The problems are multi-faceted:
- some crimes, especially relating to drugs, were specifically invented (or their sentencing made harsher) to target people of color. Just remember the infamous quote of Nixon's top advisor: "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
- poverty, drug abuse and crime form a vicious circle. Over decades, that was mostly restricted to people of color, but the opioid crisis showed that the very same relationship also holds up in White, former solidly middle class people.
- related: prison sentences, even short stints in jail, for bullshit charges can and will have disastrous consequences like loss of employment and housing, which combined with the complete lack of a social security network leaves many people with only crime as alternative to make ends meet.
- "predictive policing", similar to AI/ML technology, feeds on existing biases in the datasets. When the "classic way" shows a high rate of crime in a PoC and gang dominated neighborhood, any form of "prediction" will direct more police presence there than to White, "rich" neighborhoods.
- related: where there is more police, the police will also find more crime. To take the drugs example: two people exchanging cash for crack on the street or an old, run-down car are visible, easy targets for cops. A "cocaine taxi" delivering stuff in an upper-class 'hood, with a brand new 7 series BMW? Won't ever get stopped for a random traffic control, despite the crime being the exact same.
Crime can't be combatted solely by using police repression. Anyone who seriously wants to tackle it has to go deep to the roots: a lack of societally positive perspective for way too many people of color thanks to structural discrimination, toxin exposure in "bad 'hoods" (lead paint, industrial effluents, traffic-related stuff like particulate matter dust), quality of education in public schools, a lack of clean and safe drugs forcing people to street vendors, un(der)educated police officers, ... the list is endless, and to fight the problems requires immense amounts of money and political clout.