Posted on Feb 12, 2023
Black Oregon lawmaker reflects on unconscious bias after being pulled over twice in one week
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Democratic state Rep. Travis Nelson of Portland says he’s been pulled over by police at least 40 times since he started driving. Last week, the representative was pulled over twice in a span of three days, an occurrence he believes doesn’t happen to most of his white colleagues and staff.
Nelson said he was going 11 miles over the speed limit during the first stop, and he was holding his cell phone while taking a call during the second.
The stops happened the same week Nelson gave a speech about Tyre Nichols, a 29- year-old Black man who died after being beaten by a group of Memphis police officers.
Nelson spoke with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller about his experiences and concerns over unconscious bias in policing.
Nelson said he was going 11 miles over the speed limit during the first stop, and he was holding his cell phone while taking a call during the second.
The stops happened the same week Nelson gave a speech about Tyre Nichols, a 29- year-old Black man who died after being beaten by a group of Memphis police officers.
Nelson spoke with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller about his experiences and concerns over unconscious bias in policing.
Black Oregon lawmaker reflects on unconscious bias after being pulled over twice in one week
Posted from opb.org
Police
Law Enforcement
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Miller: As I’m sure you know, we’ve seen record numbers of traffic fatalities in Portland and statewide in recent years, including pedestrians and cyclists. What do you think should happen when motorists of any race are found to be speeding or driving unsafely?
Nelson: Yeah, I mean, I think under the law, in many cases, officers have some discretion, I think, if a ticket is warranted. I will say that in my experience, most of the time I’ve been pulled over, I haven’t gotten a ticket and to be frank, I think a lot of times when you’re Black or brown and you’re pulled over, a lot of times you’re being checked for warrants, you’re being checked to make sure that you have a registration, you’re being checked to make sure that you have a good ID because when you are Black and brown, there is unconscious bias that is often at play and we know that just because of your skin color, with the way our society works, you’re often viewed as suspicious.
Miller: Unless I’m mistaken, the data that I was mentioning earlier, in terms of stops and what happens and disparities, that’s all at the organizational level. Would you be in favor of tracking individual officers’ pull over rates or what happens after officers start interacting with people they’ve pulled over?
Nelson: I’m always interested in collecting data and taking that data into consideration when we’re looking at how we can mitigate the impacts of things such as unconscious bias."...
..."Miller: As I’m sure you know, we’ve seen record numbers of traffic fatalities in Portland and statewide in recent years, including pedestrians and cyclists. What do you think should happen when motorists of any race are found to be speeding or driving unsafely?
Nelson: Yeah, I mean, I think under the law, in many cases, officers have some discretion, I think, if a ticket is warranted. I will say that in my experience, most of the time I’ve been pulled over, I haven’t gotten a ticket and to be frank, I think a lot of times when you’re Black or brown and you’re pulled over, a lot of times you’re being checked for warrants, you’re being checked to make sure that you have a registration, you’re being checked to make sure that you have a good ID because when you are Black and brown, there is unconscious bias that is often at play and we know that just because of your skin color, with the way our society works, you’re often viewed as suspicious.
Miller: Unless I’m mistaken, the data that I was mentioning earlier, in terms of stops and what happens and disparities, that’s all at the organizational level. Would you be in favor of tracking individual officers’ pull over rates or what happens after officers start interacting with people they’ve pulled over?
Nelson: I’m always interested in collecting data and taking that data into consideration when we’re looking at how we can mitigate the impacts of things such as unconscious bias."...
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