| News Release for Immediate Release
January 30, 2007
MPD Releases Study on Racial and Ethnic Profiling (cont.)
For Latino pedestrians, the MPD study found that the odds ratio at the Adams Morgan site was 2.0, making Latino pedestrians twice as likely as non-Latinos to be stopped by MPD officers. There were too few stops of Latinos at the remaining four pedestrian survey sites to allow for a proper analysis.
With respect to traffic stops, pertinent findings of the study include the following:
-
At nine of the traffic locations surveyed, fewer African-American motorists than expected were stopped, based on their representation in the driving population.
-
At two of the traffic locations surveyed -- the Adams Morgan site and the area surrounding the intersection of 1st Street and Channing Street, NW, -- the odds ratio for African-American motorists was 1.5.
-
Three of the traffic locations surveyed -- the 3200 block of 23rd Street, SE, the 2700 Block of 13th Street, NW, and the area surrounding the intersection of 1st and R streets, NW, -- produced an odds ratio of 1.6 for African Americans stopped while driving.
-
Three of the traffic locations surveyed -- the area surrounding Georgia Avenue and Shepard Street, NW, the area surrounding Georgia Avenue and Longfellow Street, NW, and the Georgetown site -- produced odds ratios of 1.6 or above for Latinos stopped while driving.
According to the study, “[r]atios between 1.5 and 2.0 provide an indication that a review of stops in these locations should be conducted by the MPD.”
Despite the individual results for each traffic site examined, the MPD study made use of “weighted” odds ratios. By using this averaging method and collapsing the data, the MPD study reports that the weighted odds ratio for African-American motorists stopped (at the 20 sites analyzed for African Americans) was 1.0. The MPD study also reports that the weighted odds ratio for Latino drivers stopped (at the seven sites analyzed for Latinos) was 1.1. Significantly, the MPD study provides an explicit “caution” about aggregating the odds ratio in this manner, pointing out that it is not for analytic purposes.
In March 2001, following extensive coverage in the local media that some MPD officers were exchanging e-mails on their patrol car laptops that contained racist, sexist, or homophobic slurs, former MPD Police Chief Charles Ramsey stated that the department would address biased policing issues and collect traffic stop data. MPD formed an advisory group, the Biased Policing Task Force, to guide the department’s review of these issues. The task force included representatives of several community and advocacy organizations in the city, as well as staff from the District’s police accountability agency, the Office of Police Complaints (OPC). MPD also hired a law enforcement research organization, the Police Foundation, to examine the issue of biased policing within the department.
Page 2 of 3  1 2 3 
|
