FBI director urges improvement of police and race issues

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- FBI Director James Comey addressed law enforcement and race relations, urging police officers to overcome "latent biases" in a rare speech before Georgetown University students Thursday.

Comey said police officers should avoid "lazy mental short-cuts" that can sometimes lead to bias in the way officers treat minorities.

"Police officers on patrol in our nation's cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment," he said.

"The two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others the officer has locked up," he said. "Two young white men on the other side of the street - even in the same clothes - do not. The officer does not make the same sinister association about the two white guys, whether that officer is white or black."

"Those of us in law enforcement must double down on fixing biases. We must resist shortcuts and laziness."

Comey also said people living in minority communities with high crime must recognize the dangers police officers face in trying to keep them safe.

The speech comes in the wake of nationwide -- and even global -- protests after the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of U.S. police. Demonstrations flared in 2014 after police officers weren't indicted for the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York.

Protesters accused police of racial bias and excessive force in those instances