Disproportionate Number of Arrests for Black Citizens
This finding was, unfortunately, not surprising and nowhere near unique to the city of Ferguson. In many cities across the U.S. where the police departments are predominantly white despite the community being predominantly Black, Black citizens tend to have disproportionately high rates for arrests. The Department of Justice’s report revealed that in Ferguson, Black people made up less than 70 percent of the population but accounted for 85 percent of the people pulled over by police. The report also revealed that Black citizens were twice as likely to have their cars searched after being stopped but more than 25 percent less likely to actually be in possession of any contraband.
Every K-9 Unit Attack Had a Black Victim
It isn’t often that statistics on such cases actually reveal a 100 percent rate of a particular event occurring, but Ferguson police officers managed to do just that when it came to suspects being attacked by police dogs. The department’s report revealed that every single suspect who had been reported as being attacked by a police dog was Black.
