Black Drivers Searched More Frequently

Survey of police stops in Missouri showed a much larger proportion of African-American drivers were pulled over in 2010 than were drivers of other races.

The numbers suggest black drivers are 69 percent more likely than white drivers to be pulled over.

But in releasing the data, Attorney General Chris Koster cautioned against drawing from it conclusions about racial profiling.

“One of the best uses of these reports is as a springboard for dialogue and communication between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve,” Koster said in a statement.

The figures, submitted by 630 law-enforcement agencies from across the state and compiled by the attorney general’s office, compare the proportion of traffic stops for drivers of a particular race with that race’s proportion in the overall population.

The “disparity rate” for African-Americans statewide in 2010 was 1.61, meaning 61 percent more black drivers were pulled over in Missouri than would be expected if vehicle stops mirrored the state’s racial demographics for driving-age people.

That figure is down slightly from last year’s rate of 1.62, but there has been a generally upward trend over the last 10 years.

That's among the findings of the latest report on traffic stops published by Attorney General Chris Koster Wednesday.

The 11th annual report contains analysis of more than 1.6 million traffic stops across 630 law enforcement agencies across Missouri.

The data shows that traffic stops of both African American and Hispanic drivers dropped, but Hispanic drivers were searched 2.13 times more than white drivers, and African Americans 1.86 more likely to be searched than white motorists.

Of those searched, white drivers were found to be in possession of contraband 24.5 percent of the time, African Americans 17.5 percent and Hispanics 14.4 percent.

Independence Police Department spokesman Tom Gentry said the department had not studied Wednesday’s report closely, but noted that in past years the numbers have been skewed by stops in Independence of residents from Kansas City and elsewhere.

Richard Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who helped produce the report, acknowledged shortcomings in the methodology.

State Sen. Kiki Curls, a Democrat who represents the largely African-American east side of Kansas City, said she’s long heard concerns from constituents that back up the report’s findings.