Study finds minorities stopped at disproportionate rate in Spokane

SPOKANE — Spokane police stop black, Native American and Hispanic residents at a disproportionate rate, but don’t display racial bias when deciding who to search and arrest.

That’s according to a new report by Eastern Washington University professor Edward Byrnes.

The Spokesman-Review reports that Byrnes presented his report at a meeting of the Mayor’s Advisory Council for Multicultural Affairs.

The study analyzed 7,021 police contacts from March to August 2014.

It found black Spokane residents made up 6 percent of police contacts in spite of being only 2.5 percent of the population. Native Americans were involved in 3 percent of police contacts despite being 1.7 percent of the general population. Latinos made up 5.3 percent of contacts and are 3.3 percent of Spokane’s population.