Survey question rankles.

Byline: JEFF WRIGHT The Register-Guard

No one has to tell Eugene's traffic cops that racial profiling can be a prickly topic. They've gotten the word, loud and clear, from the motoring public.

The Eugene Police Department is one of seven law enforcement agencies across the state that have begun voluntarily collecting pieces of information during traffic stops to help gauge whether officers commit racial profiling - the practice of stopping motorists strictly because of their race.

In a four-month trial late last year, about 30 Eugene officers making traffic stops identified a driver's race by observation - and then asked the person to voluntarily identify his or her race.

By the time all officers began collecting the information on Jan. 1, they no longer requested that motorists identify their own race.

The reason: People didn't like it.

"Basically, we got complaints from citizens that it was inappropriate and a violation of civil rights," said police Capt. Elvia Williams. "It was a voluntary question, but people were offended."

Williams said she doesn't know how many motorists objected, but that the complaints were frequent and came from white and minority citizens alike.

Eugene and most other police agencies in Oregon have publicly stated that they don't engage in racial profiling, but the perception persists - as a new state survey released Tuesday makes clear.

In the telephone poll of 800 adults, 17 percent said they believe Oregon police "often" or "always" make traffic stops on the basis of a motorist's race, and another 39 percent said that police "sometimes" do. The survey didn't break down answers by respondents' race.

The survey also suggests that some Oregonians are ambivalent about whether racial profiling is a bad thing in all cases.

Twenty-one percent of those asked said they felt that, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it was "more appropriate" for police to use race as a reason to stop people suspected of violating the law. Only 7 percent said they thought the attacks made race-based stops "less appropriate."

The survey's release coincided with the first meeting of a new 11-member state panel charged with helping law enforcement agencies gather and evaluate racial-profiling data collected during traffic stops.

The panel is headed by University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer, who was Oregon's attorney general for 11 years. Others on the committee include Lane County Sheriff Jan Clements, UO law professor Keith Aoki and David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and a Eugene resident.

Gov. John Kitzhaber, who appointed the committee, said police agencies in Oregon have taken a national lead in adopting policies and training officers to avoid racial profiling.

"Law enforcement can't protect the public if the public doesn't believe law enforcement is treating everyone fairly," he told the committee Tuesday in Salem.

The panel was created by legislation approved last year that urges police departments to voluntarily collect racial-profiling data. The law, Senate Bill 415, was passed in response to a 1997 state law that expanded police officers' authority to stop and question motorists.

Several committee members, including the ACLU's Fidanque, said they believe police rarely or never engage in racial profiling on purpose. Fidanque said he's more concerned about officers' subconscious decisions, and what happens to minority motorists - are they more likely to be cited or searched? - once a stop is made.

Among Oregon agencies, Hillsboro city police have collected the most data, based on 23,532 traffic stops between May 2, 2000, and last Thursday.

The data show that 26 percent of all stops have involved Hispanics, who make up 19 percent of Hillsboro's population. Searches were conducted in 7 percent of stops involving Hispanics, compared to 4 percent of stops involving whites. However, officers found contraband in only 7 percent of searches involving Hispanics - compared with 10 percent of searches involving whites.

In Eugene, police were trying to "work out the bugs" and didn't tabulate any data on the traffic stops made during the trial period that ended in December, Williams said. In January, Eugene officers collected data - and distributed explanatory brochures - to nearly 1,700 motorists. But the department won't release any figures until it has at least six months' worth of data, she said.

Williams, who joined Acting Police Chief Thad Buchanan at the meeting in Salem, said the department made the initial decision to ask motorists their race after learning that Eugene officers had mistakenly identified two minority motorists - an American Indian and a Latino - as white.

She said a Racial Profiling Task Force assisting the department was split on whether it was a good idea to ask motorists their race. The task force includes minority representatives, human rights activists and civil libertarians.

Contending that it will make for better analysis, Eugene police are collecting more "points of information" than other departments - tabulating, for example, whether a motorist speaks a foreign language or lives in the metro area. Eugene officers are also asked to choose among 10 categories - including Alaska Native, Middle Eastern and Multi-Racial - when trying to identify a motorist's race.

Bob McDermed, a Eugene traffic cop, said so far he's found that it takes him about an extra minute to gather the racial-profiling data during traffic stops. "But if you do 20 (stops) a day, that's an extra 20 minutes a day," he said.

McDermed said he believes most officers are OK with the task because they hope it will dispel perceptions of race-based stops. But he said he also believes most officers are relieved that they no longer have to ask motorists to identify their race.

Some motorists, unhappy with the question, were providing clearly false answers - and "we were getting some unreliable results," he said.

RACIAL PROFILING

State survey

What are your general feelings about Oregon police officers?

Positive - 64 percent Negative - 11 percent Neutral - 25 percent

How often do you believe Oregon police make race-based traffic stops?

Never/rarely - 34 percent Sometimes - 39 percent Often/always - 14 percent Don't know - 10 percent

In the last 12 months, have Oregon police been more fair or less fair in allowing race to influence traffic stops? More fair - 19 percent Less fair - 7 percent Same - 54 percent Don't know - 20 percent

Are you more concerned or less concerned about race-based stops happening since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? More concerned - 36 percent Less concerned - 22 percent No change - 37 percent

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, do you think it's more appropriate or less appropriate for police to make stops based on race?

More appropriate - 21 percent Less appropriate - 7 percent Same opinion - 69 percent

National survey

Do you feel you've ever been stopped by police because of your race?

Blacks - 44 percent yes Hispanics - 29 percent Whites - 7 percent

Do you feel racial profiling by police is widespread?

Blacks - 83 percent yes Whites - 55 percent

Do you think blacks receive less fair treatment from police?

Blacks - 66 percent yes Whites - 35 percent

- Oregon Annual Social Indicators Survey (January 2002); Gallup Poll (July 2001).