City of Columbia responds to traffic stop report numbers

Almost a week after the Attorney General’s office released its annual Vehicle Stop Report, the city of Columbia is promising once again to work with the community.

2016 numbers showed black drivers were four times as likely to be pulled over than white drivers, and at a rate three times greater than expected.

That spike is the highest since 2000, despite Chief Ken Burton’s promise to dig into the 2015 numbers and make some changes.

“We understand our community is deeply concerned that the disparity index rose in 2016,” said City Manager Mike Matthes. “The Columbia Police Department, from patrol officers to the chief, desires to work with the community to better understand the root causes of the disparity increase.”

The city said in the release that it’s finishing up a number of listening tours with residents and several other local groups that were conducted over the past year in response to outrage over the 2015 numbers.

Within the next two months, the city will have one final meeting hosted by the NAACP to gather final information to compile in a report for the City Council.

According to a press release, “The report will contain findings and recommendations which will provide a framework of actions designed to reduce the disparity index.”

Columbia police Chief Ken Burton was quoted in the press release saying that he “heard concerns about the search rate for black drivers” and said the department had implemented a new search policy that requires written and signed consent before someone’s car is searched during a traffic stop.

“While it’s a small step, we believe it may have an impact on the search rate in the future,” said Burton. “We will vigilantly continue to look for additional data we can collect that would give our community a fuller picture of the reason each traffic stop is conducted.”