Blacks searched more often during traffic stops

Black drivers are nearly twice as likely to be searched and arrested than white drivers after being pulled over by metro police, according to a vehicle stop study released Friday morning.

Police Chief Steve Conrad called those disparities "areas of concern," but said the report, which was conducted by University of Louisville researchers, does not definitively show racial bias was a factor in vehicle stops.

The report analyzed 87,775 vehicle stops between April 2013 and March 2014. Of those, 67 percent involved white drivers, who make up 74 percent of Jefferson County's population, according to 2013 U.S. Census data. Twenty-eight percent involved black drivers, who make up 21 percent of the county population. The other stops involved drivers classified as Hispanic or other, who account for 5 percent of the county population.

Fewer than 10 percent of the stops studied resulted in a vehicle search. But when searches occurred, they involved black drivers nearly 14 percent of the time, compared to almost 8 percent for white drivers and 9 percent for Hispanics.

Blacks are also more likely to be arrested during a police stop, with 5 percent of stops involving blacks resulting in an arrest, compared to 3 percent of stops involving whites and 4 percent of stops involving Hispanics, according to the report.

West Louisville resident Katie Thompson said she wasn't surprised by the higher percentage of vehicle searches involving black drivers. In her experience, she said she has seen police profile the youths of her neighborhood — including her own son — numerous times with seemingly little reason.

"I think they categorize. It's not fair," Thompson said, adding that she believes there is "good and bad" on the force.

Amid community concerns about racial profiling, Conrad requested $55,000 to study whether there was evidence of a racial bias in vehicle stops.

Pilot data collection began in January 2013, and information was analyzed over the summer, said lead researcher Deborah Keeling of U of L's justice administration department.

Conrad and Keeling cited probable cause as a factor that helps explain the discrepancy in the car search and arrest statistics, but said data are not able to tell the full story.

"There is no quantitative research, no methodology, that can determine whether or not an individual or a group of individuals ... are engaging in biased policing," Keeling said. "To really definitely be able to determine if an individual is acting or making decision on biases, you have to know their intent."

Racial profile argument

Police conduct a probable cause search when they believe they have enough evidence to determine a driver was involved in criminal activity. Forty-three percent of searches involving blacks are probable cause searches, compared to 33 percent with whites and 28 percent with Hispanics.

Such searches result in the finding of "contraband, evidence, or fruits of the crime" about 75 percent of the time, according to the report.

White drivers were the most likely to be involved in a consent search, which occurs when drivers allow police to search their vehicle. Such searches resulted in an incriminating finding just 24 percent of the time.

Because blacks are most likely to be searched on probable cause, and probable cause searches often lead to finding incriminating evidence, it makes sense blacks are more likely to be arrested after a search than whites, Conrad said Friday.

Metro Councilwoman Attica Scott said the report was a step in the right direction but said there is more work to be done on the issue.

"It would be easy to read the report and wipe it under the table and say there is no racial profiling," Scott said. "When you look at the numbers and see 7 percent of whites and 13 percent of blacks are searched, how do you even begin to argue that that's not racially biased?"

Other findings in the report reveal that drivers between the ages of 20 and 30 were most likely to be stopped. That group represented 39 percent of all stops. Most stops were made in the winter months, and male drivers were behind the wheel nearly two-thirds of the time, according to the report.

The 8th Patrol Division, which covers Middletown, Lyndon and Oxmoor and includes expressways, made up nearly 20 percent of all stops, making it the division with the most stops. The 5th Division — Highlands, Clifton and Cherokee and Seneca Park areas — comes in second, making up 19 percent of all stops.

The two divisions that cover the Portland, Russell, Shawnee and Chickasaw neighborhoods showed the lowest numbers of police stops, together making up less than 14 percent of the total.

The 8th Division is larger than many others and has an expressway and dedicated traffic officers, police said, leading to more potential for traffic violations. A high number of traffic complaints in the 5th Division contributes to increased stops.

Police receive three hours of mandatory training on racial profiling, Conrad noted, and more than 10 hours specifically on training on tactics to deal with citizens ethically and respectfully.

Kentucky statute forbids the use of race as the sole factor in police stops, as does local police policy enacted in 2003.

Officers are only to stop an individual when there is "reasonable suspicion that the individual may have been engaged, is engaging or is about to engage in criminal activity," according to the department's standard operating procedures.

Those procedures also define profiling as making discretionary decisions, such as traffic stops, "based solely on an individual's actual or perceived race, ethnicity/national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, disability or other characteristics attributed to an individual as a member of such group."

Moving forward, the study will be used to inform police training and improve interaction with the community and will build on existing policies, training and traffic stop data collection, Conrad said.

Keeling recommended in the report that U of L conduct an annual analysis of vehicle stops and that data concerning the initial nature of the stop — criminal or traffic related — be included in the police database. Conrad pledged to support those recommendations.

"We have work that we need to do with this data," she said, adding that of the 8,250 stops conducted during the study period, there was only complete, detailed information on 3,500 stops.

Building public trust

As a black woman, ‎Deputy Chief Yvette Gentry said she understands the concerns of minorities in the community.

"Policing is not popular in the black community right now," Gentry said, which makes it difficult to recruit young minorities into the force. "We need everybody to make sure this agency is reflective of this community."

She said LMPD is about 85 percent white, and Conrad noted since 2012, 25 percent of recruit hires have been minorities.

"When you are stopped by somebody, and they don't look like you, it makes you feel uncomfortable sometimes," she said at a news conference.

Councilwoman Scott said future studies should go beyond examining solely traffic stops to encompass other forms of police-civilian interaction.

She encouraged community members to read the report and said a number of factors, including police training and community engagement, can help lessen the disparity in the data.

"We're in a point in time in our society where the relationship between community and police is intense, and the only way that is going to change is if they're willing to talk to one another."

In recent weeks, Louisville media outlets questioned the status of the study, which originally was targeted for a late-summer release. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky called on the police department to release the study. Upon a brief review of the study Friday, executive director Michael Aldridge said he was pleased with the report's release and hopes future analysis goes beyond traffic stops.

"I think this builds public trust," Aldridge said. "We do have racial tensions in our community. Being able to have honest conversations about race in our community is always positive."

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at (502) 582-4989. Follow him on Twitter at @MattGlo.