New study shows racial disparities in Rhode Island traffic stops

ProvidenceJournal 

The police are more likely to pull over people of color than white drivers in a majority of Rhode Island communities, but less likely to give them a ticket, according to a new report on racial disparities in traffic stops.

The authors of the study, experts from Northeastern University’s Institute on Race and Justice, reviewed nearly 153,891 traffic stops made by 39 Rhode Island police agencies between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2013, and say that initial findings reflect similar statewide patterns as found in the 2004-05 study. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation and Traffic Stop Data Committee announced the findings Thursday.

Seventy-seven percent of stops involved white drivers, 11 percent Hispanic drivers, nearly 10 percent black drivers and 2 percent Asian/Pacific Island drivers. But researchers found that minorities were pulled over at a disproportionate rate when they compared the driver’s race to the racial makeup of the town where they were stopped.

The report said that, when compared with the results in the previous study, the difference in non-white traffic stops, compared with the driving population estimates in the communities, decreased in 20 communities and increased in 17.

According to the study, the police most frequently stopped males under 31 who were not driving in their hometown.

The police stopped most drivers for speeding — 38 percent — and 57.1 percent received a citation, according to the report.

The authors made the recommendation that each town review the findings for areas of concern, share the information with officers in its agency and the community to start a conversation about biased policing and continue collecting data of traffic stops to monitor patterns and disparities in stops.

To some, the findings were all too familiar and they called for legislation to prevent racial profiling.

“Nearly ten years after racial profiling was banned in Rhode Island, minority drivers continue to be disproportionately stopped by the police, but are paradoxically less likely to receive a citation, raising serious questions as to the appropriateness of these stops to begin with. Even more troubling, minority drivers remain much more likely to be searched when stopped,” said Hillary Davis, policy associate at the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, in a news release.

“Rhode Islanders can no longer afford to wait for more data to confirm what we have known to be true for a decade. Racial disparities in traffic stops unequivocally exist, and laudable efforts of the police and the community over the last ten years have failed to solve the problem. We cannot wait another ten years to find these numbers unchanged; it is time for meaningful action against these disparities, through passage of comprehensive racial profiling prevention legislation by the General Assembly, ” said Davis.