After calls from various minority groups, the Denver Police Department will now begin to collect race-based information about people when stopped, according to reports.
The Denver Police Department will now collect information on the races of people that police stop in an effort to be more accountable, reports the Denver Post. Though the idea for racial accountability came years ago for Denver, the decision to postpone was justified on the basis of budgetary cost.
“Officers need to know and citizens need to know how everyone’s actions are going to be held accountable. Without it, we can’t prove anything one way or the other. That does not benefit the transparency or the credibility of the department,” Police Chief Robert White told the Denver Post last week.
Minority groups like Black Lives Matter, The Denver Justice Project, and the Colorado affiliates of the NAACP and the ACLU, called for Denver police to study racial bias.
The groups said that African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are stopped at higher rates than whites.
“It’s important to take some steps toward transparency and keeping police officers accountable for their actions when engaging the community,” Sasha McGee, a co-leader with Black Lives Matter 5280, said.
The Denver Police Department previously avoided calls from minority groups to study the races of people that police officers stop. The new policy change will be the first time in about 14 years that the department has attempted to study racial bias within itself.
Stephanie O’Malley, the executive director of the Denver Department of Safety, previously did not agree with the idea of collecting racial data on people. Before, she said that asking people about their race would make the situation more tense.
Now, she has changed her mind about the issue.
“We will explore ways to meet expectations while considering the impact of acquiring personal information from residents during their interactions with police officers,” O’Malley said in a statement.
Send tips to amber@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.