African-Americans drivers in Missouri were 75 percent – or 1.75 times – more likely than whites to be stopped for traffic violations, according to the 2014 Missouri Vehicle Stops Report that Attorney General Chris Koster’s office released on June 1.
This is a slight increase from last year, according to the annual report that summarized data from 97.7 percent of the 622 law enforcement agencies in Missouri for 2014.
However in St. Louis city, black drivers were 2.16 times as likely to be stopped as white drivers, and in St. Louis County it was 1.56 times as likely.
Statewide, black drivers were also 1.73 times more likely to be searched than whites. However during those searches, police were less likely to find contraband for African-Americans than whites. The contraband hit rate for whites was 26.9 percent, compared with 21.4 percent for African-Americans.
In response to the latest data, a statewide coalition of organizations has called for Koster to convene a summit on fair and impartial policing before the end of 2015.
Rance Thomas of the North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice said they were “saddened” to see the increase in the disparity rate.
“Where officers are making decisions based on skin color or other bodily characteristics instead of behavior, they need to stop,” said Thomas, a coalition member.
The coalition also encouraged community members to ask their police departments specific questions about the data. Don Love of Empower Missouri pointed to the data regarding arrests as an example.
“It turns out that a lot of the arrests are made for outstanding warrants,” he said.
In municipalities including Ferguson, residents can receive warrants for minor traffic violations, though reform to the municipal courts is in process.
“The municipal courts are used to squeeze as much money out of low-income residents as they can,” Love said.
He said in those situations, if police officers make a stop and the person has an outstanding warrant, they have to make an arrest. However, there are some opportunities for police to make decisions, including when they give citations.
“There’s some middle ground on when they do a citation and do an arrest,” he said. “You can’t tell from the data how many of those were boarder line. In places where there is high disparity for traffic violation arrests, it’s something important for community members to ask their police departments.”
He also said that well-trained officers can de-escalate an arrest situation, regardless of the race or ethnicity of the driver. The data shows, he said, that small, affluent police departments are doing well, including Clayton, Maplewood, Independence and Joplin. Love believes it’s because the department have the resources to send their officers to special training.
“All those chiefs seem to be doing their best,” he said. “But in places like St. Louis city, St. Louis County and Kansas City – even if the chief have the best intentions, the departments are so big. And the culture of the department is slow to change. Police officers earn from each other as much as anything.”
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