Police can’t fix disparities

Sat., March 28, 2015

To answer the question (March 19) about racial profiling, the analytical report on Spokane Police Department contacts seems like a good descriptive count, but the explanation can be found only beyond the Police Department itself.

I think a correlation appears in the Spokane Regional Health District’s report, “Odds Against Tomorrow: Health Inequities in Spokane County 2012.” The United Way’s excellent distillation shows clearly that these same disparities by race appear in graduation rates and poverty.

The police can’t solve any of these other contributing troubles. That’s the duty of the community overall, working together on the causes. It’s hard for people in despair to do what is expected, and to count on the system to serve and protect. This fracture of trust hurts us all.

John Hancock

Spokane

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