ACLU OF HAWAI‘I ASKS HPD TO IMPLEMENT REFORM TO ADDRESS WEALTH AND RACIAL DISPARITIES

From ACLU Hawaii July 5, 2020

During a time of Black Lives Matter protests and an amplified conversation surrounding police misconduct throughout the nation, the Honolulu Police Department has consistently denied racial disparities in Hawai‘i. Our Legal Director Mateo Caballero looked through HPD's own data and it proves otherwise. There has been and continues to be overpolicing in communities of color and wealth and race play a pivotal role in how the police interacts with someone. Caballero wrote a letter to HPD on July 6, 2020 asking them to prioritize more reforms to address these disparities. 

PDF: 06.05.20 - ACLU Letter to HPD re discriminatory policing.pdf

Excerpt from Letter

HPD’s own arrest data shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HPD was 30 times more likely to arrest a Micronesian person and five times more likely to arrest a Black or Samoan person for violations of the COVID-19 orders than to arrest a white person.3 Similarly, a person experiencing homelessness was almost 55 times more likely to be arrested (viciously provided with housing--editor) under the orders than a housed person. Such arrests are particularly concerning, because they run counter to public health and the purpose of the orders, which is to avoid the spread of COVID-19.4 Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued clear guidance against conducting sweeps of homeless encampments when “individual housing options are not available,”5 and people experiencing homelessness were exempt from the stay-at-home provisions of the orders. Similarly, between 2008 and 2010, HPD officers were 3.5 times more likely to use force against Black people and 26 percent more likely to use force against Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders than against white people.

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CB: ACLU Presses HPD To Fix Racial Disparities In Policing

HPR: ACLU To HPD: Stop Racial Profiling, Even If Unintended