By Chris Barge
Camera Staff Writers

A review of tickets issued last year by the Boulder Police Department turned up no evidence of racial profiling, according to a work group appointed by the Boulder's Human Relations Commission.

A study by the group examined tickets issued by Boulder Police for the periods of April 17-30 and November 1-14.

"Comparing the tickets issued to adults over this time period with the 2000 Census racial and ethnic breakdown of Boulder revealed no evidence of racial bias or racial profiling in the issuance of tickets," said the group's report.

The report will be discussed at a Human Relations Commission meeting at 5:45 p.m. Monday in the Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway.

Al Weinberg, one of three members of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to sit on the nine-member work group, said he was "surprised" by the results.

"Many of the people of color in Boulder claim they or some family member has been stopped for no other reason than their color," Weinberg said.

"We had hoped it (the study) would give objective evidence in the city of Boulder with regard to racial profiling," he said. "Now we have one more piece of evidence than we did before."

Richard Johnson, director of Community Services, helped produce the report. He said the study was not necessarily complete, because it analyzed only the racial make-up of those ticketed by police and did not analyze the races of those contacted but not ticketed by police.

"We don't have any way of getting at that," Johnson said.

He said the Police Department received three allegations of racial profiling in 2000.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner was not available Friday evening to comment on the study.

Of 1,101 tickets issued to adult Boulder residents during the periods studied, non-Hispanic whites were issued 970, or 88.1 percent of the tickets. Whites make up 79.9 percent of the city's population, according to the 2000 Census.

Hispanics were issued 88, or 8 percent of the tickets, and comprise 8.4 percent of the city's population.

Blacks received 10, or 0.9 percent, of the tickets and account for 1.2 percent of the city's population. Asian and Pacific Islanders were given 19, or 1.7 percent of the tickets issued and make up 4.1 percent of the city's population.

American Indians received 5, or 0.5 percent of the tickets, mirroring the group's population in the city.

Results for juvenile residents and nonresidents were relatively similar.

The report recommends several steps to promote better relations between the police and the community, including convening a public forum on racial profiling to present findings of the report, discussing police policies on racial profiling, providing procedures for reporting alleged policy violations and encouraging a better dialogue between police and various communities in Boulder.

It also recommends police continue to evaluate and enhance training and policies related to communication, ethics and racial profiling issues.

The Human Relations Commission appointed the work group last year at the request of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which had raised concerns about racial profiling in Boulder, according to city officials. The work group consisted of representatives from the league, the Human Relations Committee, the city Department of Housing and Human Services and the Police Department.

Christopher Anderson contributed to this report.

April 14, 2001