlement in the classaction lawsuit stemming from alleged civilrights abuses by a group of rogue officers known as the “Riders.” The mission of the federal monitor is to ensure the department is identifying and correcting discriminatory practices.
The restriction on nowarrant searches would represent an important reform.
It’s important to note that the new policy would still allow immediate searches in cases involving violent offenses: a list that includes force, weapons, sexual violations, human trafficking, car chases or battery on an officer. It also would allow an officer to check if a suspect is on parole or probation.
What it would stop would be the openended fishing expeditions in which officers ask — without justification — about an individual’s status. This would not only be a good way to reduce the effects of implicit bias in policing, but should result in fewer people being sent back to prison for relatively minor parole and probation violations.
“What we’re looking for is a cultural shift,” Regina Jackson, chair of the Police Commission, said earlier this month. “We don’t want officers to presume that people are on probation just because they are black.”
The new policy is both practical and protective of public safety. The federal monitor should approve it.