Crime

New Report: 62 Percent of Those Stopped by OPD Are Black

Published

11 years ago

April 1, 2014

The City of Oakland has released new police stop-and-search data showing that African Americans make up 62 percent of the people who were stopped by the Oakland Police Department during an eight-month period last year, though Black people make up only 28 percent of the city’s population.

African Americans make up 9,024 of the nearly 14,592 of police stops during the period from April through last November last year, more than three times the rate any other racial group.

Of those who are stopped, they are also the most likely to be arrested for a felony. Fourteen percent or 1,267 of the stops resulted in felony arrests.

Latinos were the second mostly likely to be stopped, comprising 17 percent or 1,711 of the stops, while they make up 25 percent of city’s population. Seven percent of those stops resulted in felony arrests.

Mayor Jean Quan and Interim Police Chief Sean Whent, speaking at a press briefing Monday, said they were pleased that the city has finally overcome many technical challenges and is producing accurate stop-and-search data.

However, they said, it is still too early to talk about trends or whether the numbers they have collected show that police are targeting African Americans. Analysis of the data will be part of future reports, which will be produced at least twice a year, they said.

The city has been under pressure for over a decade to produce reliable police stop-and-search data. The issue is one of the key remaining unmet requirements of federal Judge Thelton Henderson’s oversight of the police department, designed to ensure OPD operates in accord with the constitutional rights of local residents.

“We’re committed to engaging in constitutional policing,” according to Whent, who said the department is focusing on fighting crime in the most violent sections of the city.

“We want to focus on the people committing most of the crime whoever that may be regardless of race,” he said.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Stirring the Pot: Pet Peeves – Time for Some Spring Cleaning

Don't Miss

Powerful Women of the Bay 5th Annual Awards Luncheon

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

5 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.