Racial disparities seen in police stops; officers say I-55 skews data

Some law-enforcement officials say it's the interstate that skews the data. Others say they are providing more law enforcement to areas of town that have the most crime, which are impoverished areas with a higher black population.

Whatever the reason, black motorists in or traveling through many cities, towns and counties in Southeast Missouri are stopped, searched and arrested more than white counterparts based on percentages when compared to local demographics, according to data recently released by the Missouri Attorney General's office.

The numbers

Of Cape Girardeau Police Department's 4,275 stops in 2015, 878 were of black motorists, or 21 percent of the total, while black residents make up 10 percent of the city's population.

Cape Girardeau searched black motorists 3.79 percent of the time, compared to 1.98 percent of white motorists.

The department arrested 2.45 percent of black motorists, compared to 1.22 percent of white motorists.

The Sikeston Department of Public Safety made stopped 868 black motorists, or 43 percent of the city's total stops in 2015. Sikeston's population is 23 percent black.

Sikeston police searched black motorists 12 percent of the time, compared to 8 percent of white motorists.

Officers arrested black motorists 7 percent of the time, compared to 4 percent of white motorists

Both cities' disparity numbers have grown since 2011.

"Racial profiling is nothing new," Cape Girardeau city councilwoman Shelly Moore said after looking at the data.

Moore, who is black, gave examples of profiling during the era of segregation.

"Since we're no longer in that time, why does the data show that there are concerns?" she said. "It still shows there is an imbalance. ... I don't know why the data is showing it; it's definitely showing it."

The explanations

Police officials gave a variety of explanations for the numbers.

Cape Girardeau public information officer Adam Glueck said the daytime population of the city is different than the set population, partly because of Interstate 55 and traffic from Illinois coming over the bridge.

Of Cape Girardeau's 898 stops of black motorists, 58 were on the interstate and 62 were on U.S. highways, compared to 731 on city streets.

Glueck said total stops for the department have increased -- 4,275 in 2015 compared to 3,943 in 2014 -- but there were fewer arrests and searches.

In 2014, 55 black motorists were searched, and 37 were arrested, accounting for 6.8 percent and 4.5 percent of stops respectively. In 2015, 34 black motorists were searched and 22 were arrested, accounting for 3.7 and 2.4 percent of stops respectively.

However, white motorists were searched and arrested less often and proportionately black motorists were searched and arrested more often than their white counterparts. Officers discovered contraband more often in their searches of black motorists compared to white counterparts.

"There's a lot that's not taken into context," Glueck said of the statistics. "The type of search, the officer approaches the car and smells contraband. It has nothing to do with race."

Cape Girardeau chief Wes Blair declined to comment Friday because he said he had yet to analyze the numbers. He could not be reached Monday.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety chief Drew Juden said the disparity between black and white motorists being pulled increased from 2011 because Sikeston had more patrol officers and made more traffic stops -- the department made 2,200 stops in 2015, compared to 3,400 stops in 2011. Sikeston public information officer Jim McMillen said the department still is down about four officers from its total capacity.

"In a perfect community, 70 percent of the stops should be Caucasian," Juden said, noting the racial makeup of the city. "It doesn't fall into that 70-30."

Juden said statistics, which he could not provide, show crimes, particularly violent ones, are disproportionately perpetuated by black people in the west part of Sikeston; therefore, officers are patrolling and pulling more people over in the west part of town. Juden said the city's last three homicides were in the west part of town.

"There are black members of the community that call us down there, want us down there because they don't want these things in their community," Juden said. "It's easy to look at these numbers and make a jump to conclusions."

A closer look

Morris Jenkins, dean of Health and Human Services at Southeast Missouri State University, has studied the disparity in traffic stops in other communities, including Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston and Toledo, Ohio.

He said statistics in those towns proved poorer parts of town, which often are predominantly black, and rich parts of town have the same amount of crime. He gave the example of drug activity, stating people in the poor part of town just happen to be outside when they're selling drugs.

"It's troubling," Jenkins said of the stop numbers. "But it's an issue I think we can deal with."

Other departments' representatives cited small black populations in their cities as skewing the numbers.

For instance, Scott City police stopped black motorists 17 times as often as white motorists based on their population in 2015. Its officers stopped 328 black motorists, 11 percent of the total stops, in 2015 but less than 1 percent of their population is black. However, 271 of those stops were on Interstate 55.

Perryville police chief Direk Hunt said his community sees a different population of drivers during the day with commuters crossing to and from Illinois. In 2015, black motorists were 3 percent of the city's total stops, but like Scott City, Perryville has a black population that is less than 1 percent of the total. Perryville police stopped 39 black motorists total.

"We treat everybody with the same dignity and respect," Hunt said. "I think people are on the highways more now; we're getting more traffic."

Jackson's black population is less than 2 percent of the total, but 3 percent of their stops were of black motorists, or 127 total.

"We don't stop people based on the color of their skin," Jackson police chief James Humphreys said.

He said the department has never received a complaint of racial profiling.

"I've never had a person walk in here one time," Humphreys said.

Jackson also searched (3 percent vs. 2 percent) and arrested (2.3 percent vs. 1.6 percent) black people at higher percentages than white people, although there were no instances where contraband was recovered from a stop. Public information officer Rodney Barnes said stops should be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on what the officer sees.

Humphreys said the department uses body cameras and occasionally those tapes are reviewed, although most often for training purposes.

Perry County's disparity numbers were the largest of any agency -- black motorists accounted for 7 percent of the total stops but the county population is less than 0.5 percent black.

Perry County stopped 214 black motorists, searched 12 percent of them and arrested 9 percent, even though officers found contraband less often than in searches of white motorists. Also, 185 of Perry County's 217 black motorists stops were on Interstate 55.

"A lot of this depends on the circumstances -- the person that's being stopped and how they react to officer questions," Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf said. "I think these statistics are part of the story, but not the whole story."

Cape Girardeau County's numbers were close to the state average, with black motorists accounting for 9 percent of the total stops, with the county having a 6 percent black population. Black motorists were searched (8 percent vs. 5 percent) and arrested (5 percent vs. 4 percent) at higher percentages than whites.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan said the disparities, for any city in the county and Southeast Missouri as a whole, were skewed because of the interstate and being between two metropolitan areas in St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee.

"It's a flawed system. There's nothing you can do about it," Jordan said. "I'm telling you the whole reason it's off at all is because of the interstate."

An exception

The Scott County Sheriff's Department was the exception among these law-enforcement agencies because black motorists accounted for 10 percent of stops and 10 percent of the county population.

Black motorists, however, were searched (5.4 percent vs. 4.7 percent) and arrested (6 percent vs. 3 percent) more often than whites, even though contraband was recovered from black motorists in zero cases.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter attributed this difference to deputies receiving racial-profiling training, mandated by the state. He also said he tries to have a diverse department, although he is limited by the number of applicants.

To address disparities, Moore and local NAACP president Bill Colon said they wanted to speak with Blair, and they praised him for his efforts to improve relations with the police department and the black community.

"We know when it comes to race, there is a difference there," Colon said of disparities in general. Colon is a former police officer from Chicago.

Jenkins said meetings helped engage community leaders in Toledo, which led to people providing officers more reliable information for arrests.

"My gut," Jenkins said, "I don't think, in Cape, law enforcement is stopping people just because they're black."

bkleine@semissourian.com

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