DOJ Releases Bike Citation Racial Disparity Report in Tampa

By TAMARA LUSH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. — Apr 26, 2016, 1:32 PM ET

The U.S. Justice Department says black bicyclists in Tampa were more likely than whites to be stopped and ticketed by police, and that the citations didn't reduce crime in the city.

However, during a news conference Tuesday at the U.S. Attorney's Office, officials insisted the policy was not discriminatory.

The report says 73 percent of riders stopped between Jan. 1, 2014, and Aug. 30, 2015, were black and 26 percent were white, while the estimated population of riders during the period was 40 percent black and 49 percent white.

The report was requested a year ago by Mayor Bob Buckhorn and then-Police Chief Jane Castor after a Tampa Bay Times report that black bicyclists were issued citations at a vastly higher rate than the rest of the population.