Study Shows Missouri Cops Pull Over Blacks Disproportionately To White

Study Shows Missouri Cops Pull Over Black Drivers Disproportionately To Whites

Via STLToday

Last year, the rate at which African-Americans were stopped on Missouri roads relative to their share of the population was the highest it has been since the state began collecting data in 2000.

According to the annual report released Monday by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s office, black drivers were 75 percent more likely than white drivers to be stopped. That gap is up from 2013 and well above the 31 percent recorded in 2000.

In a statement, the office notes that the data do not provide a single explanation for the disparity.

“While statistical disproportion does not prove that law enforcement officers are making vehicle stops based on the perceived race or ethnicity of the driver,” Koster’s office wrote, “this compilation and analysis of data provides law enforcement, legislators, and the public a starting point as they consider improvements to process and changes to policy to address these issues.”

Police agencies are required to submit annual traffic stop statistics. For each, Koster’s office calculates a “disparity index” comparing the race of drivers stopped to the race of driving-age residents of that jurisdiction. A 1.0 would mean they were in sync.

Racist cops in Missouri? Nahhhhh…

But interpreting the data is not that simple. The racial makeup of drivers may not match the community, given that some jurisdictions have busy highways or attract shoppers or workers from elsewhere. The census population data used are from 2010. And an officer may not know a driver’s race until after the stop.

A footnote in the St. Louis County police report says that its officers were aware of the driver’s race before the stop only 12 percent of the time.

But statewide, the disparity for blacks has gradually risen. They accounted for about 10.9 percent of the driving-age population last year but about 18.1 percent of the stops.

“These findings continue a disturbing trend for African-American drivers in Missouri,” the report says. “The disparity index for African-American drivers has increased steadily over the last fifteen years, with only slight, temporary drops” on three occasions.

Looks like someone needs to sweep the floor in some of these shady azz police departments…

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