Traffic Stops Research Articles

Symbolic Representation in Police Traffic Stops

Bureaucratic representation is the idea that nonelected officials can address the interests of citizens as effectively as elected officials can. It has an active component and a passive component. The passive component is the concept that citizens are affected in a different way cognitively by a bureaucratic actor who resembles them than by one who does not. The chief difficulty in addressing the question of a symbolic effect has been a reliance on aggregate data. This study uses as its data supplemental surveys to the National Crime Victimization Survey called the Police-Public Contact Survey. A difference was found in how African American and White citizens react to police officers.

Exploring Untested Measures on Public Opinion on the Use of Racial Profiling During Traffic Stops to Identify Criminals

In recent years scholars have researched various aspects of public opinion on racial profiling. To date the literature has confirmed that racial and ethnic minorities tend to perceive the practice of racial profiling differently than do Whites. Specifically, Blacks and Hispanics tend to perceive profiling as being widespread and not justified. A host of other correlates, such as age, gender, education level, class, and neighborhood factors, also significantly predict public opinion on profiling. This article diverges from past research by attempting to determine whether perceptions regarding the discriminatory nature of the practice, the belief that racial profiling is unethical, and the perception that racial profiling is effective influence views on the topic. We find that each of these measures significantly influences public opinion regarding the view that public opinion occurs or that it is an acceptable practice.

The Impact of Race on the Police Decision to Search During a Traffic Stop

Racial profiling is an important issue in contemporary policing. Research in this area, especially in the decision to search, has relied on an outcomes test and correlates that are largely devoid of theory. Thus, the research is unable to provide a clear understanding of police decision making during a traffic stop. The purpose of the present study was to examine this process. Using data from more than 36,000 traffic stops from Louisville, KY, the present study applies the focal concerns theory to this decision-making process. The research results indicate that blameworthiness is the primary reason that searches are performed for the entire sample of traffic stops as well as those for the Black and White subsamples.

Explaining Leniency

Scholars have devoted significant attention to measuring the degree to which a driver’s personal characteristics affect police decisions to stop and sanction motorists. Following the pattern of research on gender and enforcement practices more broadly, traffic stop studies show that female drivers are less likely to receive formal sanctions such as a citation following routine traffic stops. Despite the consistency of these findings across places and times, we know little about the conditions under which female traffic violators are granted leniency. This article extends research on the effect of driver and stop characteristics on gender disparities in traffic enforcement decisions by examining 149,888 stops from across 37 communities in Rhode Island with different local needs and variation in police organizational culture and structure. The findings confirm that although women are less likely to be cited than men, community-level variation in police agency culture and structure, particularly the proportion of female officers in an agency, moderates the effect of driver sex on stop outcomes.

From the Officer’s Perspective: A Multilevel Examination of Citizens’ Demeanor during Traffic Stops

Over the past 60 years, a substantial body of research has considered the influence of citizens’ demeanor on police behavior; and more recently, the correlates of citizens’ demeanor. This study advances our understanding of the demeanor construct by measuring officers’ perceptions of citizens’ disrespect, non‐compliance, and resistance during traffic stops. Using multilevel statistical models, we examine the correlates of citizens’ demeanor and assess the racial differences in these perceptions. The findings demonstrate that officers’ perceptions of citizens’ demeanor vary across racial/ethnic groups, after controlling for other relevant factors. Although White officers were significantly more likely than Black officers to classify drivers as disrespectful, Black and White officers were equally likely to report drivers as displaying behaviors that were non‐compliant and/or verbally resistant. Black drivers were significantly more likely to be reported as disrespectful, non‐compliant, and/or resistant, regardless of the officers’ race. The implications for future research and policy are discussed.

The Impact of Race/Ethnicity and Quality-of-Life Policing on Public Attitudes Toward Racially Biased Policing and Traffic Stops

This article examines the impact of race/ethnicity and quality-of-life (QOL) policing on citizens’ perceptions of racial bias and traffic stops. Using data obtained from a random-sample telephone survey of Houston citizens, respondents were asked whether they felt that the police treated citizens “equally” based on the race/ethnicity of the citizen as well as the race/ethnicity of the officer. These variables were then recoded to construct a nominal measure ranging from racially biased policing to absence of racially biased policing, with a middle category of “semiracially” biased policing. Results indicated that race/ethnicity was a significant predictor. In addition, the results strongly suggested that QOL policing was significantly associated with a decrease in respondents’ perceptions of racially biased policing. Finally, there was a significant relationship between racially biased policing and expected treatment of traffic stops made by the police.

Traffic Stop Encounters: Officer and Citizen Race and Perceptions of Police Propriety

The continued legacy of racism and discrimination contribute to racial and ethnic differences in attitudes about the police. This research investigates citizen reports of proper police behavior during traffic stops to understand how officer/citizen race and ethnic pairs influence reports of impropriety. Analysis of 6,301 citizen reports of traffic stop encounters with the police from a unique national survey reveals that net of other important explanatory variables, African-Americans are less likely than whites to report proper police behavior when they encounter officers of any race. In addition, citizen reports indicate that the white/black and black/white officer/citizen encounters are significantly less likely to result in a report of proper police behavior than the white/white officer/citizen pairing. The results show limited support for the importance of citizen race and officer/citizen pairs in determining perception of police behavior.

The Impact of Drivers’ Race, Gender, and Age During Traffic Stops

Recent research has demonstrated that minority drivers receive disparate traffic stop outcomes compared with similarly situated White drivers. This research, however, is often not grounded within a theoretical framework and fails to examine specific combinations of driver demographics. This study addresses those shortcomings by examining research questions based on the social conditioning model and investigating the relationship between specific combinations of drivers’ race/ethnicity, gender, and age, and traffic stop outcomes. Using alternative measures of stop outcomes and robust official traffic stop data collected from a state law enforcement agency, the results demonstrate that warnings and citations, but not arrests, are differentially issued to young, Black male drivers. The findings also confirm the influence of legal factors on police decision making during traffic stops. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Racial Profiling and Traffic Stops: An Examination of Research Approaches and Findings in the War on Drugs

AbstractThis article is a review of some of the main research approaches to understanding racial profiling as it manifests in the traffic stop. It orients the emergence of racial profiling as a product of the war on drugs philosophy guiding law enforcement in the late 20th century and discusses how the contemporary nature of racial profiling has origins in a long history of racialized policing in the United States. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the issue, particularly from mainstream criminologists, focus on quantitative assessment of exposure to law enforcement agents and rational choice‐based arguments that it makes sense to target certain groups based on the hue of the criminal justice system. More critical approaches examined within complicate this notion by contextualizing racial profiling in contemporary times as a mere manifestation of historical efforts by the state to marginalize communities of color.

Citizen perceptions of the legitimacy of traffic stops

Lundman and Kaufman (2003) reported that Black drivers were less likely than others to report that police made legitimate stops or that officers acted properly during traffic stops. The present work explored whether these results held when other variables were included in the model. Utilizing data drawn from a convenience sample, results show that being Black is not determinant in an expanded model aiming to better understand citizens’ perceptions of the legitimacy of traffic stops. Rather, size of place, time of day, and the race of the officer appeared to mediate the effect of “driving while Black”. Still, Black drivers had lower odds of reporting police acted properly during the traffic stop in either our basic or expanded model.

Exploring the Influence of Race Relations and Public Safety Concerns on Public Support for Racial Profiling during Traffic Stops

The purpose of the present study was to explore hypotheses related to the influence of race relations and perceptions of safety on public opinion regarding racial profiling in traffic stops. Using a representative sample of the United States of America, our results indicate that views regarding race relations influenced public opinion on racial profiling in traffic stops, but perceptions of safety did not influence this view.

Race, driving, and police organization: Modeling moving and nonmoving traffic stops with citizen self-reports of driving practices

A rapidly growing body of police scholarship has found evidence of racial disparities in traffic stop patterns using police-generated data. Despite the empirical consensus, the question of whether race inappropriately influences traffic stop patterns remains open, largely as a result of methodological weaknesses. The current article helps to address this issue by employing self-report data about citizens' driving practices and traffic stops. It presents a series of models that predict the likelihood of a self-reported traffic stop disaggregated by police organizational type and the reason for the stop. Results suggest that moving and nonmoving driving practices are associated with the likelihood of police stops for moving and nonmoving reasons, respectively. As expected, differences between local police and state police models emerge. Finally, Black drivers and younger drivers are especially vulnerable to traffic stop risk for nonmoving stops by local police, even after controlling for driving behaviors.

The Impact of Traffic Stops on Calling the Police for Help

Using data from the Police—Public Contact Survey (PPCS), the current study examined how experiencing traffic stops affect the likelihood that Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics will contact the police for services. First, experiencing one or more traffic stops in the past year significantly decreased the likelihood of contacting the police for assistance and to report a neighborhood problem, net of other demographic characteristics. Second, traffic stop experiences had similar effects on Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics, each group less likely to have contacted the police for assistance and to report neighborhood problems if they had experienced one or more traffic stops in the past year. This study also discusses the reasons why experiencing traffic stops are related to contacting the police for help and provides some implications for police— community relationships.

Officer Safety Trumps Passenger Privacy

In a unanimous 2009 opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Fourth Amendment authorizes officers to frisk vehicle occupants during a traffic stop if there is reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is armed and dangerous. Situations reasonably suggesting the possible presence of weapons by any or all seized persons during legitimate traffic stops now affirmatively allow an immediate show of authority to neutralize the potential danger. The decision resulted from the court’s balancing interests under the Reasonableness Clause of the Fourth Amendment. The nature and extent of the passenger’s privacy interest in bodily integrity was weighed against the government’s interest in officer safety. Officer safety trumped passenger privacy. Although there are those who would claim that the current decision is but another step toward dissipating the Bill of Rights provision as it relates to matters involving the automobile, the decision is more of an evolution than an outright abandonment (Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 1971). The Fourth Amendment mandates that all searches and seizure be reasonable. This article discusses the evolution of Fourth Amendment law as it relates to frisks involving vehicles and its occupants. This research traces the evolution of these frisks from its earliest roots under Carroll v. United States (1925), to its inception under Terry v. Ohio (1968) and finally, to the most recent decision, Arizona v. Johnson (2009). Society’s privacy interests and police officers’ safety interests are explored from a practical and workable context such that an appropriate balance of conduct may result when conducting legitimate traffic encounters.

Comparing the police and citizen views on biased policing

Bias‐based policing is an issue that police departments all over the country are addressing. While police engage the public in many ways, traffic stops are possibly the most common way. This research project sought to broaden the approach to assessing bias‐based policing beyond traffic stop data by surveying the officers and the citizens to compare the views of both of these groups. Our research found interesting comparisons that we discuss in this paper. These issues between the two groups are important to resolving the issues associated with bias‐based policing.

The Environmental Context of Racial Profiling

Racial profiling describes the practice of targeting or stopping an individual based primarily on his or her race rather than any individualized suspicion. Such profiling came under considerable public scrutiny beginning in the 1990s when the media drew substantial attention to racial profiling in traffic stops. This study examines whether the heightened public scrutiny generated by the media as well as legislative and organizational changes that ensued changed police officers' patterns of searches among black and white drivers. Using traffic stop data from Rhode Island between 2001 and 2005, the results demonstrate that racial disparities in searches are significantly reduced when news media coverage is putting more pronounced pressure on police organizations and police departments to make changes in leadership. These findings suggest that public scrutiny through the media and administrative commitment to fairness may be important first steps in reducing biased behavior in traffic stop enforcement.

A Geographic Approach to Racial Profiling

Despite numerous studies explaining racial disparity in traffic stops, the effects of spatial characteristics in patrolling areas have not been widely examined. In this article, the authors analyzed traffic stop data at both micro- and macrolevels. The microlevel analysis of individual stops confirmed racial disparity in the frequency of traffic stops as well as in subsequent police treatments. Blacks were overrepresented and other racial and ethnic groups were underrepresented in traffic stops, with a greater disparity in investigatory stops. The macrolevel analysis found that the likelihood of being stopped and being subjected to unfavorable police treatment (e.g. arrest, search, and felony charge) was greater in beats where more Blacks or Hispanics resided and/or more police force was deployed, consistent with the racial threat or minority threat hypothesis. These findings imply that racial disparity at the level of individual stops may be substantially explained by differential policing strategies adopted for different areas based on who resides in those areas. Policy implications for problem-oriented policing and hot spot policing are discussed.

Search and Seizure, Racial Profiling, and Traffic Stops: A Disparate Impact Framework

In response to nationwide attention to the issue of racial profiling, numerous law enforcement agencies have reexamined their policies and collected data on the racial demographics of motorists stopped and searched by police. This article advocates a “disparate impact” framework for understanding the relationship between race and searches and seizures. Using data on the Washington State Patrol, analysis indicates that disparities in the proportions of racial minorities searched by the Patrol are likely not the result of intentional or purposeful discrimination. Additionally, factors such as age, sex, time of day, and the number of violations that motivated the stop affect the likelihood of a search.

A Note on the Use of Passive Alcohol Sensors during Routine Traffic Stops

Objectives: To determine whether the use of a passive alcohol sensor (PAS) in routine traffic enforcement increases the driving-under-the-influence (DUI) arrest rate of alcohol-impaired drivers. Methods: Officers in a Maryland police department were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the first with PAS devices and the second without PAS devices (the control group). Then, the PAS units were switched from the first to the second group. Arrest, PAS, and preliminary breath-test data were collected on 714 nighttime traffic stops over two enforcement periods. Results: The DUI arrest rate for the officers with and without the PAS was the same, 13%. Officers who made no arrests without the PAS benefited the most from using it. Drivers stopped for an unsafe lane change, driving over the center line, and negligent driving were arrested for DUI 35% of the time. Conclusions: The PAS appears to increase the DUI arrest rate of officers who rarely make DUI arrests, but it does not increase the DUI arrest rate of officers who normally make DUI arrests without passive sensors. It appears that it could be successful in increasing the overall number of DUI arrests for a police department if issued to, and training is provided to, patrol officers who do not normally make DUI arrests.

Examining the Generality of Citizens' Views on Racial Profiling in Diverse Situational Contexts

This article examines the generality of citizens' views concerning racial profiling across several contexts. More specifically, the research investigated whether citizens' perceptions regarding the widespread nature of racial profiling and their belief whether this profiling is justified converged when considering the practice in diverse settings, such as during traffic stops, in retail establishments, and at airports. Using data from a nationally representative poll with an oversample of Blacks and Hispanics, the results of the structural equation model analysis supported the supposition that perceptions regarding racial profiling across contexts form one latent construct. The perceptions of airport, traffic stop, and consumer racial profiling—in the context of widespread nature and justification—form two general latent measures. These perceptions differ based on race, age, sex, and income.