Five years of arrest data obtained by the ACLU show that even in predominantly white neighborhoods, police are arresting a disproportionate number of blacks. Many of the arrests are for non-violent, relatively minor offenses.

WASHINGTON -- A new report from the ACLU finds massive racial disparities in the way DC Police deal with blacks and whites.



The civil rights group found police are arresting African Americans at 10 times the rate of white people, and even more so for minor offenses.

The ACLU asked for arrest data under the Freedom of Information Act and got an eyeful. The ACLU’s analysis shows that between 2013 and 2017, African Americans were 47 percent of DC's population, but 86 percent of the people police arrested.

Racial Disparities in D.C. Policing: Descriptive Evidence from 2013-2017 May 13, 2019 Introduction Racial disparities pervade criminal justice systems across the country; Washington, D.C. is no exception. The District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recently provided extensive arrest data for the years 2013 to 2017 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Open the Government and ACLU-DC.

"When you have a disparity of 86 percent of the arrests being black, in a city that's 47 percent black, that's not just one or two officers. That's a systemic problem than needs a systemic solution," said Michael Perloff, an attorney with the ACLU of D.C.



"Even in overwhelmingly white neighborhoods, it was the African Americans who tended to be arrested. "The black population of Kalorama is five percent," said Perloff. "The black share of arrestees in Kalorama is 44 percent."



The report also found thousands of African Americans were arrested for non-violent, relatively minor crimes. Of the people arrested for driving without a permit, 78 percent of them were African American.