Report shows Black drivers still pulled over at higher rate than white drivers in Mid-Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Black drivers in Missouri were once again pulled over at a higher rate, based on their percentage of the population in 2023, according to the state's annual Vehicle Stops Report. 

In 2023, Missouri law enforcement agencies that filed reports recorded 1,367,150 vehicle stops, resulting in 61,990 searches and 57,713 arrests. The overall number of stops represents a 7% increase from 2022 while the number of arrests increased by 17%. 

This year's study got rid of the disparity index for traffic stops by race and ethnicity for the state overall, and for each agency. The change was made after a closed study research team suggested it be removed because "it is of limited analytical value", according to the report.

In Boone County data provided by the sheriff's office, deputies stopped 7,032 white drivers compared to 2,973 Black drivers, 265 Hispanic drivers, and 140 Asian drivers. Based on the percentage of the population by race in Boone County, black drivers were stopped at a rate of 23.26%, which was by far the highest of any group. The stop rate is calculated by the number of stops, divided by the estimated population of each race, multiplied by 100. White drivers had a stop rate of 5.84%, while Hispanic and Asian drivers had stop rates of 5.38% and 1.9%, respectively. 

In Columbia, police stopped 2,249 white drivers and 1,443 Black drivers. A total of 114 Hispanic drivers were stopped while 88 Asian drivers were stopped. Each of these totals has gone down from last year’s report. Black drivers in Columbia were stopped at a rate of 13.42%, which is lower than last year's rate of 18.25%. White drivers’ stop rate also went down from 3.8% to 2.82% while Hispanics dropped from 4.65% to 2.98% and Asians from 1.42% to 1.36%. 

The Cole County Sheriff’s Office reported 3,399 total stops. White drivers made up the majority of those stops with 2,806, while Black drivers were stopped 416 times. Hispanic drivers were stopped 127 times and Asian drivers were pulled over 18 times. 

While white drivers were pulled over the most overall, Hispanic driver were pulled over at the highest rate with a stop rate of 8.07%. Black drivers had the next highest stop rate at 6.05%, followed by white drivers at 5.51%, and Asian drivers at 2.14%. This marks the second year in a row that Hispanics were top of the charts in stop rates in Cole County. However, each race saw higher stop rates than the previous year. In 2022 whites had a 6.06% stop rate, while Black drivers were 6.32%, Hispanics were 6.77%, and Asians 2.23%. 

In Jefferson City, a total of 10,124 drivers were stopped by police. Of that total, 6,572 were white, 3,178 were black 197 were Hispanic and  87 were Asians. Black drivers' stop rate was 52.05%, which is an increase from last year's 40.27% rate. White driver stops also increased from 20.49% in 2022 to 25.19% in 2023. Hispanics and Asians had a stop rate of 19.31% and 10.82% which was an increase from 12.88% and 8.22%, respectively.