The Bureau of Justice Statistics compiled a report that would surprise no one -- certainly not minorities. Blacks, Hispanics and whites are all stopped by traffic cops at about the same rate, but blacks and Hispanics are 2 to 3 times as likely to have their car searched, get a ticket, be threatened with force and so on.
Of course, Bush hates facts so the head of the dept. Lawrence Greenfeld was pushed to make changes and downplay this news on racial profiling in a press release. He refused, was threatened with being fired and losing benefits and was finally demoted. What else is new with Bush? Tell the truth, do your job -- get punished.
Mr. Greenfeld refused to delete the racial references, arguing to his supervisors that the omissions would make the public announcement incomplete and misleading. Instead, the Justice Department opted not to issue a news release on the findings and posted the report online.And the official who pushed him to delete that info? She got a promotion.
Some statisticians said that decision all but assured the report would get lost amid the avalanche of studies issued by the government. A computer search of news articles found no mentions of the study.
