Law enforcement leaders today often have to respond to allegations of racial profiling levelled against their agency by the news media, individual citizens, activist groups or politicians. In response to these allegations, many law enforcement agencies examine their traffic stop, arrest, or use of force data for evidence of racial bias in these agency activities.
If done improperly, such an analysis can easily produce false evidence of racial disparities – needlessly destroying your agency’s reputation and deflating the morale of your honest, hard-working personnel. Our team of experienced experts can assist your agency by providing consultation on how to properly gather and analyze your data in a way that is fair to both the community and your officers. Our experts can also conduct a full, external, and impartial analysis for you, applying current best practices to conduct an honest assessment for your agency.
The most fundamental component of a proper analysis is to go beyond census data, which does not necessarily reflect the demographics of drivers on the road by service area and time of day, to determine a community’s driving population as an accurate benchmark. DCG Traffic Stop Data Analysis Services include:
• Assisting your agency in collecting data on the demographic composition of drivers engaged in vehicle crashes by service area and time of day to establish a legitimate benchmark for traffic violation stops.
• Comparing this benchmark to the demographic composition of drivers who were actually stopped for traffic violations.
• Analyzing stops for criminal investigative reasons as a separate data set, comparing these stops to the demographic makeup of criminal suspects as reported by crime victims within your community.
• Reporting statistical findings in a way that gives your officers and your community the most fair and unbiased examination possible.
