Attorney general report suggests some police still profiling

ST. LOUIS -- Black motorists in Missouri are 40 percent more likely to be pulled over by police than whites, according to a report released Friday by Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Under state law enacted in August 2000, police must record the age, gender and race of motorists stopped and note if a search was conducted, alleged violations and whether charges were filed. Nixon compiles the information in a report to the governor and legislature.

Nixon said 620 police agencies provided data for 2002; 59 did not and could face the loss of some state funding.

The report found that, just as in the previous two years, blacks also were far more likely to be searched. Hispanics were only slightly more likely to be pulled over, but they were twice as likely to be searched as whites.

"Building trust is essential," Nixon said. "We've got some territory to cover. We have to overcome the real belief of the African-American population that they are more often targets of police stops."

The report, compiled with the help of University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist Scott Decker, documents nearly 1.4 million traffic stops, 109,000 searches and 80,000 arrests.

Nixon cautioned that the statistics don't prove racial profiling. In Columbia, for example, police receive many more complaint calls in a predominantly black part of town, increasing the likelihood that blacks will be pulled over, he said.

But "I think there is cause for some concern," Decker said.

'Endemic' problem

Human rights experts agreed.

"What we're seeing is endemic," said Martin Rafanan, director of the St. Louis office of the National Conference for Community and Justice. "For some reason, this is how law enforcement acts. In some respects, that indicates there are still stereotypes that we have to address."

Officials with the Anti-Defamation League of St. Louis travel around Missouri and part of Illinois educating police about racial sensitivity. The report indicates there is still much work to do, director Karen Aroesty said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if young men who experienced a driving-while-black incident went home and told their families, and everybody nods and says, 'Welcome to the club.' And it's a shame," Aroesty said.

Despite increased awareness and training, the 2002 report shows the percentage of stops involving blacks is actually rising.

In 2001, blacks were 35 percent more likely to be stopped than whites and 78 percent more likely to be searched.

The 2000 report covered only the final four months of that year, showing that blacks were 30 percent more likely to be stopped than whites, and searched 70 percent more often. Numbers involving Hispanics have remained generally consistent over all three reports.

"You would hope that trend would head the other way," Nixon said.

Still, the report showed that whites were more likely to be caught with drugs, weapons and other illegal items. Police confiscated illegal items from 22 percent of whites searched, compared to 17 percent of both blacks and Hispanics.

Despite the findings, Nixon said most police agencies are making a strong effort to avoid profiling. Rafanan said St. Louis police have met with community leaders to talk about the issue of profiling.

The report does not include a category for Arab-Americans, so it was not possible to determine if they are increasingly subjects of racial profiling in the post-Sept. 11 era, Nixon said.

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On the Net: The full report on the Missouri Attorney General's Office Web site offers a link to each law enforcement agency's report: http://www.ago.state.mo.us