Report finds racial disparities in Charlotte policing. Officials don’t call it bias.
Charlotte officials are stopping short of decrying racial disparity in how often Black and Hispanic people are pulled over by police in the city, saying further analysis is needed to determine the root causes of the disparity.
A city-commissioned report released this week found that Black drivers were far more likely to be pulled over than white drivers, even when accounting for neighborhood characteristics such as racial makeup.
During a press conference Thursday, Mayor Vi Lyles said the report “did not have sufficient data to draw the conclusion” that racial bias played a significant role.
The 163-page report, produced by the RAND Corporation at the request of the city, analyzed data from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department about traffic stops, arrests, uses of force and the result of searches for contraband.
Although Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely to be pulled over than whites, officers were not significantly more likely to find contraband when searching Black drivers compared to white drivers, the report found. Hispanics were less likely than whites to possess contraband.
‘Exactly where we need to be’
City Council member Victoria Watlington pressed the issue during a council meeting on Monday, saying the figures were likely to “raise some eyebrows over at CMPD.”
Responding to her question, police Chief Johnny Jennings said the discrepancy could be explained by looking at where in the city police officers are deployed. Because officers are more likely to be in neighborhoods with higher rates of violence, he said, a disparity would occur even if officers are not targeting Black drivers.
“When you overlay the violent crime, we are exactly where we need to be as police officers,” Jennings said. He added that the data requires a deeper dive “before we just flat-out say that this is an indication that we are ... targeting Black drivers more than we are other drivers.”
The city has not said when the further analysis will occur.
Asked whether she has pressed CMPD to investigate the disparity, Lyles said she would “trust (Jennings’) judgment” on digging deeper, and that the city would work with the RAND Corporation to get answers.
“Let’s do it right,” Lyles said. “Let’s make sure that when we make a decision we’re doing it the right way and engaging the correct information to do so.”
▪ Across the city, white residents were stopped by police officers at a rate of 0.79 per 100,000 people; Hispanic residents at 1.13; Black residents at 2.37; Asian residents at 0.42; and “other or unknown race/ethnicity” at 1.67.
▪ When accounting for neighborhood characteristics, Hispanics were about as likely to be stopped by police as whites, while Black residents were twice as likely to be stopped.
▪ Black drivers are nearly two times as likely to be arrested during a stop as whites, and nearly two times as likely to experience a use of force.
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