San Jose Police Accused Of Racial Profiling
SAN JOSE (CBS 5 / KCBS) ― The number of public drunkenness arrests in the City of San Jose is higher than any city in the state and the arrests are disproportionately of Hispanics, according to a published report Sunday.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that there were 4,661 arrests for public drunkenness in San Jose last year, and 57 percent were Hispanic.

Critics claim that the percentage is out of proportion with the population, but Mayor Chuck Reed said it's a socioeconomic problem.

And while other cities tend to treat public drunkenness as a non-criminal matter, nearly all of the arrests in San Jose are referred for prosecution.

"We think the revolving door is the wrong approach to this," said Reed. "We think we need to get people into court ordered supervision and rehabilitation. The way to do that is to arrest them and get them into the court system, where the judges can make them go to rehab."

But critics said that since the policy, which does not require a sobriety test, means that many people are arrested simply because police officers don't like their attitude.

Three men who said they were racially profiled and wrongly accused of being drunk in public have filed a $20 million federal civil law suit against the city and police department.

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Thought I'd toss this out there. Someone needs to contact the law firm and tell them about the car profiling going on too...

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haha ur drunk and in public there for you need rehab. bahaha. seems a bit harsh depending on what the people are doing.

 

Alcoholism is VERY disproportional to general population when taking SEC into account and I would like to see the dispersal of the population in respect to SEC levels.

I wouldn't call this 'racial profiling' just yet; I would call it a statistic that should be researched further.

 

not the first time this issue has come up for sjpd

 

well when i drive the streets of SJ...57% of people on the sidewalk are hispanic, so why is this a big deal?

 

How Dare You Drink Alcohol And Have Fun! Rehab You Hooligan!

 

well, if there's a lot of Hispanics in SJ, and they tend to get drunk in public a lot, it's not racial profiling if they're ticketed/arrested for it. it's self-negligence.

 

ok...I am going to say it.

WHO THE HELL CARES? Drunk is drunk, if they figure out that "hey more hispanics we pull over are DUI than white guys" then let them target hispanics. Just like two guys get in line to get on a airplane, A mid 50's white male in a golf shirt and pants...and a mid 20's middle eastern male dressed in a tradtional way. who do YOU think is going to be the target of a detailed search?

 

The biggest part of the deal I found in the article is the 3 men who are trying to sue San Jose for $20 million.

Thats a pretty big bill that the city (and trickle down to the tax payers) will have to front just for a DIP.

 

passing apartment areas of SJ, everyone is out on the streets hanging out because who wants to sit in a crowded apartment all day?

Then you take the majority ethnicity of people in the apartment and theres your answer.

 

It's not even DUI's, it's just people walking leaving the bars and clubs that get caught up.