Racial Discrimination in Police Practices

In CAJM’s annual Listening Process in the fall of 2015, over 800 people gathered across the county in small house meetings and shared many different community problems.  One of the primary concerns shared by our congregations was racial discrimination. Racial discrimination was experienced in many areas; housing, medical care, education and the workforce however, hundreds of stories were told about racial discrimination in policing practices.

Our research revealed that Charleston and North Charleston lead the state in discriminatory police stops – in fact, African Americans are stopped nearly three times as often as Whites in our community. These stops are proven to erode community trust, make it difficult and unsafe for our officers to do their jobs well creating a less safe community for all.

One of the most alarming statistics that we learned is that the Low Country actually leads the state in the amount of stops the police conduct for minor violations that then don’t result in a ticket or a citation. In a five-year period, North Charleston had 130,000 of these stops and Charleston had 127,000 – Columbia, comparable in size, only had 33,000 of these stops during that same time period. That means that police in Charleston and North Charleston stop people nearly four times as often as police in Columbia and in our community African Americans and other minorities are stopped at a rate of two and three times that of Whites. These discriminatory practices erode community trust, make it difficult for police officers to do their job well and create a less safe community for all of us.

Our research went on to reveal that other cities across the country have implemented practices in police transparency and accountability that deal effectively with this problem and are proven to build community trust and improve community-police relations. One of those best practices involves hiring an external, independent Police Auditor to conduct an audit of bias-based policing in stops, searches, questioning and frisks that would result in a public report.

At our annual Nehemiah Action Assembly on April 18, 2016, nearly 2,100 CAJM members gathered and gained commitments from Charleston and North Charleston City Council Members to begin the process to hire an external, independent police auditor to audit bias-based policing in stops, searches, questioning, and frisks. It will allow the community to see what is happening within our police departments, improving transparency and offer constructive, proven to work recommendations on how to address discriminatory police practices.

In 2019, external firm CNA was hired to conduct an audit for racial bias in the Charleston Police Department. They held over 75 meetings with officers in the department and met with over 290 community members to better understand the policing problems in the city. A preliminary report was issued on September 31, 2019 by CNA.  The report is now available here: https://www.charleston-sc.gov/2250/Racial-Bias-Audit.

City of Charleston Police Department Racial Bias Audit 2020 Update

September 2019 Preliminary Report Introduction:

Efforts to strengthen police-community relationships have been at the forefront of the city’s priorities. The Illumination Project, established in late 2015, “created a unique, community-wide experience for both citizens and police with the purpose of further improving their relationship, grounded in trust and legitimacy.”3 The Illumination Project identified many strategies to improve police-community relationships, including the establishment of the Citizen Police Advisory Council. 

Although these efforts were important steps in strengthening relationships between police and community stakeholders, continued concern about potential racial bias, also brought forth during a Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) Nehemiah Call to Action Assembly in 2016, led the City Council to vote in favor of an independent audit of the CPD in November of 2017. Subsequently, the City Council, city officials, and community stakeholders worked together to develop a request for proposals, review the proposals, and select an independent auditor.

See the 2020 City of Charleston Police Department Racial Bias Audit 2020 Update here.

North Charleston Police Department Racial Bias Report

July 2021 Update:
 

CAJM continued to press the North Charleston Police Department to conduct an audit and recently appeared before the North Charleston Citizen’s Advisory Council on Police and Community Relations to advocate for that audit. The Advisory Council unanimously voted to recommend to the Mayor that an audit be conducted.

In late 2020, the City of North Charleston hired CNA to conduct a racial bias assessment of the North Charleston Police Department (NCPD). Beginning in March 2021, CNA undertook a comprehensive assessment of NCPD’s policies and practices, focusing on assessing racially biased practices and procedures. The report was developed by reviewing community engagement programming documents, strategic plans, training lesson plans, training curriculum, general orders, department data, and sentiments from interviews with community members and NCPD personnel and community listening sessions. The report includes findings and actionable recommendations for the department. The key findings include: 

■ Racial disparities are present in many of NCPD’s interactions with the community, indicative of potential systemic, organizational, or individual bias, and these disparities are deeply felt by the community. 

■ Community members have substantial concerns regarding NCPD’s police presence and perceived over-enforcement of certain individuals, community groups, and neighborhoods.

■ NCPD’s School Resource Officer Program has room to improve to better serve the youth of the North Charleston community.

■ NCPD lacks proper translation services and information for Spanish-speaking residents in the community.

■ Although NCPD emphasizes community-oriented policing practices, not all officers in the department have embraced the importance of community policing. 

■ Members of the North Charleston community have expressed a desire to better understand the roles, responsibilities, policies, practices, and operations of the department.

■ Many community members have not filed complaints even after negative experiences with NCPD personnel, and the complaint process is confusing to most.

■ NCPD has a strong commitment to hiring and retaining personnel that reflect the ethnic, racial, and gender composition of the North Charleston community. They have an established plan to specifically recruit women and people of color.

■ NCPD’s officers have not been consistently trained in topics of critical importance for 21st century policing. 

■ Community members expressed high confidence in Chief Burgess and his abilities to meaningfully engage with the community.

CAJM will continue to hold the City of North Charleston’s Police Department accountable for implementation of the proposed policy recommendations that can be found in the complete report. 
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