The city police commissioner is not impressed with a panel’s review over the Starbucks arrests, which concluded that racism drives the interaction between citizens and police.
The review that looked at the April arrests that took place at downtown coffee shop made a conclusion that alleged that racism may have been a factor in the arrests, also adding that police need to train officers on how to handle implicit or unconscious bias.
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Nonetheless, a citizen advisory commission went a step further to make a conclusion on systemic bias in their report. The report said that the department “should accept that racism has a profound effect on what drives citizen and police contact.”
However, Commissioner Richard Ross, who is black, took issue with the statement. He said that the department is aware that racism exists, and has put in place policies aimed at combating it. He then added that “we believe the profound effect on what drives citizen and police contact lies in criminal conduct and victimization.”
