(St. Louis Public Radio)-The percentage of African-American motorists in Missouri being pulled over by police is the highest it’s ever been since the state began collecting data to guard against racial profiling.
The annual “Missouri Vehicles Stops” report, issued by the Missouri attorney general’s office, said that during 2014 black motorists were 75 percent more likely to be pulled over by law enforcement officers than white motorists.
That’s a nine percentage point jump compared to 2013, when black motorists were 66 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over by cops. Attorney General Chris Koster calls the pattern “striking.”
“Just 14 years earlier, in 2000, the difference was only 31 percent,” Koster said in the report.
This year’s report also found that the disparity index was below average for Hispanics, Asians and motorists of other races. However, Hispanic motorists were more likely than blacks to be searched and arrested.
The numbers in the report are based on the percentage of drivers aged 16 or older pulled over in traffic stops in Missouri.
Koster states in the report that there is no single explanation for the disparities, but he also says the findings “continue a disturbing trend for African-American drivers in Missouri.”
Eleven law enforcement agencies did not submit their traffic stop data to the attorney general’s office, which Koster says is required by state law. The Wellston Police Department and the St. Louis Park Rangers are in this area. Other police departments are Edgerton, Lilbourn, Morley, Deepwater, Naylor, Camden, Hurley, New Melle and the BNSF Railway Police.