Black Civilian Treatment by White Officers During Videotaped Traffic Stops: How Extensive Policing Might Increase Racial Tension & Police Distrust

• In Event: Current Issues in Applied Contexts: Policing, Participation, Personal Narrative, Science Communication, and Supply Chains

Abstract

We content analyzed 325 randomly sampled video records of Cincinnati police department traffic stops from 2005. This analysis revealed three key racial differences: (a) Black drivers were more likely than White drivers to experience extensive policing during the stop, (b) Differences between the stops of White and Black drivers tended to be larger when the officer was White, (c) White drivers were more apologetic, cooperative and courteous compared to Black drivers.

Authors

• Travis Dixon, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Terry Schell, RAND Corporation

• Howard Giles, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Kristin Drogos, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign