Non-white men were more likely to be stopped for minor traffic violations and more likely to be searched by police. These are just some of the results of a draft report of three years' worth of traffic stop data from the Ann Arbor Police Department.
Out of the more than 34,000 traffic stops from 2017-2019, non-white motorists were pulled over nearly 2.5 times more often than white drivers.
EMU professor Kevin Karpiak is the director of the Southeast Michigan Criminal Justice Policy Research Project. They compiled and analyzed the data. He said there were significant racial disparities across every dimension examined. But he says elected officials have the will to address these problems.
“What I’m excited by is that the city is committed to identifying areas that are producing racial disparities or where we see significant racial disparities and addressing them in line with our stated goal of being an anti-racist, welcoming community."
On July 6th, Ann Arbor City Council is expected to vote on an ordinancethat would restrict the police from pulling people over for minor traffic violations.
The final report is expected to be made public in July.
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