Blacks in Columbus say they feel mistreated by police more often

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A preliminary draft of a survey commissioned by the city said black motorists stopped by police were nearly twice as likely as whites to be unhappy with how they were treated.

The question on traffic stops was added for the first time to a citizen survey the city government conducts every two years. A private company polled 1,008 Columbus residents by telephone in August and September for the city, including 238 who identified themselves as black. The final version of the survey is to be released later this month.

Twenty-four percent of blacks surveyed said someone in their household was stopped in the last year compared with 19 percent of whites surveyed.

Of the blacks who said someone in their household had been stopped, 28 percent said officers treated that person with disrespect compared with 15 percent in white households.

The Columbus Dispatch reported the results of the survey Yesterday. It obtained a copy of the survey through the Ohio Public Records Act.

The Justice Department has alleged in a lawsuit against the city that black motorists are the targets of racial profiling by police officers, accused of ticketing blacks in numbers disproportionate to their population.

A spokesman for City Attorney Janet Jackson's office said it would be inappropriate for the city's lawyers to comment on the survey results because of the lawsuit.

Fred Parker, president of the Columbus branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the response to the question didn't surprise him and commended the city for asking it.

"Inasmuch as there's pending litigation, the city has an obligation, given the number of complaints that have been filed, to take a look at this issue," Parker said. "I would hope they have the wherewithal to look into that and improve those numbers."

Bill Capretta, president of the city's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, said he understands the reason for the question.

"I don't think it's the wisest question they could have asked," said Capretta, whose union has joined the Justice Department lawsuit on the side of the city. "But the new administration (of Mayor Michael Coleman) is interested in customer service. I think they're just trying to get an overall perception of what the citizens think about the police department."

Capretta said the answers to the questions do not bother him.

"You can't please all the people," he said. "The majority of people think we do a good job."

Karen Snyder, owner of The Strategy Team, the Columbus-based business that conducted the survey, said that because they are part of a draft report, the traffic-stop numbers could be changed if the size of respondents' households is taken into account.

For example, if black respondents had larger numbers of people in their households, the likelihood that someone was pulled over would rise.