Study: A2 police do not practice racial profiling

The study was conducted by Lamberth Consulting — a private
consulting firm who was hired by the council after the city
received complaints from citizens.

The study compared the traffic stops of minorities to the
traffic stops of the general population made at nine intersections
in Ann Arbor. In their research, Lamberth Consulting rates racial
profiling on an “odds ratio” based on a 1.0 to 2.0
scale. A rating of less that 1.5 indicates the absence of racial
profiling, while a rating above 1.5 indicates racial profiling may
be present. The Ann Arbor Police Department received an odds ratio
of 1.5.

But while the AAPD’s number is at the middle of the scale,
Lamberth Consulting CEO John Lamberth said that because the rating
assigned to them takes into account a measure of error that is
similar to a margin of error, they do not appear to practice racial
profiling.

Still, some in the Ann Arbor community are not convinced that
racial profiling is not happening here.

“I just have some concerns about what the data is telling
us about the stops that occurred,” City Councilwoman Wendy
Woods said.

“Presumably, if no racial profiling is happening, then the
odds ratio which the Lamberth firm refers to should actually be
1.0. In other words, it’s no more likely that an African
American driver at any particular location would be stopped than a
white driver,” Woods said.

“At at least three locations, this odds ratio is 1.5 or
higher, according to what we were told. If it’s a 1.5 odds
ratio, it means that an African American driver was 50% more likely
to be stopped,” she added.

Washtenaw County Public Defender Lloyd Powell said another flaw
in that study is that it did not evaluate data on what happened
after a motorist was stopped.

“There is a big flaw in all of these racial profiling
studies when they fail to record what happens after a stop is made.
What we were pushing for yesterday is for the Ann Arbor Police to
keep that data,” Powell said. “If ten people are
stopped and two happen to be black and are searched and the other 8
are sent on their way, that is something significant.”

The study didn’t take into account the post-pullover data
because in 2001, after the study was requested, there wasn’t
much emphasis on racial profiling after a traffic stop has been
made, Lamberth said.

“We’ve done (post-pullover research) in other cities
but that was not part of this study,” he added. “Also,
there were technical problems in getting the data from the
police.”

Though Lamberth Consulting didn’t look at data on the
characteristics of those being pulled over or on the officers
making the stops, the City Council had pressed for such data to be
collected.

“The first thing was that the council had asked that
information be gathered on gender and age of persons stopped, as
well as that of the officers who conducted the stop,” Woods
said.

“The council also wanted to know if a search was conducted
during stop, and what the outcome of the stop was. Those were my
major concerns about that, because I think we need that kind of
information to find out if that kind of racial profiling is
actually happening,” Woods said.

A lack of data regarding traffic stops of other minorities
prevented Lamberth Consulting from determining whether other
minority groups were being profiled against. However, data
indicated that racial profiling against blacks was above 1.5 at the
intersections of South University and Washtenaw, and at Hubbard and
Huron Parkway, and at Stadium and Washtenaw.

“At least for first two, there may be a lot of African
American students or persons of color going to and fro doing their
business. So I think for students, that this is something that
seems to be interesting,” Woods said.

Despite disagreements over whether racial profiling is still
happening in Ann Arbor, there seems to be a consensus that the AAPD
has improved since the study was first requested in 2000.

“Overall, I think that the police department is doing a
good job, and I think it is much better than it used to be. But I
don’t think we should assume that all is well and that we
should no longer pay attention to what is going on. We could easily
slip back into the situation we found ourselves in in 2000 when it
was requested,” Woods said.

Powell also agreed and said, “The emphasis on being
sensitive was heightened during this three year period.”

“My perception is that the culture has changed and
progress has been made. The study reflects positively on the
AAPD,” he added.

Despite multiple attempts to contact the Ann Arbor Police
Department, the Daily was not able to reach them at the time of
press.

“There is a big flaw in all of these racial profiling
studies when they fail to record what happens after a stop is made.
What we were pushing for (Thursday) is for the Ann Arbor Police to
keep that data,” Powell said. “If 10 people are stopped
and two happen to be black and are searched and the other 8 are
sent on their way, that is something significant.”

The study didn’t take into account the post-pullover data
because in 2001, after the study was requested, there wasn’t
much emphasis on racial profiling after a traffic stop has been
made, Lamberth said.

“We’ve done (post-pullover research) in other cities
but that was not part of this study,” he added. “Also,
there were technical problems in getting the data from the
police.”

Though Lamberth Consulting didn’t look at data on the
characteristics of those being pulled over or on the officers
making the stops, the City Council had pressed for such data to be
collected.

“The first thing was that the council had asked that
information be gathered on gender and age of persons stopped, as
well as that of the officers who conducted the stop,” Woods
said.

“The council also wanted to know if a search was conducted
during the stop, and what the outcome of the stop was. Those were
my major concerns about that, because I think we need that kind of
information to find out if that kind of racial profiling is
actually happening,” Woods said.

A lack of data regarding traffic stops of other minorities
prevented Lamberth Consulting from determining whether other
minority groups, such as Hispanics or Arab Americans, were being
profiled against.

However, data also indicated that racial profiling against
blacks was above 1.5 at the intersections of South University and
Washtenaw, and at Hubbard Street and Huron Parkway, and at Stadium
Boulevard and Washtenaw Avenue.

“At least for the first two, there may be a lot of African
American students or persons of color going to and fro doing their
business. So I think for students, that this is something that
seems to be interesting,” Woods said.

Despite disagreements over whether racial profiling is still
happening in Ann Arbor, officials agree the AAPD has improved since
the study was first requested in 2000.

“Overall, I think that the police department is doing a
good job, and I think it is much better than it used to be. But I
don’t think we should assume that all is well and that we
should no longer pay attention to what is going on. We could easily
slip back into the situation we found ourselves in in 2000 when it
was requested,” Woods said.

Powell also agreed and said, “The emphasis on being
sensitive was heightened during this three-year period. … My
perception is that the culture has changed and progress has been
made. The study reflects positively on the AAPD,” he
added.