May 22, 2001

Greetings:

In January the Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) was asked by the Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) to analyze traffic stop data collected by the department from April 15 - Dec. 15, 2000. The analysis has multiple purposes: to help determine whether the department engages in racial profiling and if so, what the dimensions of the problem are; and to provide recommendations for improving the Department's data collection program, which will allow more comprehensive analysis of future data.

IRP recently completed its analysis and has shared its results with the SPPD. We plan to release a copy of the report and a news release highlighting some of the conclusions of our study tomorrow afternoon. In addition, we invite you to attend a press conference with john powell, executive director of IRP, and William Finney, chief of SPPD.

The press conference will be at 10 a.m., Thursday, May 24, in Courtroom 170 of the University of Minnesota Law School. Print copies of the report will be made available at that time. Parking is available in front of the law school. Please let us know if you plan to attend the press conference. We'd prefer to reserve comment on the report until that time. We appreciate your interest and consideration regarding this important topic.

Sincerely,

Lynn Nelson
IRP Communications Director
612-626-2277, nelso355@tc.umn.edu

Institute on Race & Poverty
University of Minnesota Law School
415 Law Center
229 - 19th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-625-8071
irp@tc.umn.edu
www1.umn.edu/irp

CONTACTS: Susie Hartigan, research fellow
612-624-8329

john powell, executive director
612-625-8071

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 23, 2001 -- In January, the Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) was asked by the Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) to analyze traffic stop data collected by the department from April 15 - Dec. 15, 2000.

Based on the analysis, IRP has reached several conclusions:

• African American drivers were stopped in disproportionately high numbers compared to their proportion of the city's adult population. This pattern occurred throughout St. Paul, in 80 of 82 census tracts.
  
• Most stops of black drivers occured in neighborhoods with above average concentrations of both traffic stops and black residents, but the greatest difference between population rates and stop rates for black drivers was found in predominantly white neighborhoods with relatively few traffic stops.
  
• After being stopped, African American, Hispanic and Native American drivers were subjected to both pat-down searches and searches of their vehicles at rates higher than for white and Asian drivers.

IRP researchers also made recommendations for changes to the data collection program that would allow for a more comprehensive and effective analysis of the data:

• Traffic stop data should include incidents that begin as traffic stops and result in arrests. Without records of these stops, it's impossible to present a complete picture of the stop demographics in St. Paul. In particular, the analysis of search data is most severely affected by the lack of records for all stops.
  
• Information recorded for each stop should include the date of birth of the driver. This data category is recommended in A Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems, published in November 2000 by the U.S. Department of Justice. The resource guide cites a 1999 Gallup Poll finding that young African-American men disproportionately report the perception of being stopped by police due to race and age.
  
• Information recorded for each stop should include the reason for the stop. Without this information, it's not possible to distinguish between stops involving various levels of officer discretion, to investigate claims that people of color are stopped more frequently than whites for minor equipment violations.
  
• Information recorded for each stop should include not only whether the driver or vehicle was searched, and the justification for the search - consent or probable cause - and the results of the search, i.e., was contraband found and if so, what was the nature of the contraband.

Copies of the report will be available on the IRP Web site at www.umn.edu/irp. Printed copies can also be obtained for a small fee by calling IRP at 612-624-2904.

IRP was founded in 1993 to focus on the dynamics created by the intersections of race and poverty. The strategic research center is based at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minn. The Institute was founded by john a. powell, former national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, and currently the Marvin J. Sonosky Professor of Law and Public Policy at the U of M Law School. The IRP Web site is at http://www.instituteonraceandpoverty.org