Study Finds Racial Bias In Police Traffic Stops And Searches

A large-scale study of traffic stops across the U.S. found significant black-versus-white disparities in how often drivers were stopped and searched by police, as well as evidence of racial bias behind those disparities.

Black drivers were about 20 percent more likely to be stopped by police than were white drivers, according to a study published last week by Stanford Universitys Open Policing Project .

Researchers looked at data for nearly 100 million traffic stops from 2011 to 2017, carried out by 21 state patrol agencies, including in California, New York and Texas, as well as 29 municipal police departments, including Denver; Tampa, Florida; and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The researchers also sought to dig beyond the disparities themselves to assess whether there was evidence of racial discrimination motivating the different rates of stops and searches.

For stops, they conducted a veil of darkness test, meant to assess if the disparity was less after nightfall, when it would be harder to detect a drivers race. They, in fact, did find a drop in the proportion of black drivers stopped after dark, suggesting racial bias was a factor.

In terms of searches, the study found that, although police were more likely to find drugs, guns or other contraband in stops of white drivers, black drivers were still searched about 1.5 to 2 times as often.

The analysis reveals evidence of widespread discrimination in law enforcements decisions to stop and search drivers, the study said.

I see the work were doing as opening the door and starting the conversation with local journalists, policymakers to start doing a deeper dive to understand whats driving the discrimination, said Stanford data scientist Amy Shoemaker, who worked on the study. And have conversations with police departments about how to make policy changes addressing these disparities and about the impact on communities of color.

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