2017 traffic stops in Columbia increase for African Americans, but consent searches decrease

The 2017 vehicle stops report, released by Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office, comes out Friday but the city of Columbia is addressing its numbers before the report comes out.

The data has been released no later than June 1 every year since 2000, after citizens raised concerns about racial profiling by law enforcement.

The disparity index, which is measured by comparing the percentage of traffic stops involving driving-age members of a certain group, should have a value of 1. That would mean that members of that group are stopped at the rate you’d expect if they were all equally likely to be stopped.

A press release from the city indicates that the 2017 report for the Columbia Police Department will indicate “a projected disparity index of 3.28 for African American drivers.” That’s an increase from 2016, when it was 3.13.

ABC 17 News reported last year that 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.

“The data shows that vehicle stops tend to be conducted in areas where we see the highest numbers of reported violent crime, calls for service, and accidents,” said CPD Chief Ken Burton in the release. “The Columbia Police Department takes this data seriously and reviews the stop data of specific officers who have a high disparity index.”

He said they generally found that officers with high disparity indices were pulling people over in their beats or had a high index because they weren’t pulling over as many people.

Reports of racial profiling are reviewed by internal affairs. Over the past several years, there has been a decrease in the total number of stops and tickets issued. 85 percent of reported violations ended in a warning.

There has been a drop in consent searches. Last year, there were concerns about the search rate for African American drivers. Over the past year, CPD has implemented a new policy that requires proof of consent before an officer can conduct a search if there is no reasonable suspicion.

“We continue to look at data and we have not seen an apparent pattern of profiling, however,
we acknowledge that some community members have experiences with officers that make them
have negative feelings and perceptions about police,” said city manager Mike Matthes. “We want to continue to improve the relationship with everyone in our community and encourage citizens to have discussions with us about this report.”

Last year, members of Race Matters, Friends called for the removal of Burton after the 2016 numbers were released. Traci Wilson-kleekamp said in an email on Thursday that the city has the same response every year in response to increased disparities.

“I don’t know if it’s sheer laziness or incompetence (maybe both) that we find ourselves in the ‘Pete and Repeat went swimming, Peter drowned, who was left’ conversation,” she said.