The Department of Justice is actively investigating the Tampa Police Department. The investigation stems from an investigative report by the
Tampa Bay Times:
The U.S. Department of Justice will review the Tampa Police Department's enforcement of bicycle laws after a Tampa Bay Times investigation found 79 percent of the agency's bike tickets go to black residents.
For comparison, the latest U.S. census data reveals that
African Americans are 26% of the Tampa population.
More from the Tampa Bay Times:
Most of these tickets cluster in the city's poor, black neighborhoods. Some residents have received more than a dozen tickets; some have gotten more than three tickets in one day.
The Times found that, for years, Tampa police have used bike stops as a proactive policing strategy in high-crime neighborhoods. The department has encouraged officers to pull over people for infractions like riding without a light and carrying a rider on the handlebars in hopes of uncovering or preventing greater crimes.
Watch Tampa Bay Police Chief Jane Castor address the report and the investigation
here.