Hundreds rally against racial profiling
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - Hundreds of people are heading to Sacramento Wednesday morning to demand that law enforcement agencies be more accountable.
Faith leaders, activists, and people who say they've been racially profiled are gathering at Westminster Presbyterian Church Wednesday morning before boarding a bus for Sacramento.
About 1,000 people, from across California, are joining together for a rally on the south lawn of the Capitol.
The group says a report released from the independent police auditor in San Jose shows that the department has an issue with racial profiling and implicit bias.
The San Jose Mercury News analyzed arrest numbers from the report and found blacks and Latinos made up nearly two thirds of the traffic stops in 2014, even though they only make up slightly more than one third of the population.
The report adds, once stopped, they were almost twice as likely to be frisked and searched.
A new bill addressing racial profiling just passed the assembly and is headed to the Senate floor.
It would create a uniform system for collecting and reporting data on stops, searches and seizures. It also modernizes law enforcement training.
The San Jose Police Department recently started testing body worn cameras on 15 of its officers.
It plans to eventually start using them on all officers to show transparency and to document encounters.
The city has hired a consultant to do an independent analysis of the rate on racial profiling which the police chief has welcomed.
He has acknowledged there's always room for improvement and wants to improve police interactions with minority communities,
The group headed to Sacramento hopes its rally will put pressure on lawmakers.