Racial Disparities Visible In Jacksonville Policing: ProPublica

JACKSONVILLE, FL — ProPublica on Thursday published an investigative story in concert with The Florida Times Union that shows racial disparity by the Jacksonville Police Department in their issuing of pedestrian citations in the city — raising the concern police might be ticketing for "walking while black."

The report shows that while Jacksonville has one of the highest rates of pedestrian deaths in the country, there is no strong correlation between where police cited pedestrians and where the deaths occur. The investigation did show, however, that police issued tickets to blacks in Jacksonville at nearly three times the rate as whites — almost always in the city's poorest neighborhoods. In the past five years blacks were issued 55 percent of all pedestrian tickets, despite accounting for 29 percent of the population, the report showed.

Head over to ProPublica to read the full story.