ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Roanoke Police Department (RPD) received 40 complaints from citizens last year about the conduct of its officers, three of which involved allegations of racial bias.
Our Target 7 team has addressed one of these complaints, which stems from a traffic stop in September 2023.
A woman was stopped by police but was injured during the stop. She stated that as a black woman, she was concerned about the way she was treated by a Roanoke police officer.
“It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been who I was or am,” said Bernadette Lark.
Lark stated she was stopped in northwest Roanoke for expired license plates. A Virginia State Police trooper made contact when a Roanoke police officer allegedly came to the passenger window and tried to speak to Lark.
Lark said the Roanoke police officer made disrespectful comments about her husband.
“It wasn’t productive and I told her that,” Lark said. “Then she immediately asserted her authority by saying, ‘Get out of the car,’ and that’s basically what escalated things.”
Lark stated that she was handcuffed and that the violence left her with a cut wrist and a twisted leg.
“It bled so badly that they actually sent a unit to my house to take pictures after it happened,” Lark said.
Lark later filed a complaint with the RPD and attended an investigative meeting where a representative of the NAACP was present.
“The NAACP representative pointed out how horrifying the numbers are and the percentage at which these stops typically end when the situation escalates and coercive force is used,” Lark said.
The RPD’s annual bias-based policing review shows that the number of tickets issued to black drivers in all four of Roanoke City’s zones is disproportionately high. The numbers are calculated based on a disproportionality index (DI), with a number above one indicating that the incident occurs more frequently than expected.
Black drivers received 312 citation calls with a DI score of 1.21 in southeast Roanoke, 712 calls with a DI score of 1.43 in northeast Roanoke, 401 calls with a DI score of 1.50 in southwest Roanoke, and 1,088 calls with a DI score of 1.37 in northwest Roanoke.
“The disproportionality index shows that black drivers are overrepresented in traffic stops,” the report says. “This disparity is also observed in larger, national studies that have concluded that minorities are overrepresented in traffic stops.”
Captain Eric Thiel, head of the RPD’s criminal investigation division, said the numbers did not indicate any underlying racial bias.
“If there was a really serious problem, we would simply have a multitude of more complaints about this type of activity,” said Captain Thiel.
A better indicator is the total of 40 citizen complaints in 2023, including three allegations of racial bias, out of 103,244 police-citizen contacts, Captain Thiel explained. The report’s summary states there is no evidence of underlying racial bias within the department.
“This is confirmation that we are doing what we should do,” said Captain Thiel.
All of the 2023 racial bias complaints were either acquitted, meaning the incident did occur but there was no evidence of wrongdoing, or were unsubstantiated, meaning there may have been factual errors.
Lark’s complaint was either acquitted or found to be unfounded.
“I really can’t speak to the specifics as it is a personnel matter, but it has been fully investigated and an order has been issued,” Captain Thiel said.
The data shows that there has been a decrease in allegations of racial discrimination compared to six complaints in 2022, but the number of citizen complaints overall has increased slightly compared to 27 complaints in 2022.
“I want to see real change for myself and the members of our community,” Lark said.
The full report can be found here:
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