The two criminal justice agencies I selected were Washington Metropolitan Police and Metro Transit Police. The Metropolitan Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency in Washington DC. It has more than 4,000 sworn members serving the city to make it safe. The department is divided into seven police districts, which are further divided into seven or more police service areas. The department is one of the most diverse communities in the United States. The racial and ethnic composition of the department’s employees includes white, black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islanders. The composition gives the department comprehensive and distinctive viewpoints in performing its duties. Out of 3,819 sworn members, 2,942 are men while 877 are women. According to the ethnicities, 80 of the service members are Asian/Pacific Islanders, 2,297 black, 270 Hispanic, and 1,172 white (Mpdc, n.d.). The mission of the department is to safeguard the District of Columbia by protecting the residents and visitors by upholding service, integrity, and fairness to ensure justice for all. The value statements include crime reduction, striving to resolve all conflicts, investigating allegations of misconduct, instill transparency, and sustaining a culture of safe neighborhoods among others. The department continues to work with other government agencies to address various issues of mental illnesses and youths. Despite the mission and values, the department has been accused of racial disparity in its arrests as seen by various reports.
The Metropolitan Police Department made 68,664 arrests for crimes against society while arrests against person offenses were 2,794 for ten years from 2008 and 2018. Arrests for drug possession offenses were 2,327 while arrests for crimes against property were 1,231. The demographics of the offenders and victims also differed significantly based on age, gender, and race. The number of African American men arrested during the period was 80,676 while whites were 10,676. The Asians arrested were 477 while 63 were of an unknown race. Native Hawaiian and American Indian or Alaska Native race was 21 and 93 respectively. The victim race also differed significantly. White victims were 104,257 while blacks were 20,834. 9,539 victims were of an unknown race and 8,223 were Asian. American Indian or Alaska natives were 2,823 while there were no Native Hawaiian victims.
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On the other hand, the Metro Transit Police Department was established in 1976 to have a tristate jurisdiction in transit facilities. The department performs various law enforcement functions and ensures public safety throughout Washington DC, Metropolitan area ( Crime statistics. , (n.d.). The department has 490 sworn police officers, 64 security special police, and 91 civilians. The police officers have jurisdiction and arrest powers in the transit zones of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. In the District of Columbia, the department made several arrests from 2008 to 2018. The highest number of offenses was against society, followed by crime against person offenses. Others were crimes against property, drug possession, drug sales, gambling, and prostitution offenses. Crimes against society offenses totaled to 85,905 while arrests for crimes against person offenses were 4,277. The crimes for drug possession totaled to 2,327 while arrests for crimes against property were 1,983. Arrests for drug sales offenses were 161, gambling 4, and prostitution violations 4 respectively. The demographics of victims and offenders also differed significantly by age, gender, and racial and ethnic differences.
The statistics of the offenders and victims of various crimes show various disparities along racial and ethnic lines. There are more African American people arrested compared to other races. The victims of the races also differ significantly, with a majority of them being white followed by African Americans. As the number of violent and non-violent crimes increases, the number of victims also increases. The law enforcement agencies depicted racial and ethnic disparities in their recruitment. Likewise, there were racial disparities in the arrests made in all crimes reported. The data collected from the FBI website shows that more African American people are suspected of committing various offenses compared to other races in the District of Columbia. Similarly, more white victims of crime are more likely to report than other races.
The issue of racial disparity in enforcing criminal law is evident from the data presented. The arrest data is proportional to the tendency the police stop citizens for random checks. The stop-and-frisk data released in 2019, there were clear racial disparities shown by the people stopped and frisked (Austermuhle, 2019). The Metropolitan Police Department released the report amidst calls for changes in police practices that tend to target racial minorities unfairly. The stops conducted against motorists and other people within the District of Columbia show a great disparity in the way the police handle their business of enforcing law and order. Most of the people stopped were African Americans although most of them did not translate to arrests. Only 20% of all the people stopped led to an arrest while others led to traffic tickets. The racial profiling of stops and frisks in the Metropolitan Police Department reflects the high number of arrests of African Americans. Similarly, the Metro Transit Police Department also reported a high number of black arrests compared to other races, depicting racial disparity in police arrests.
The victimization data also shows more white victims compared to racial minorities. The factors contributing to the trend also vary significantly with whites falling victim for most of the crimes reported. The racial divide is clear in the community, showing that the issue of racial discrimination is far from over in the United States. There are more white victims than other races because of the confidence that the whites have towards the law enforcement agencies. However, the other races lack confidence in the enforcement agencies, explaining why the majority of them do not report criminal activities done against them. On the other hand, the law enforcement agencies fail to be objective in their investigations and arrests, leading to the reliance on stereotypes that African Americans are mostly criminals. Despite the improvement in recruitment of law enforcement officers in racial inclusion, more efforts are needed to ensure fairness and transparency in the arrests.
References
Austermhle, M. (2019, September 10). D.C. Police release long-delayed stop-and-frisk data, showing racial disparities in stops . WAMU. https://wamu.org/story/19/09/10/d-c-police-release-long-delayed-stop-and-frisk-data-showing-racial-disparities-in-stops/
Crime statistics . (n.d.). WMATA. https://www.wmata.com/about/transit-police/crime-stats.cfm
Mpdc . (n.d.). | mpdc. https://mpdc.dc.gov/page/statistics
