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Though data collection is an important part of a department's strategy to address perceptions of bias, taken by itself it may not resolve the debate about the existence of racial profiling. One problem is that analysis of traffic or pedestrian stop data attempts to measure a problem of individual perceptions with aggregate statistics. Therefore, regardless of its quality, traffic or pedestrian stop data by itself will not alter accounts about racial profiling. Instead, data may be used to bolster a group's existing opinion, or dismissed as inaccurate when it conflicts with an account. Community-police task forces designed to foster an open discussion about the results and implications of traffic or pedestrian stop data offer one method for integrating data analysis into an on-going dialogue about police activity.

One model that jurisdictions have employed to help bring both police and community representatives together to resolve questions about racial profiling is a community-police task force. Though the majority of racial profiling task forces were originally designed to oversee the data collection process, they also offer a unique opportunity to open up discussion about police and community accounts of racial profiling.

Bringing together stakeholders from the police agency and the community to participate in the data collection and analysis phases of the project fosters the development of mutually agreed upon problem-solving strategies based on the findings from the research. The task force model, in theory, becomes a vehicle through which both sides can express their views about the problem of profiling, review relevant research findings, and seek mutually agreeable solutions. Although racial profiling task forces may not result in agreement or conversion, they may produce a set of agreed-upon principles that can guide future police community interactions.

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ANALYSIS OF RACIAL DISPARITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT'S STOP, QUESTION, AND FRISK PRACTICES

RAND Corporation

In 2006, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stopped a half-million pedestrians for suspected criminal involvement. Raw statistics for these encounters suggest large racial disparities — 89 percent of the stops involved nonwhites. Do these statistics point to racial bias in police officers’ decisions to stop particular pedestrians? Do they indicate that officers are particularly intrusive when stopping nonwhites? The NYPD asked the RAND Center on Quality Policing (CQP) to help it understand this issue and identify recommendations for addressing potential problems. CQP researchers analyzed data on all street encounters between NYPD officers and pedestrians in 2006. They compared the racial distribution of stops to external benchmarks, attempts to construct what the racial distribution of the stopped pedestrians would have been if officers’ stop decisions had been racially unbiased. Then they compared each officer’s stopping patterns with an internal benchmark constructed from stops in similar circumstances made by other officers. Finally, they examined stop outcomes, assessing whether stopped white and nonwhite suspects have different rates of frisk, search, use of force, and arrest. They found small racial differences in these rates and make communication, recordkeeping, and training recommendations to the NYPD for improving police-pedestrian interactions.

ARIZONA: RACIAL PROFILING BY POLICE MUST BE STOPPED, PANEL SAYS

A civil-rights panel will recommend that Arizona police agencies take more steps to combat racial profiling after community leaders raised concerns. The recommendations could include better police training, mandatory data collection by police agencies to help detect patterns of racial profiling, and the creation of an independent citizen commission to investigate racial-profiling complaints.

MISSOURI: RACIAL PROFILING REPORT RELEASE

The Annual Racial Profiling Report of 2007 shows African Americans are more likely to get searched after being pulled over in Columbia. The state mandated the report in 2000 as a nationwide effort to provide transparency in police departments.

KANSAS: SENATE CONSIDERS RACIAL PROFILING BILL

In Topeka, Kansas a new bill could mean a difference in policing practices. The bill would make it illegal for law enforcement to use race as the sole factor in selecting which individuals are subject to routine investigatory activities. It would also create a task force on racial profiling. The bill would require law enforcement agencies to submit annual reports, and mandate two hours of racial profile training for officers. The Senate committee has yet to vote to advance the bill.

WEST VIRGINIA: RACIAL PROFILING STATE PROBLEM?

An ongoing study of whether racial profiling by police is a problem in West Virginia shows that black drivers across the state last year were 1 1/2 times more likely to be stopped than whites.Black drivers statewide were also twice as likely as white drivers to have their cars searched in those same traffic stops, the just-released report states.
The figures come from a statistical analysis of reports over a six-month period from nearly all law enforcement agencies in the state. The Statistical Analysis Center of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services is doing the study in response to a 2006 law. The study will continue this year, with a final report expected in 2009.

CALIFORNIA: HRC: POLICE 'PROFILING' DATA STILL NEEDED

The Human Relations Commission decided that Palo Alto police officers should continue collecting racial and gender data about individual traffic stops however only one, not two, reports per year should be generated. The change, which the commission suggested for a one-year trial period, should save the department about 200 hours a year.