Chief Harry Dolan announced today that the results of the 2003 Traffic Stop Data Collection Project on Racial Profiling demonstrate that the Grand Rapids Police Department shows no evidence of a pattern or practice of racial profiling citizens. The traffic stop data analysis was conducted by Dr. John Lamberth of Lamberth Consulting, a recognized leader in the traffic stop data analysis field. Dr. Lamberth was selected to conduct the analysis by a team of community and police department leaders because of his groundbreaking research in New Jersey and his reputation in the field.
The analysis included the review of data submitted from over 24,000 individual traffic stops conducted by officers of the Grand Rapids Police Department between February 1 and October 31, 2003. During this same time frame, Lamberth Consulting provided all Grand Rapids Police Department officers with training in the field on non-bias policing and the impacts of racial profiling in the United States today.
Chief Dolan states:
[C]learly, conducting traffic stop data analysis is important to address citizens concerns, however, training officers in this field is critically important so that we have an understanding as to why citizens perceive that racial profiling occurs. The department is committed to continuing to collect and analyze traffic data so that we can continue to provide excellent service to all members of our community. There is no doubt in my mind that by volunteering to conduct this study and reviewing our operating procedures, we have improved the quality of policing in our city. I am grateful to the men and woman of the Grand Rapids Police Department and our community leaders who worked diligently to support this endeavor. A special thank you to Captain James Farris, Captain Rex Marks, Sergeant Patrick Merrill, and Jerry Clayton with Lamberth Consulting for their leadership with this project over the past two years.
-- Chief Harry P. Dolan
Dr. Lamberth's Executive Summary
The City of Grand Rapids retained Lamberth Consulting in July of 2002 to assess whether racial profiling was occurring in the City. The engagement was for a comprehensive study of the department and began with information garnered from internal stakeholders via Agency Focus Groups. Subsequent to these focus groups, the entire staff of the Grand Rapids Police Department received an eight-hour training course that was aimed at developing an understanding of the issues surrounding racial profiling, both from a police and community viewpoint.
Data from the traffic stops conducted by the Grand Rapids Police Department from February to October 2003 were analyzed to determine whether there were more minority motorists being stopped than would be expected based on their presence in the motoring population.
With regard to Black motorists, the study determined that overall the Grand Rapids Police Department was not targeting Black motorists, although there were locations in the city where there were higher than expected stops of Blacks. Further analysis of the data with regard to Black motorists pointed to at least one location where the targeting of Black motorists may be more apparent than real.
With regard to Hispanic motorists, the data painted an overall picture of Hispanic motorists being stopped at exactly the rate expected on the basis of their presence in the motoring public. Again, as there always are, there were some locations that were higher than expected, although there were several locations that were lower than expected in Hispanic stops.
Analysis was also conducted of the consensual searches of Black and Hispanic motorists that were conducted by the Grand Rapids Police Department. With regard to Blacks, there was a slightly elevated number of Black motorists searched, relative to the number of Black motorists stopped. The odds ratio for this difference was 1.3, well within the benign area. Fewer Hispanic motorists were searched than would be expected based on the number stopped. The odds ratio, 0.5, indicates that substantially fewer Hispanic motorists than expected were searched and these data indicate no evidence of racial profiling.
To read the full report, download the PDF.