With the University of Wisconsin Police Department sending out information on crimes around campus on a regular basis, the issue of public safety is on people’s minds more than ever. Certainly, the safety of everyone in our community is paramount. However, we cannot talk about the criminal justice system in Dane County and Madison without talking about issues about race.
Six percent of Dane County residents are black, yet 40 percent of the Dane County jail population is black, according to the Center for Effective Public Policy. Data revealed in the Wisconsin Council on Children and Family’s report this year showed in 2010, Dane County’s black youth arrest rate was 46.9 percent compared to 7.7 percent for whites — meaning black juveniles are six times more likely to be arrested than whites. It’s not much prettier for adults, with 29.5 percent of blacks arrested in 2012 compared to only 3.6 percent of whites arrested. This is not only an awful disparity, but puts us as one of the absolute worst in the nation (the nation’s arrest rate difference is 8.2 percent of blacks vs. 3.3 percent of whites).
These are not issues just pertaining to African-Americans, either. Profiling and police brutality cases have occurred for Asian-Americans time and time again, with profiling a pertinent issue for many Middle Easterners and South Asians. Immigration status and police brutality cases are causes for concern for people of all backgrounds, be it Hispanic, Asian-American, black or even white — last year, Paul Heenan, an unarmed white man, was shot and killed by a police officer, and the officer faced no disciplinary consequences in response.
So as we talk about ways to curb crime, we need to talk about ensuring our pursuit of law enforcement is not done in a way that continues this trend of racial disparities. Law enforcement is premised on principles of justice. Making law enforcement equitable is necessary to making law enforcement more effective. If we fail to pursue this goal, many students on our campus will find UW to be a more and more hostile environment, and fraying relationships between the police and the community will only worsen. If we want a safe campus that we are proud of and a police force that truly serves the public, we need to come up with ways to turn the tide of racial disparities in our criminal justice system.
To that cause, student organizations on campus are forming a coalition called Students for Equitable Law Enforcement. We will host a panel and discussion on the issues of policing and racism and open with artwork and music as well — Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Masley Media Room, Red Gym. Please join us to discuss next steps for our campus.
Students for Equitable Law Enforcement (SELE) is a coalition comprised of United Council, the MultiCultural Student Coalition, the African Student Association, Student Progressive Dane, Student Labor Action Coalition, the Teaching Assistants’ Association Diversity Committee, the Asian American Student Union, ASM Diversity Committee and other campus organizations.
Questions and comments can be directed to Leland Pan at [email protected].
