POSTED: 4:48 pm PST December 17, 2006
UPDATED: 5:00 pm PST December 17, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation of arrests made by his city's police force after a study revealed that blacks were taken in custody for felonies at nearly twice the rate of most other major California cities.The study by the San Francisco Chronicle found that blacks in San Francisco were arrested for felonies at nearly twice the rate as they are in Sacramento and Fresno, and three times the rate as in San Jose, Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego.Newsom called the San Francis0c rate -- measured by the number of those arrested per 1,000 black residents -- "outrageous." "There is no question in my mind that this deserves immediate attention and investigation," Newsom said.
Police Chief Heather Fong said the imbalance may stem from the city's "soft on crime" reputation, which draws felons from suburbs. A task force in the rough Tenderloin neighborhood found that more than 60 percent of blacks arrested last year were listed on booking cards as "no local," a term often applied to transients, or they gave addresses outside San Francisco. "I don't think just by looking at the numbers, you can prove or disprove that there is any targeting," Fong said.
UPDATED: 5:00 pm PST December 17, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation of arrests made by his city's police force after a study revealed that blacks were taken in custody for felonies at nearly twice the rate of most other major California cities.The study by the San Francisco Chronicle found that blacks in San Francisco were arrested for felonies at nearly twice the rate as they are in Sacramento and Fresno, and three times the rate as in San Jose, Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego.Newsom called the San Francis0c rate -- measured by the number of those arrested per 1,000 black residents -- "outrageous." "There is no question in my mind that this deserves immediate attention and investigation," Newsom said.
Police Chief Heather Fong said the imbalance may stem from the city's "soft on crime" reputation, which draws felons from suburbs. A task force in the rough Tenderloin neighborhood found that more than 60 percent of blacks arrested last year were listed on booking cards as "no local," a term often applied to transients, or they gave addresses outside San Francisco. "I don't think just by looking at the numbers, you can prove or disprove that there is any targeting," Fong said.
