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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 11 June 2019

Report: Black Missouri drivers 91% more likely to be stopped

By SUMMER BALLENTINE more accurate indicator corded in the almost two 75% in 2016 and up to 85% who support our law en-
Associated Press of disparity because the decades since the state in 2017 . “One has to be forcement officers should
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) population base is, if you first began compiling data. cautious about how you not blindly conclude bias
— A report from Missouri’s will, the correct one,” said In Ferguson, black drivers interpret that,” Rosenfeld exists without being part of
attorney general shows Richard Rosenfeld, a Uni- in 2014 were 265 percent said, “because in the more the solution.”
that black drivers across versity of Missouri-St. Louis more likely than white mo- recent years of course Missouri Police Chiefs Asso-
the state are 91% more criminologist who analyzed torists to be pulled over. we’re moving further and ciation President Wes Blair
likely than white motorists the data for the attorney When comparing only resi- further away from the 2010 referred questions about
to be pulled over by police general’s office. The 2018 dents, black drivers were Census, which was used as the attorney general’s find-
and newly collected data ings to Executive Director
shows that African-Amer- Sheldon Lineback, who on
icans are even more likely Friday said he has been out
to be stopped in many on medical leave and had
communities where they not yet read the report.
live. Lineback did not immedi-
The Attorney General’s Of- ately comment.
fice for the first time last year The attorney general re-
collected data on whether leased the annual police
people pulled over by po- stops findings on May 31,
lice lived in the area or not. within days of Plain View
That’s significant because Project researchers flag-
law enforcement organi- ging 166 bigoted or violent
zations for years have said social media posts by ac-
that if drivers of color from tive-duty and former cops
out of town are pulled over in St. Louis and other cities,
as they commute through sparking an internal affairs
a city with a large white probe and officer sensitivity
population that could skew training in St. Louis.
a local police agency’s One St. Louis police official
data to make the disparity shared a meme asserting
rate artificially high. that “if the Confederate
While that appears to be flag is racist, then so is Black
the case in some jurisdic- History Month.”
tions, the numbers show the The progressive advocacy
disparity is sometimes actu- group Empower Missouri is
ally higher when compar- calling for increased com-
ing arrests of only resident munication between po-
white and black drivers. lice and communities and
The Missouri NAACP in policies “that help to break
2017 issued a travel advi- down the socioeconomic
sory warning people to be barriers that disproportion-
careful while in Missouri be- ately affect People of Col-
cause of a danger that civil or in our state,” according
rights won’t be respected, to a release from the group
citing in part the attorney in response to the latest po-
general’s annual report on lice stops report.
disparities in police stops. In this Dec. 3, 2013, file photo, Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, leads a meeting at the Capitol in Jefferson The organization also wants
For example, St. Louis Coun- City, Mo. “meaningful legislation to
ty police were 80% more Associated Press address the inherent struc-
likely to stop black drivers report comes nearly five more than three times as the population base. But I tural problems within our
compared to white drivers, years after protesters in Fer- likely to be stopped com- don’t think use of the 2010 criminal justice system.”
when analyzing the total guson drew national atten- pared to white motorists in Census alone explains that “If you don’t have any
number of police stops. But tion to longstanding con- 2018. “For the eighteenth increase in disparity.” teeth in that law that bans
when only comparing St. cerns about police treat- year in a row, the Missouri Missouri Sheriff s’ Associa- racial profiling, then you
Louis County drivers, data ment of black communities Attorney General’s office tion Executive Director Kev- won’t get compliance,”
show black drivers were following the 2014 police has released a report that in Merritt in a Monday state- said Republican state Rep.
more than twice as likely to shooting death of Michael shows black communi- ment said “law enforce- Shamed Dogan, of the St.
be pulled over. Brown, a black, unarmed ties, and people of color ment has no tolerance for Louis suburb of Ballwin. “We
In the Kansas City-area city 18-year-old who lived in the are disproportionately racial bias in policing and need to get Republicans
of Blue Springs, which is St. Louis suburb. stopped and searched by in general is not opposed on board to recognize that
87% white based on 2010 Data released by Republi- law enforcement,” ACLU to data collection.” But he it’s a crisis. We have data to
census data and close to can Attorney General Eric legislative and policy Di- raised issues with drawing prove this has been going
Interstate 70, black drivers Schmitt show that since rector Sara Baker said in a conclusions from police on for two decades.”
in general were 275% more then, reports of black driv- statement. “A report is not stops and said law enforce- Missouri law allows the gov-
likely to be stopped. When ers being pulled over at enough. Actions must be ment officials have pushed ernor to strip state fund-
isolating stops to residents, a disproportionately high taken.” to collect additional data ing from police agencies
data show black drivers rate compared to their In 2015, data show black on whether officers knew that don’t comply with the
were nearly three times as white counterparts have drivers were roughly 70% the race of the driver be- state’s racial profiling law .
likely to be stopped com- only increased. Last year’s more likely to be stopped fore pulling them over. State Budget Director Dan
pared to white resident statewide disparity rate by police compared to “There is much more to Haug said at least as far
drivers. “That is worrisome, between white and black white motorists statewide. this issue than raw data of back as 2015, that has not
because now we have a drivers is the highest re- That disparity climbed to stops,” Merritt said. “Those occurred.q