Conversation about racial disparity in traffic stops takes predictable turn
My colleague Tony Messenger wrote about a report by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office that indicates black drivers are pulled over at a higher rate than would be expected given the percentage of blacks in the population. Further, the report says that rate has risen five years in a row. This database lets you check on the traffic stop numbers from different parts of the state.
The report says black drivers in the state are 67 percent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers. Blacks are the only racial group in Missouri pulled over by police at a rate higher than their percentage of population in the state, according to a report on vehicle stops released by the attorney general’s office Monday.
The comments on the story have pointed out that the story doesn’t explain why. Said one reader: “The stats assume the law is broken evenly by race. This needs to be verified before anyone claims (’driving while black’) is the reason. When you can show that all people, regardless of race, break the same laws in the same percentage, then the arrest stats will be meaningful.”
And there’s also this idea, posited by another reader: “Blacks are disproportionately stopped by police, but they also make up a disproportionate number of those living in a lower economic status. This comes into play when discussing traffic stops for non-moving violations like improper registration or equipment defects. Poorer people may neglect to get their vehicle properly registered or fix an equipment defect, because they may not be able to afford to or they have other ‘priorities.’ People who are responsible, and who have the means, will get their cars registered and fix problems.”
Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat, said: ”The increasing rates at which African-American drivers are stopped are of concern to all Missourians. While no single factor can provide the entire explanation for these numbers, one goal remains fixed — application of the law must be colorblind.”
(6 votes, average: 1.67 out of 5)
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Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
Sounds like another blame the white people article. Maybe there are more blacks than whites in St.L and KC. Holy crap, then more of them would get pulled over, right? The comments at the end of the article (from readers) answered all the questions. On a side note, i have been in five car accidents, none my fault, 3 blacks and 2 whites hit me (at different times), why was it that none of the blacks had insurance? Maybe there is a correlation.
Only one way to stop this trend….put quotas on stops by police. Once the quota for the month is reached, police are no longer able to stop that particular race. We want everything fair, don’t we?
It’s a fact that the primary people that clutter up our court system are black. This is for all offences not just driving. They as a group are 13-14% of the population. But are 50%+ of the occupants in our prison system.
If you disagree, then all of you, whom do, think or believe that the majority of those in the law enforcement are racist or bigoted. But if you are a right thinking person, then with the data black people are the most violent and poorest drivers. Are all laws an affront to them? And they think they are beyond rules this society has set for all. Without rules (laws) we would have Anarchy
What if Attorney General Chris Koster’s point is ALREADY true - and that the cops ARE ‘colorblind’ in their traffic stops?…and that, despite this, it just so happens that the folks behind the wheel who have reasons to be stopped happen to be black?
When you’ve bathed in racial and gender politics as long as we have fro the last forty years, this is the kind of pointless story that you get - and Koster’s only allowable and politically correct response is one reflective of a ‘white guilt’ worldview.
If this indeed is an issue to be taken ’seriously,’ then I endorse ‘amazedbythelunacy’s’ wonderful idea of simply setting up racial quotas on who can be stopped by the police.
Once again, the usual suspects turn out with flawed logic. The logic goes like this: Because most of the people in the court system are black, there must be something about black skin that makes them prone to committing crimes. Here we go again.
Then was it the answer KURT?!?!? Let’s hear it, i would love to know. Is it a conspiracy? What are the racial discrepancies for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada? Not relevant? Just as relevant as the manure you guys write.
KURT
If you drive through an intersection and run a red light, does the cop know your Black or white? With the way the windows are tinted they can’t see the occupants. The black that are standing in long lines at all the muni courts across the area are black, they break the rules of the road. If you think that giving stats about blacks it somehow make this societies racist your barking up the wrong tree. Try this on for size.
They are in our court system because they BREAK LAWS, not because their black…….
Stories like this do nothing but stoke smoldering racial tensions. In and of itself, statistics like this are meaningless. What exactly is the criteria for an “expected” rate of traffic stops? Everyone agrees that application of the law ought to be colorblind. Does this supposedly unexpected rate of traffic stops also result in an unexpected rate of arrests, prosecutions, and convictions?
Interesting questions to ponder, but do tell Kurt. What is the correct logic in all this?
This is not rocket science.It is obvious that blacks the commit way more crime as whole.This is not profiling,this a good police pratices.Even so called decent people liked Congreeman Lacy Clay want the thugs who RAPED,TORTURED,AND FORCED THE KILLINGS of the Kerry Sisters at the Chain Of Rocks Bridge not to be executed becuase he belived the justice system is not fair toward blacks.WHAT A BUNCH OF BS!!!
Once again, Kurt responds with his usual logic. If blacks are pulled over in higher proportion to their percent of population, it has to be because the cops are racist pigs.
There absolutely can’t be any other reason under the Sun, right Kurt?