NCJ Number
215461
Date Published
November 2004
Length
230 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of a study that examined the discretionary traffic stop behavior of Miami-Dade police officers.
Abstract
Main findings indicate that Miami-Dade police officers do not engage in consistent, systematic, or patterned targeting of minority citizens for traffic stops. Further analysis revealed no differences between the rate of Black citizens who violated traffic laws (violating benchmark) and those who were stopped by police officers. Results of an examination of crash data in the remainder of Miami-Dade County that was not subjected to high levels of data collection indicated that in non-Black and racially mixed areas Blacks were disproportionately stopped by police relative to their representation in the driving population. Other findings revealed that after traffic stops, Blacks were more likely than non-Black motorists to receive a pat down search and to have a records check conducted. However, ride-along findings indicated that officers did not know the motorists’ race at the time suspicion was formed and a full 86 percent of stops were based predominately on the behavior of the driver. While the authors put more emphasis on the data obtained using the violating benchmark, they state that the findings from the other areas of the county present sufficient reason for the Miami-Dade Police Department to enhance its officer monitoring practices. The main goal of research was to examine the aggregate agency data on traffic stops as well as the general stop patterns in terms of race of drivers. Three main research methods were used: (1) 51 ride-alongs with police officers; (2) explored data on driver demographics and traffic patterns in Miami-Dade county; and (3) citizen contact information provided by officers on “citizen contact cards” (N=86,232 completed cards) at the time of the stop. The study is limited to certain times and study areas and therefore does not represent all of Miami-Dade County. Figures, tables, maps, references, appendixes