Driving while black can get you pulled over
The Associated Press is reporting that black drivers are more likely to be stopped by police in Missouri than are white drivers, and minorities are twice as likely to have to be searched.
From the story: “Black drivers are more likely to be stopped in Missouri than white and Hispanic motorists, but minorities are twice as likely to be searched and arrested than whites.
An annual state report released Friday by the attorney general’s office shows that in 2007, black drivers were 66 percent more likely to be pulled over than white motorists. A Hispanic driver was slightly more likely to be pulled over than a white one.”
Most disturbing was that while whites were less likely to be searched, they were more likely to have contraband.
As a daughter of a former police officer and someone who was pulled over for being white (no joke), I have mixed feelings about these reports. I have a difficult time believing that in most cases police know the race of a driver before switching on the strobe lights, but anecdotal and statistical information seems to contradict that.
Carolyn Tuft, now an online reporter for the Post-Dispatch, did an investigative report on alleged racial profiling by the Belleville Police Department when she worked for the Belleville News-Democrat. Her report, done in the early 1990s and picked up by “60 Minutes,” indicated that police were targeting black drivers in a tony west-end neighborhood of Belleville.
Missouri has been compiling information on racial-profiling in Missouri since 2000. Law enforcement agencies track stops by race, age and gender of the driver and by whether a ticket was issued. Agencies that don’t comply could have state funds withheld.
Read the AP story here.
Jamie Riley is the P-D letters editor and gatekeeper of the letters blog. Before joining the editorial page in May 2005, she was a reporter and page designer. Jamie lives in University City with her husband, Charles, daughter, Elise, and the world's best Jack Russell terrier, Logan, better known as Stinky. 
The reports are misleading. It isn’t that the police are “targeting” blacks, it is that a disproportionate number of blacks don’t properly register their vehicles (valid reason to stop) and a disproportionate number of blacks don’t pay their tickets and therefore have warrants issued (reason for arrest). Of course, there are other reasons to stop/arrest, but that’s a big one. Regardless, you have to be able to articulate a valid reason for making a stop and the traffic analysis report does not give you the full story.
And yes, sometimes people get stopped because they don’t “belong.” White people get stopped in North City or certain parts of North County because white people don’t generally frequent those areas unless it’s for drugs. It swings both ways.