WESTBROOK — After a new analysis of the Police Department’s use of force showed an inordinate number of cases involving Black people, three city councilors have called for an expanded study of the department’s racial bias.

In 2019, 22% of Westbrook police officers’ use of force involved Black people, according to an independent study by Saint Joseph’s College that was presented to the City Council Monday. With Black residents making up only 2.3% of the city’s population, that gap is “significant,” the study says.

The independent study led by Professor Meredith Emigh-Guy reinforced findings of disparity in data previously released by the Police Department. Emigh–Guy defined force as when an officer uses a weapon, puts their hands on someone, or threatens to do either.

The meeting grew passionate as Councilor Claude Rwaganje, who said he has been a victim of racial profiling by local police, called for an expanded analysis to include other years and non-use of force incidents involving people of color.

“I am not surprised by these numbers because the community knows that police in Westbrook are tougher on Black people than anywhere else in Maine,” Rwaganjge said. “It’s a reality known in the community.” 

“We need to figure out a way to fix this going forward,” Rwaganje said. “What can we do together to mitigate this number so I don’t have to be afraid when I see the police? My colleagues would be surprised that even as a councilor I’ve been stopped coming here or going somewhere.”

Other councilors backed Rwaganje’s calls, including Ward 3 Councilor Anna Turcotte, who asked that Saint Joseph’s provide its interpretation of the study at a future meeting.

“I am a little disappointed because it’s just data,” Turcotte said. “The context was provided by (Police Chief Janine Roberts), but having an emotional topic such as this we want someone neutral to speak to the context and not have a councilor who feels profiled and the chief of police going at it.

“I wish we got to the meat of the analysis. I didn’t feel like I needed this presentation and need more of what the professor saw,” Turcotte said.

The Saint Joseph’s study of 2019 incidents was conducted in response to an American Journal report on the department’s use of force from 2016 to 2019.

In total, there were 132 uses of force among 31,000 calls for service, meaning less than 0.5% of calls led to any force, below the national average of 2%.

The study found that 60% of all use of force incidents involved Westbrook residents, 16% were from Portland and the rest were from elsewhere in Maine; there were no out-of-staters.

The study shows that 29, or 22%, of the 132 use of force incidents involved Black people, in contrast with the most recent census data in 2010 showing that only 2% of the population is Black.

The report found that officers initiated 27.6% of the use of force incidents with Black people, compared to the 12.6% with white people, which Emigh-Guy noted was also “significant.”

Eight of 20 juvenile use of force incidents were with Black children, nine white, three of other races.

“The troubling stat was children of color represented the majority of force among kids, Ward 1 Councilor David Morse said. ” I don’t see any evidence of hatred in our officers, but it’s clear that in this country, there is an ongoing issue of systemic racism in our institution and we are not exempt from that in Maine.”

Of all use of force cases, 30 of the suspects had a known mental illness, three being Black and the rest white.

The police chief told councilors she understood the study’s findings appear to be jarring.

“Yes the numbers look bad, they look high, but there are maybe three to four incidents where the officer knew the individual was Black and that may have been a pretext,” said Roberts, who is retiring at the end of the month. “Looking at those numbers, that context and reality and where and when and why, I don’t see a strong or negative pattern in that area.”

Roberts said officers making traffic stops often can’t tell what race a person is before stopping them. She said her officers make stops for valid reasons.

Rwaganje, however,  said he thinks officers had made up reasons after pulling him over or have given him minor reasons that wouldn’t have caused them to pull over a white driver. Much of the Black community in Westbrook has had that experience, he said.

“There is a greater question than whether or not every incident was justified, and that’s whether or not race was a factor if cases develop to where force is used at all. Based on the data, that may be,” Morse said.

Morse joined Rwaganje and Turcotte in calling for the analysis of data spanning from 2017-2019 and including incidents outside of the use of force to be presented at a future meeting. Ward 5 Councilor Elliot Storey said he’d like to see a socio-economic component included as well.

“I want to be clear that we can fix this,” Rwaganje said. 

Incoming Police Chief Sean Lally was sworn in at the meeting Monday and more discussion will come once Lally is on the job, Mayor Mike Foley said.

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