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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for traffic stops (nebraska)
1 results foundAuthor: Behm, Michael E. Title: Traffic Stops in Nebraska. A Report to the Governor and the Legislature on Data Submitted by Law Enforcement April 1, 2012 Summary: Issues of fairness and trust are critical in the administration of justice. These issues are critical for the public as well as for law enforcement. Traffic stops are one of the most common types of contact for the public. Perceptions derived from these contacts and the need for openness on the reasons for stops fit with other concerns. The Nebraska Legislature passed LB593 in 2001 to respond to possible issues relating to the way that traffic stops are made. The act specifically prohibited racial profiling and required law enforcement to implement policies prohibiting discriminatory practices as well as requiring the collection of prescribed data. Additionally, it required agencies to report to the Crime Commission all allegations of racial profiling received and the disposition of such allegations. This report includes traffic stop data from 2002 through 2011 as submitted to the Nebraska Crime Commission. One component of addressing concerns has been the training of law enforcement. Issues regarding racial profiling have been incorporated into the basic training all law enforcement officers attend for certification. Since the law took effect in 2001, and even prior to this law, students in basic training are taught that all traffic stops must be based on a legal justification and cannot be based solely upon the person’s (or driver's) race or ethnic makeup. Any stop based solely upon the person's race or ethnicity would be unconstitutional. Students fill out racial profiling report forms with each simulated traffic stop conducted while in the training academy. Data by agency and county is available at the Crime Commission's website (www.ncc.ne.gov). Proactive use of these data can assist in an agency's monitoring and adherence to legislation. They can provide opportunities to reach out to the community as well as examine processes and procedures. We strongly encourage agencies to examine their data and look at what is happening within their jurisdiction. · There were 515,390 traffic stops reported to the Crime Commission for 2011 from 179 law enforcement agencies. · Of the total traffic stops reported, over two thirds were by the Nebraska State Patrol or agencies in Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy Counties. Overall, 42% of the stops made statewide were by the Patrol. Omaha PD made 11% and Lincoln PD made almost 8% of the statewide traffic stops. · While both population and stops were concentrated in the largest counties, the largest metropolitan agencies accounted for the most stops. The Omaha Police Department, Lincoln Police Department and the Nebraska State Patrol accounted for 61% of stops. o Given that the 2010 census included detailed data on Lincoln and Omaha we were able to better examine details of stops in those communities. · The general or census population only provides one aspect of the potential group that would be stopped by law enforcement, particularly in areas with a lot of commuters or Interstate traffic. Nonetheless, the local population provides one view of the area and is often used for these comparisons. · The breakdown of types of stops and related data by race has stayed relatively consistent throughout the reported years, with certain variations showing in searches and the dispositions of stops. · The statewide breakdown of traffic stops by race parallels the census adult population breakdown as well as the general known licensed driving population. In and of itself this does not mean that there is no racial profiling. It can be said that, on the statewide aggregate, there are not apparent disproportionalities. · However, this does not mean that there are not disparities. There are other variances that show up when looking at particular local populations or jurisdictions. Since minority populations vary greatly across Nebraska it significantly affects the contact law enforcement would have with them. · The majority of stops in Douglas County were by the Omaha Police. o Black drivers in Omaha are stopped almost twice as often by the Omaha Police Department (21.6% to 12.2%) · Lancaster County has the majority of its stops by the Lincoln Police Department. o The Lincoln Police Department stops Blacks at over twice their local adult population (7.7% to 3.3%) · Dawson County has a large Hispanic population that dramatizes the need for local examination of populations. o Hispanics, the largest minority population in Dawson County, account for 30.8% of stops countywide compared to their overall population of 26.2% o Hispanics are 53% of Lexington's adult population but account for 51.4% of the stops · Looking at the processing of stops can point to similarities and disparities. A search can be requested of the driver or cause may bring about a search. o The overall reporting by law enforcement shows that Blacks (3.0%), Hispanics (3.9%) and Native Americans (4.7%) are searched more often than overall (2.4%) or Whites (2.2%). o The Nebraska State Patrol searches at a proportion lower than those reported overall (0.9% to 2.4%). o The State Patrol does search Native Americans (2.9%) three times as often as their overall searches (0.9%). o The Douglas County Sheriff's Office conducts a larger proportion of searches on Blacks (9.1), Hispanics (11.7) and Native Americans (12.5) than overall (5.3%) o The Omaha Police Department conducts searches over three times as often on Native Americans (4.2) than overall (1.2%) o The Lincoln Police Department searched Blacks (3.5%) and Native Americans (7.1%) and Hispanics (2.7%) more frequently than general searches (1.4%) o The Dawson County Sheriff's Office searched Hispanics (4.5) almost twice as frequently as general searches (2.6%) · For 2011 the Crime Commission received seven reports from three agencies of the public making allegations of racial profiling. All the agencies involved conducted internal investigations. In all seven instances the officer was exonerated. As always. it must be noted that any observed disparities are just that: disparities. The data cannot prove bias or instances of racial profiling but they can point to areas that agencies can look at more closely. Detailed review by agencies, including specifics such as officers, locations, populations or other criteria are essential to understanding the local situation. While this data provides a good snapshot of traffic stops it must be noted that there are inherent limitations. Since only summary data is required to be collected and reported there is no way to track individual instances or get to a detailed level of analysis available in other data sets. Details: Lincoln, NE: Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, 2012. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 27, 2012 at: http://www.ncc.ne.gov/pdf/stats_and_research/2011DataFinal.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncc.ne.gov/pdf/stats_and_research/2011DataFinal.pdf Shelf Number: 126478 Keywords: Racial Profiling in Law EnforcementTraffic OffensesTraffic Stops (Nebraska) |