The research into racial disparities in policing also found that native American people were 8.6 times more likely to be arrested for low-level offenses than white people.
White youth, however, while making up 40% of the city’s youth population, accounted for only 14% of youth arrests.
The findings are based on Minneapolis police department figures, secured through a freedom of information request, on more than 96,000 low-level arrests between 1 January 2012 and 30 September 2014.
The research comes after one teenager’s encounter with the police was captured on a cellphone in which a police officer in the city is filmed telling him: “Plain and simple: if you fuck with me, I’m gonna break your legs before you get a chance to run.”
The footage was captured by 17-year-old Hamza Jeylani. Faysal Mohamed, who was in the car with Jeylani when he was arrested, told the ACLU that he had been detained several times. “I have to watch my back because the police are targeting me and targeting people like me,” he said
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