Measuring Racial Disparities in Traffic Stops: Effective Methods and Key Findings

• In Event: Informing Police Practice through Action Research: Findings from the National Policing Institute

Abstract

Amidst calls for police reform, states, municipalities, and law enforcement agencies across the United States are adopting new policies and practices to track and regulate officers’ engagement in traffic stop and enforcement activities. While the thorough collection of stop and enforcement data is critical for examining the equity and effectiveness of police practices, the examination of these data requires methodologically robust analyses that can be challenging for agencies to manage without specialized training in data analysis and statistical strategies. This presentation will highlight the National Policing Institute’s collaboration with two unique municipal police agencies in the comprehensive review and analysis of data to better understand how police agencies can effectively examine the equity of their police stop practices. The process and findings of these action research projects, including a detailed examination of methods for measuring racial disparities in officially recorded police stop data, will be discussed.

Author

• Ryan Fisher, National Policing Institute