New data released by the state of Connecticut show police statewide are stopping black and Hispanic drivers at disproportionately high rates compared with population statistics.What's missing from the story is the nugget contained on the CT-ACLU's web page, which is that the cops found contraband more often when they searched vehicles driven by whites. Just like in Ferguson.
The figures released Thursday show that about 14 percent of all police traffic stops from last October through May involved black drivers, when blacks comprise about 8 percent of the state's population. About 12 percent of stops involved Hispanics, who comprise about 10 percent of the population.
The data also show that blacks and Hispanics were more than twice as likely to have their vehicles searched by police during stops than whites.
Several police officials say they're reviewing the data and cautioned against drawing conclusions until those reviews are complete.
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1 comment:
Interesting how the numbers keep agreeing...
Not sure I'd put much stake in the "white people had more contraband" thing though. I mean, if you're searching blacks and hispanics willy-nilly and whites only when there's "legitimate" reason of course you'll find more contraband with the latter. Lends credence to the idea of "unfair" searches but useless for saying anything about the actual prevalence of contraband among drivers of any race.
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