Portland CopWatch and a coalition of local churches say police efforts to stop racial profiling aren't working.
Portland Police just released its pedestrian and traffic stop data for 2010.
JoAnn Hardesty with the Albina Ministerial Alliance says the group has been looking at the numbers and it appears racial profiling is getting worse, not better.
"If you're African American or Latino, you're twice as likely to be stopped by Portland Police officers. If you're white, you're less likely to be stopped, but if you are stopped and if you are searched, you're much more likely to have guns, drugs or other paraphernalia." says Hardesty.
Hardesty says African Americans make up six percent of the population in Portland, but were involved in 11 percent of the stops. But, Hardesty says, it is possible the data are being affected by an increase in the number of people of quote "unknown" race being reported by officers. That unknown figure climbed from 4 percent to 29 percent between 2004 and 2010. A spokesman from the Portland Police says they'll be discussing the survey at the Community Police Relations Committee.
