Police Community Relations
The Problem:
Each year, thousands of African-American and Hispanic residents of Palm Beach County experience “investigatory” stops for minor things like rolling stop, failure to signal a turn or lane change, light too dim on the license plate, or sticker in the wrong place on the license place. These stops are more about the desire to investigate the driver and their passenger(s). In many stories, members are often asked questions like “whose car is this?” or “what are you doing in this area?”. People of color feel targeted, leading to growing mistrust of the police.
Proven Solution:
Law enforcement agencies cannot adequately address this problem because they lack the data showing what is actually happening. It is a national best practice to collect and analyze data on ALL traffic stops – including the race and ethnicity of the person and why they were stopped.
2025 Nehemiah Action Update
Sheriff Bradshaw was in attendance and he shared that PBSO has been tracking data on all traffic stops since June 2024. He also shared that PBSO is contracting with Dr. Jack McDevitt from Northeastern University to analyze this data.
Sheriff Bradshaw committed to a meeting between himself, PEACE, and Dr. McDevitt this fall to review the results of this analysis. We are following up NOW to get that meeting date scheduled.
We also asked Sheriff Bradshaw about PBSO's immigration policy -- which we have requested a written copy of. When we receive that, I will send it to everyone. Sheriff Bradshaw shared that PBSO will not participate in immigration raids. However, PBSO does have a policy of notifying ICE when someone is detained and undocumented -- ICE then would have to pick up this person before they are released by PBSO. He did affirm that PBSO is not a holding facility for ICE.
While this is not one of our issue campaigns this year, this is an issue that is closely related to racial profiling and something that touches many of our congregations. We will be following up on this in the year ahead.