…Monique Dixon, [LDF’s] deputy policy director in Washington, said she and other advocates view North Charleston’s move as a direct result of that persistent call. She welcomed it. But in effect, the city will be getting softer scrutiny than it would face in a civil rights probe, she said.
An initial indicator of that, Dixon said, was North Charleston’s request to COPS. The letter by Summey and Police Chief Eddie Driggers failed to cite statistics that some advocates see as evidence of biased policing, she said. More than 60 percent of people pulled over in North Charleston are black, though its population is 47 percent black.
“It was a glaring omission,” Dixon said. “That causes us to have even more concern that if we don’t have a pattern-or-practice investigation, we will not actually solve the underlying problem that so many people have shared with us.”
Read the full article here.
