The U.S. Justice Department will release its report this morning on apparent racial disparities in the Tampa Police Department's issuance of bicycle citations.
Tuesday's report was requested a year ago by Mayor Bob Buckhorn and then-Police Chief Jane Castor in the wake of a Tampa Bay Times report that black bicyclists were issued citations at a vastly higher rate than the rest of the population.
Records show the department issued 544 bike citations in 2014. Of those, 443 — or about 81 percent — were given to blacks.
The 2010 U.S. Census shows African-Americans make up slightly more than a quarter of the city's population.
