Disparity in traffic stops in Greensboro, elsewhere

In Charlotte and Raleigh, black drivers accounted for about 60 percent of such stops in those five years.

In Durham — more than 70 percent.

On Tuesday, Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott cited that racial disparity in Greensboro when he temporarily suspended traffic stops for equipment violations — such things as cracked windshields and burned-out taillights.

Scott said it’s part of a larger effort by the department to deal with how race affects policing, specifically during traffic stops.

“These types of stops are clearly an area of concern,” Scott said in announcing his decision. “On its face, the data shows that racial disparities in traffic stops do exist.”

He also said the issue is “incredibly complicated.”

His decision followed a recent report in The New York Times about disproportionate police stops of black motorists in Greensboro.

The newspaper’s research found that officers stop and search twice as many black motorists as white motorists, though whites are more likely to be carrying contraband.

Stops for possible equipment violations accounted for about 12 percent of all traffic stops Greensboro police made in the past five years, according to a separate analysis done by the News & Record.

Scott’s decision to temporarily suspend those stops is uncharted territory for Greensboro. Even Scott acknowledges he doesn’t know where the experiment will lead or what his department will do with the findings.

One of the department’s harshest critics, the Rev. Nelson Johnson, said last week that the move is a good first step toward dealing with racial disparities in policing.

“I appreciate and applaud that,” said Johnson, one of several black ministers critical of the department, its treatment of minorities and what they have labeled “abuse of power.”

“But there’s a pattern to first steps: They can end up being last steps.”

Johnson said the department must also look at its own culture — and Greensboro’s, as well — if it wants to make substantive improvements in local race relations.

A group that has met weekly since March to discuss such improvements will announce its findings at 7 p.m. Thursday at Shiloh Baptist Church.

There has been backlash over Scott’s decision, too, something especially evident on social media.

Some people posted comments on Greensboro City Councilman Tony Wilkins’ Facebook page criticizing the move, asking whether it will deal with racial disparities at all.

Wilkins was among those critical of Scott’s decision.

“It is my opinion,” Wilkins told one commenter, “that we don’t pick and choose which laws are to be enforced. ... please be assured that this councilman had no involvement in this decision.”

Wilkins told the News & Record that he is waiting for some data on traffic stops and wants to take up the matter in more detail.

“I have asked Chief Scott and Assistant City Manager (Wesley) Reid to give me an explanation as to how this action is in compliance with the chief’s oath administered during his swearing-in ceremony,” Wilkins said.

“I have full confidence they will be able to make that more clear to me.”

Scott said the department had been studying racial disparities in traffic stops long before the Times published its article last month. Researchers from N.C. A&T and UNC-Greensboro are analyzing the numbers for the department, he said, as are crime analysts within the department.

The issue has been hiding in plain sight for years: The data is available on the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s website, http://traffic stops.ncdoj.gov. State law requires every local law enforcement agency to report each month the number of traffic stops it makes, the reasons for the stops and the outcomes of the stops.

The data show drivers’ gender, race and ethnicity.

The News & Record used the website to review traffic stops made by Greensboro’s police officers between Nov. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2015. This analysis found:

• Officers stopped 206,041 vehicles for a variety of reasons, including speeding, suspected drunken driving and possible vehicle equipment violations.
• 54.6 percent of drivers were black.
• 42.5 percent were white.
• 2.9 percent were Asian, Native American or other races.

The analysis examined more closely statistics for vehicle equipment violations, the type of traffic stop Greensboro police decided to suspend temporarily. Those violations might include cracked windshields, inoperable lights or windshield wipers, or overly tinted windows, department spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said.

This review also found that during the same period:

• Officers made 24,874 stops based on suspected equipment violations.
• 63.8 percent of drivers were black.
• 33.1 percent were white.
• 3 percent were Asian, Native American or other races.

It’s a pattern in some of the state’s larger cities, although Greensboro’s gap between white and black drivers stopped for equipment violations is wider than most. The News & Record found such disparities in Fayetteville, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Raleigh and Durham.

Both Winston-Salem and High Point police pull over black drivers at slightly higher rates for such suspected violations. But in other cities, such as Burlington and Asheville, police stopped white drivers more frequently for those possible infractions.

Scott said he’s planning to host a meeting of the state’s police chiefs to figure out ways to tackle the discrepancies.

Said Scott: “Numbers alone cannot possibly tell us the reasons for these differences.”

http://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/traffic-data-show-disparity-in-stops-for-equipment-violations-in/article_97a29064-5b31-5113-a25b-9ad4420d3c67.html