The U.S. Department of Justice is being asked review whether Tampa police are unfairly targeting blacks on bikes.
The City of Tampa and the Tampa Police Department made the request for an independent investigation after The Tampa Bay Times uncovered the vast majority of bike citations being issued in the city are going to blacks.
Police said they issued 544 bicycle-related citations in 2014. Of those, 443 went to black bicyclists.
"We agree these statistics for bike citations are troublesome and that we need to review this," said Castor.
Zabriel Thompkins lives in the Belmont Heights neighborhood. He said his bike is his main mode of transportation to get around.
"I use it to go to my friend’s house, go to neighborhoods, just go hang out with people," he said.
Thompkins said he's also been stopped about four times by police asking questions.
"They just want to check my bicycle. I ride the same one all the time so I don't understand that but they do it a lot," he said.
Chief Castor said she does not think her officers are guilty of racial profiling.
"We stop violations, bike violations, based on the law," she said.
Castor said the bike stops are mostly an effort to track down stolen property and that it's also about promoting safety on the road.
"I have been stopped for not having a helmet and I did get a ticket, my parents did get a ticket, and I got in trouble. It makes me feel like my privacy is being invaded," said Phoenix Phillips, 14.
Others said the sheer number of stops in predominantly black communities is troubling.
"It's how they're approached by law enforcement, it's the extent of the response to what appears to be a low level, relatively speaking, incident," said Joyce Hamilton Henry with the Florida ACLU.
Thompkins said he gets why officers stop some bicyclists.
"I understand they have to do their jobs, they have to follow the law," he said.
But Thompkins also said he doesn't want to get in trouble for just trying to get around.