FBI director: U.S. at crossroads on racial relations

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey said on Thursday that the U.S. society is "at a crossroads" on racial relations.

This was the first time he publicly discussed the issue at length after the killings of unarmed black men by white officers in Ferguson and New York City triggered heated debates in recent months.

"Unfortunately, in places like Ferguson and New York City, and in some communities across the nation, there is a disconnect between police agencies and many citizens - predominantly in communities of color," Comey said in a speech at Georgetown University.

Comey highlighted researches which indicated the widespread existence of unconscious bias in a white-majority society against black faces, and said white officers, working in communities where non-whites commit a majority of crimes, are prone to adopt negative stereotypes about members of minority groups.

"The two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others the officer has locked up," said Comey. "The officer does not make the same association about two white guys," a behavior labeled by Comey as "lazy mental shortcuts", which he warned would complicate the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

Comey called for better data collection and analysis of how police officers use force during patrols, stressing that without complete and accurate data, sound policy decision would be hard to make. Endite