WEWS-TV reposted this
"I'm confident that the men and women of our police department wake up every single day, policing with the values of equity and justice," Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb told News 5 Cleveland in response to the station's joint investigation with The Marshall Project, which found that Cleveland police searched Black people more than three times as often as white people during stops in 2023. Mayor Bibb says this data still needs to be analyzed by an independent third party to identify any possible biases. Only then, he says, can the city and its oversight boards take the appropriate steps to address the discrepancy. While the mayor insists that the Cleveland Division of Police is operating at a better level than it was 10 years ago, before the consent decree was established, many Black residents who spoke with News 5 and the Marshall Project said they believe they are targeted by police because of their skin color. This investigative story is well-researched and presents perspectives from both sides. We encourage you to check it out at the link below. We also invite you to share any thoughts you may have in the comments section. https://lnkd.in/eh4Y8evJ https://lnkd.in/e789yzqR
Our latest investigation just published. It was a collaboration with Sarah Buduson at WEWS-TV that examined nearly 17,000 police encounters in 2023 in Cleveland. From the story: Cleveland police searched Black people more than three times as often as White people during stops in 2023 — despite finding contraband at similar rates, a Marshall Project - Cleveland and WEWS News 5 analysis found. The analysis examined the race of people stopped by Cleveland officers and was developed using data the city was required to provide under a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015, following years of excessive force complaints and paying millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements and judgments for police misconduct. Using records of nearly 17,000 police encounters, the analysis shows officers often used low-level offenses like broken tail lights or tinted windows to search Black people, who were stopped overall at twice the rate of White people.