Police finish annual review

The review in Boardman analyzed arrest and traffic citations from 2007.

BOARDMAN — As part of its operating procedure and accreditation efforts, township police completed an annual review to determine if the department’s officers are using bias-based profiling in violation of policy.

“I am satisfied that we have been both proactive and effective in our efforts to avoid bias-based enforcement actions by this department,” said Chief Patrick Berarducci.

The review covered statistical analysis of traffic citations and arrests for 2007 as well as a review of training, policy and citizen complaints.

Only one complaint filed last year alleged bias-based enforcement and after a formal investigation and review, it was determined to be unfounded, the chief said.

The department issued 2,310 traffic citations that break down with 1,502 citations, or 65 percent issued to whites; 762, or 33 percent, issued to blacks; and 46, or 2 percent, issued to others.

The review also separated citations for suspended driver’s licenses without additional charges as officers have less discretion in taking enforcement action for that violation.

About 30 percent of all stops fell into this category. The breakdown:

UWhite, 38 percent, or 265.

UBlack, 58 percent, or 403.

UOther, 3 percent, 22.

A review of the remaining citations yielded the following distribution:

UWhite, 76 percent, or 1,237.

UBlack, 22 percent, or 359.

UOther, 2 percent, or 24.

A complete review of all arrests made by the department last year saw the following:

UWhite male, 44 percent, or 919.

UWhite female, 20 percent, or 414.

UBlack male, 21 percent, or 447.

UBlack female, 15 percent, or 312.

The department also separated arrests based on warrants issued by other agencies, which accounted for 14 percent of all arrests. These arrests remove the officer’s discretion from the process because they’re ordered by warrant. The distribution:

UWhite male, 42 percent, or 120.

UWhite female, 8 percent, or 24.

UBlack male, 35 percent, or 101.

UBlack female, 14 percent, or 40.

UOther male or female, less than 1 percent.

Shoplifting arrests comprise about 26 percent of arrests and break down:

UWhite male, 24 percent, or 129.

UWhite female, 32 percent, or 177.

UBlack male, 17 percent, or 93.

UBlack female, 27 percent, 145.

A review of the remaining arrests shows about 73 percent, or 1,539, arrests. The distribution:

UWhite male, 51 percent, or 790.

UWhite female, 15 percent, or 237.

UBlack male, 23 percent, or 354.

UBlack female, 11 percent, or 167.

“While I am proud of our efforts in this important area of law enforcement, I have reminded all employees of the absolute importance of fairness to all men and women regardless of their religious beliefs, race, sex or lifestyle as we enforce the laws that govern our community,” Berarducci said.