Advocates of gathering demographic data about police arrests and ticketing, including low-level violations, say they believe it will prove what they see firsthand — that minorities get disproportionately arrested, written up and fined.
Surrounded by more than 50 people at the Capitol calling for detailed reporting, Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Sen. Daniel Squadron say the government needs to track and quantify what's happening in order to address it systematically.
Elaine West, who's black, recounted waking up in her Manhattan apartment to find detectives who arrested her based on the complaint of an ex-partner, who's white and who tripped and fell while intoxicated three weeks earlier and cut her own lip.
West says she's still traumatized.
NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman says limited data showed 80 percent criminal summonses to minorities.
