In compliance with Maryland law 25-113 - which requires data collection on every law-eligible traffic stop in the State - this report presents aggregate data on all law-eligible traffic stops reported by law enforcement agencies in calendar year 2013, so as to have the data necessary to determine whether driver racial-profiling is occurring in officer traffic stop decisions.
For calendar year 2013, Maryland law enforcement agencies reported 760,560 law-eligible traffic stops in which the race/ethnicity of the driver was recorded. Information on driver race/ethnicity was missing in 53 cases, and race/ethnicity could not be correctly classified in 10,565 traffic stops. Results show that the majority of drivers involved in traffic stops were Caucasian (47.2 percent), followed by African-Americans at 39.5 percent. Gender data on drivers indicate that male drivers were stopped more often (62.7 percent) than female drivers (34.3 percent). Data show the law enforcement agency responsible for each stop. Across race/ethnicities and gender, both males and females were most likely to be stopped for a violation related to vehicle equipment. Searches of drivers and their vehicles were not conducted very often by officers during traffic stops (1.0 percent of all stops). The majority of drivers stopped and searched did not have property or contraband confiscated. Hispanic males were the most likely to be arrested after a traffic stop. The majority of all arrests made during the stops were based on the initial reason for the stop. This report explains why this report's data should be cautiously interpreted and used for policymaking. Data limitations are also discussed. 24 tables