美国国家公共电台 NPR In Oakland, More Data Hasn't Meant Less Racial Disparity During Police Stops

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The police department in Oakland, Calif., has been under federal oversight¹ now for more than 15 years, stemming from a police abuse and racial profiling scandal. In that negotiated settlement, the city agreed to sweeping² reforms, including to better track all stops and to eliminate discriminatory policing. But as NPR's Eric Westervelt reports, there's mounting frustration³ that better data collection still has not led to real change.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE⁴: For the last few years, Stanford University researchers have helped the Oakland police understand the information officers collect during every police stop and arrest on the streets here in Oakland. The researchers showed that Oakland officers are far more likely to stop, search and even handcuff black people than white people during a traffic or pedestrian stop. And their analysis of bodycam footage showed that during traffic stops, officers spoke⁵ less respectfully to black motorists than whites. Oakland's police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, says these studies by Stanford psychology⁶ professor Jennifer Eberhardt have proved invaluable⁷.

ANNE KIRKPATRICK: A lot of agencies collect data. But we have gone and worked with Stanford to say, teach us how to ask the questions of that data. Teach us how to think. I want a change of how we think about policing. And when you think differently, you're going to have culture change.

WESTERVELT: But what the police chief and the city's mayor had hoped would become a national model for a data-driven reduction in racially biased⁸ policing has become the latest flashpoint for Oakland's troubled department. Activists⁹, residents and some local politicians protested the recent renewal¹⁰ of the Stanford professor's half-million-dollar, two-year contract.

CATHY LEONARD: But I don't understand why she needs to come back and ask for more money.

WESTERVELT: Cathy Leonard is the founder¹¹ of Oakland Neighborhoods for Equity¹². She says the police seem in love with big data and stuck on a hamster wheel of collection and analysis, a system she says that hasn't worked to reduce racially biased police stops, a key part of the federal settlement some 15 years ago.

LEONARD: Black people are being forced out of the city of Oakland due to gentrification and other matters. And yet, the police are still stopping black men at exponential rates. The only thing that can be explained by is racism¹³, pure and simple.

WESTERVELT: Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks¹⁴ also questions why the police chief needs an outside consultant¹⁵ to interpret data and help make policy when neither the chief nor the professor have been able to move the needle on an issue they were hired to help fix.

DESLEY BROOKS: The reality is that if you are the one that is stopped when there is no reason for you to be stopped except for the color of your skin, that is unacceptable. You know that it takes away a part of your dignity. The mayor said it. The chief of police said it. Dr. Eberhardt has said it. Racial profiling is unacceptable. Then why haven't you came up with anything that addresses racial profiling?

WESTERVELT: In some recent months, the percentage of blacks who were stopped went up. Stanford professor Eberhardt declined to comment. I asked Police Chief Kirkpatrick about the latest numbers.

KIRKPATRICK: We have reduced the actual number of contacts of people by almost 50 percent.

WESTERVELT: But why can't you reduce the number of African-Americans in the stops you are making?

KIRKPATRICK: Right. So we're starting first with the footprint. We still know that it's disproportionate. And it is that disparity, that lack of equity, that is now the target.

WESTERVELT: Kirkpatrick says the department has reduced officer use of force and traffic stops for minor¹⁶ mechanical problems, stops that turned out to be racially biased and provocative¹⁷. And the chief, who was hired less than two years ago, cautions that data-driven change takes time.

Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Oakland, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHILANTHROPE'S "REBIRTH")

1 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

2 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

3 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

8 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

11 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

12 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

17 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。