DC chief: not many complaints about stop and frisk

BEN NUCKOLS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s police chief says her department gets more complaints about officers conducting traffic stops than about officers who stop and frisk people on the street.

Chief Cathy Lanier testified Monday at a D.C. Council hearing on the use of stop-and-frisk and other aggressive tactics that some believe disproportionately impact African-Americans.

She says an internal audit showed that black men were stopped at a similar rate to the amount that officers were told to look out for a black man as a potential criminal suspect. Lanier says the department stopped and frisked more than 3,000 people last year.

Lanier says the department gets more complaints about officers writing excessive tickets during traffic stops. She says she’d like to limit the number of tickets an officer can issue during a stop.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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