It was traumatizing : Black drivers more likely to be stopped by police in Berkeley, audit finds
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Michael Lang says he moved to Las Vegas after being traumatized when Berkeley police pulled a gun on him after mistaking him for a carjacking suspect in a similar car. “I can’t even describe the feeling,” he says.Saeed Rahbaran / Special to The Chronicle
Michael Lang left the Bay Area four months ago after he was stopped at gunpoint by police in Berkeley in a case of mistaken identity for a carjacking suspect, leaving him traumatized.
Lang, who is Black, had just picked up a food order to deliver to a customer in Berkeley on June 30. When he saw a patrol car behind him, the 27-year-old pulled over to let it pass. The police car didn’t have its sirens or lights on, he said.
City auditor’s office finds racial disparities in Berkeley police stops
Karin Goh/File
The city auditor’s office presented an audit of Berkeley Police Department that found racial disparities in stops and response times. The audit used computer-aided dispatch to analyze more than 360,000 events involving police between 2015-2019.
The Berkeley city auditor’s office released an audit of the city’s police department focusing on racial disparities in stops and response times to incidents involving mentally ill or unhoused individuals Thursday.
In response to the national conversation on race and policing sparked by the killing of George Floyd, Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett proposed collecting data about police activities as part of a process to discuss police reform. The proposal was later incorporated into Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s Safety for All: George Floyd Community Safety Act, which was passed by the city in July 2020.