Two Charlottesville groups are using legal channels to attempt to make public data on the Charlottesville Police Department’s stop and frisk policy.
The Public Housing Association of Residents and the Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the NAACP have brought the case to court after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, which was denied by CPD.
A Charlottesville judge recently overruled a motion to dismiss a FOIA lawsuit against the city. As a result, a future hearing will determine whether or not the department will have to release the reports.
Having these records released is the only way to make the police department accountable to the community, said Charlottesville-based attorney Jeffrey Fogel, who is representing the PHAR and NAACP.
“We are looking for the narratives the police in Charlottesville are required to fill out about why people are stopped,” Fogel said. “It would give us the opportunity to demand accountability.”
The department released statistics last summer on 140 “stop and frisks” that took place over the course of 18 months. The information showed that 70 percent of those subjected to a warrantless frisk were African-American. Overall, only 12 percent of the people who were stopped were engaging in criminal activity.
Third-year College student Aryn Frazier, the president of the Black Student Alliance at the University, said the statistics show a bias against people of color.
“The problem with our criminal justice system is stereotyping these bodies just based in their appearance especially when it doesn’t yield high success rates—it’s horrible,” Frazier said.
This stereotyping is causing a rift between law enforcement and African-American citizens, Fogel said.
“I think its pretty clear now the level of distrust between the police and the African-Americans in urban areas,” he said.
Fogel said he requested more information on the circumstances surrounding “stop and frisks” in the summer of last year and the department agreed to release anonymous information. However, Fogel fell ill and was unable to follow through, and when he requested the information again some months later his request was denied.
“This is not an uncommon problem,” Fogel said.
Fogel said that with greater openness and transparency of law enforcement practices will come reform.
“Once this gets out into the public eye… the public is in a position to demand changes,” Fogel said.
The Charlottesville Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
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