Study: Ann Arbor police pull over, search non-white motorists more often
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A new study using Ann Arbor Police Department data revealed that officers pull over and search non-white motorists more frequently than white drivers.
The independent study was conducted by researchers at Eastern Michigan University in partnership with Ann Arbor's citizen-led police oversight commission, who analyzed traffic stop data logged from 2017-2019.
"Our analysis identified significant disparities across every dimension that we looked at," said Eastern Michigan University professor and research team lead Kevin Karpiak. "The biggest disparities we found were for stops that were for the reason of equipment violations, in which we found that multiracial and African American male drivers were stopped at a rate of 2.41 times more likely than would be expected based on their representation in the general population."
Karpiak is the director of the Southeast Michigan Criminal Justice Policy Research Project at EMU. His team for the study comprised two faculty members and two graduate students.
"I don't think these reports are surprising at all," said former chair of Ann Arbor's citizen-led police oversight commission Lisa Jackson. "I think what's useful about them, though, is to have local data, and then for this community, the police department and city council to decide what kind of policing they want."
Last week, Ann Arbor City Council approved an ordinance to limit police from pulling over drivers for minor offenses to curb racial profiling. That ordinance will face a final vote on July 6.
Jackson, who played a central role in launching the study and negotiated with police to release the data, said City Council's traffic stop ordinance is a step in the right direction.
"What we want is a law," she said. "Police chiefs come and go. Attitudes come and go and change. And when you have a law that means that policing will have to follow those laws no matter who is in charge, whether they voluntarily implement those policies or not … I think what we want is some change at the policing level, but really, conversation and input from people all across (the board). People who visit and work and live in Ann Arbor and what these data mean – and what they mean to them."
The Ann Arbor Police Department did not respond to CBS News Detroit's request for comment.
The department shared a statement last week from Interim Police Chief Aimee Metzer, which reads:
"In an effort to continue building trust and providing equitable service to all, our department should be seeking ways to keep the community safe without the appearance of disparate treatment. I believe it is the intention of every person within this department to provide fair and impartial service to the City of Ann Arbor."
"I don't think in any way that Ann Arbor sticks out as being particularly bad about this," said Karpiak. "There's even some evidence to suggest that they're doing really good work at trying to address some of these issues. But I think it's important to recognize that these kinds of disparities are wrapped into how we do our public safety, and specifically how we do our traffic safety."
You can read the full study here.
