A Davenport pastor says there is still racial profiling within the city's police department. Pastor Rogers Kirk made those remarks on Monday, December 1, 2014 at a discussion on the uprising in Ferguson at the Third Missionary Baptist Church in Davenport.
Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba, Pastor Kirk, and Davenport Police Chief Don Schaeffer were in attendance Monday. Schaeffer says that the recent research done by St. Ambrose University shows that there is racial profiling within the department when it comes to traffic stops, but he says the police department has done a lot to try and curb that trend since 2011. Schaeffer says his officers are being watched much more in their patrol cars now, than they were three years ago.
Kirk said the goal of Monday's discussion was to make sure that the violence that happened in Ferguson does not happen in Davenport.
"I think this meeting is not only about the data study as far as racial profiling is concerned," Kirk said. "But it is to deal with the underlying problem of racism in our community."