Black drivers are proportionately more likely than white motorists to be stopped by Missouri police, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. An annual study shows a widening gap for a third straight year. The state attorney general’s office, shows that blacks were stopped at a rate 49 percent greater than their presence in the driving-age population. That is up from 42 percent in 2005 and 34 percent in 2004.
White drivers were stopped at a rate slightly below their percentage of the population, while Hispanics were stopped at a rate slightly above, the report shows. The report also indicates that black and Hispanic drivers are searched about twice as frequently as white motorists. Contraband was found in 21 percent of all searches. Officials warn that census figures do not reflect the race of drivers on the streets and highways of a given jurisdiction. To see the report on the Internet, go to www.ago.mo.gov/racialprofiling/2006/racialprofiling2006.htm
Link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/405A9B55E9879A4A86