Thread: FL:Crime data fails to address Hispanic population

Last updated on: 7/25/2007 6:40:30 PM by Kara Kenney

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readartic ... 692&z=3&p=

LEE COUNTY: The NBC2 Investigators have uncovered a flaw in the crime statistics reporting system. Statistics show 88-percent of people arrested are white, 12-percent are black and less than 1-percent are Asian or Indian. NBC2 wanted to know why Hispanics are not being counted like other minority groups.

NBC2’s investigation started with 150 booking sheets from the Lee County Jail from two days in May. We found dozens of Hispanic men and women who were arrested and listed under race as white.

When we asked several people, we found there is confusion over the definition of race.

Christina Leddin of The Amigo Center, an agency designed to help immigrant families, says it's a common misconception that Hispanic is a race.

"Hispanic is not really a race, it's an ethnicity," said Leddin.

The US government doesn't consider Hispanic a race either. Instead, it's an ethnic origin.

Hispanics come from all over the globe including Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Central America. Leddin says to be Hispanic is to be of Spanish-speaking or of Latin American descent.

"The reality is I could be a black Hispanic or a white Hispanic, an Asian Hispanic, I could be a Native American Hispanic," said Leddin.

For that reason, local law enforcement does not report the number of Hispanics arrested. Instead, they are grouped within one of the four race categories. Most of the time, they are listed as white.

"FDLE follows the national guidelines. We have white, black, Asian, Indian as race. Those are the guidelines we go by," said Larry Long of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Leddin says Hispanics should not be tracked in a separate group when it comes to crime statistics since they aren't a race.

Others disagree.

"Well, it's misleading," said Peggy Harris.

Harris, a community activist, says listing Hispanics as white skews crime statistics.

"That's terrible, just terrible," said Harris.

Digging deeper, we learned the Florida Highway Patrol is the only local law enforcement agency that actually tracks and publishes Hispanic crime data in the form of traffic stops.

"If you want to see who is committing the crimes, they should be classified," said Harris.

NAACP President Willie Green agrees.

"I think it's a very unethical way of doing it," said Green.

He says it is unfair to track the number of blacks committing crime but not all other groups.

"It's not right. It's far from a level playing field," said Green.

An FBI document explains Uniform Crime Reports help law enforcement determine how to spend its money, allocate resources and address crime problems.

Dr. Duane Dobbert, a criminal justice researcher with FGCU, has studied the issue for 38 years. He says Hispanics are not the same as whites and crime statistics should reflect that.

"They have different needs, different cultural expectations and we need to address these," said Dobbert.

Dobbert says including Hispanics in crime reports would keep the community safer and actually help Hispanics as a whole.

"They're going to see services directed toward Spanish speaking cultures. They're going to see an understanding of their culture," said Dobbert.

That could mean more Spanish speaking officers patrolling the roads.

"I think Spanish speaking social workers, I think that's critically important," said

As for whether the record keeping will change, the FBI says it would cost the country way too much money. Forms, training materials, and computer systems would all have to be changed to include Hispanic.

"Well, this is a system that has been around since 1931, and it's a good system. I think it’s not a perfect system," said Long.

Harris says it should be.

"I know there's a situation here, it needs to be fixed," said Harris.

Since last fall, the Lee County Sheriff's Office has listed Hispanic on its incident reports and booking sheets. They say it is for description only so they can keep track of inmates and criminals on the streets. The information is used within the department only and does not factor into crime statistics.

What a crock of $&!*
In 1931 there weren't 45 Million Hispanics - most of whom arrived ILLEGALLY- in the USA.
The Census Bureau tracks them (16% of USA population), AND they get gov. funds based on that.
What a cop out by law enforecement!
If the hispanic crime stats were tracked & publicized, American CITIZENS would be outraged.
I think this immigration fiasco is really starting to highlight what a really, truly lousey government we have.
This isnt a government of & for the PEOPLE, it's a government of and FOR the Elites.

wtf - this is an example of liberals/elites at their finest. They defend this insanity with their stupid story of the poor people who have a right to come here to work only.
There is no difference between legal and illegal to them unless a person is not hispanic and then all of a sudden there is a big difference.

Oh yeah, but if they want free tuition, they list themselves as hispanic.

They don't list Hispanics seperately as perpetrators but they do provide a Hispanic category for victims! Seems kinda unfair doesn't it?

Does this person not know there are white people from every country in the world?

Wonder how they classify black Hispanics?

This is really no secret. For years, when asked about crime committed by illegals, the official position is that no record is kept. Plausible deniability.

In a small town paper where there is a pretty fair number of Hispanics, the sheriff gave his 'racial profiling' report. This was for traffic stops. The whites and blacks were stopped a percent of the time, in line with their representation in the population - but the HIspanics were only stopped 2%. This just tells that they don't stop the Hispanics. It 's just that simple.

Well that figures.

More to the point, anyone in opposition to illegal immigration is accused of being racist towards Hispanics. How can be racist towards a non-race? I know I’m playing a semantics game here, but the point still remains and the illegals and their supporters are still making the claim of racism.

So who dose La Raza (The Race) represent?

The pro-illegal crowd does not have to make sense - they just need to have the right buzz words and scream the loudest.

That has always been the way of those who wish to silence debate on any subject.

Originally Posted by dragonfire

More to the point, anyone in opposition to illegal immigration is accused of being racist towards Hispanics. How can be racist towards a non-race? I know I’m playing a semantics game here, but the point still remains and the illegals and their supporters are still making the claim of racism.

So who dose La Raza (The Race) represent?

They represent the reoccupying of the Southwest United States and will go by any means getting it!!! La Raza doesn't speak for the Latino American citizens! We are all Americans here and we are outraged by the non-acts of our government by an invading foreign force!!! Enforce the laws seal the border and deport!!!