Arrests and searches

Based on a reports done by independent researchers from Michigan State University, Lansing´s policing appears to be relatively color blind, at least when it comes to the initial stop. The percentage of black drivers pulled over by police generally reflects the city´s population mix. For whites and Hispanics, the racial data is more confusing, though probably close.

But there is no doubt that after the initial traffic stop, any sense of parity ends. In Lansing, traffic stop-related arrests and searches of blacks and Hispanics, male and female, happen much more frequently than for whites.

It´s not a subject that police are comfortable discussing. But the numbers reported by Lansing in its traffic-stop analysis, which is available on the Police Department´s website, are consistent. If LPD isn´t targeting black or Hispanic drivers — and it seems very serious in ensuring that it doesn´t — the higher level of searches and reflects arrests reflect populations with more legal baggage.

According to Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski, most searches and arrests are not discretionary. The LPD traffic stop report states: “The majority of all searches (73.4%) were ´searches incident to a lawful arrest.´ In such situations, officers are conducting the search pursuant to established criminal procedure.”

The traffic stops trigger the event — an outstanding warrant, for example, or other police or judicial issues. Searches are basic police procedure, said Yankowski.

“When someone is arrested, we do an inventory. We search the person and vehicle to make sure there is no contraband or valuable if the vehicle is going to be towed.”

For the latest reporting period, covering much of 2011, 2012 and two months of 2013, 26.8 percent of LPD´s 12,710 traffic stops involved black drivers. In the city, according to U.S Census data, blacks represent 23 percent of the population. Whites, who compose 61 percent of Lansing´s population, account for just 43.9 percent of all stops.

But for about a fourth of all traffic stop, Lansing police are unable to determine race. They use the term “not apparent.” While acknowledging that a good percentage of whites fall into that category, Yankowski said the increase in people claiming mix-race, and the LPD´s policy of not asking race-based questions, affects how the data is analyzed. It may be why Hispanics, who represent 12.5 percent of Lansing´s population, have just 5.1 percent of traffic stops. As Lansing become more diverse, racial lines are blurring.

What happens after a traffic stop — car searches and arrests — is where the results are more racially tilted. While black drivers account for about a quarter (26.8 percent) of all LPD traffic stops, they are involved in about half (48.3 percent ) of all car searches. Hispanics with at least 5.1 percent of total stops merit about a tenth (9.4 percent) of searches.

Cars belonging to white drivers — officially 43.9 percent of all stops — are searched just 29.5 percent of the time. The “not apparent” category logs 23 percent of stops and 16 percent of searches.

Regardless of race or ethnicity, one result of searches is common to everyone. Most of the time, police find nothing. Seventy-five percent of searches of cars driven by blacks come up empty. It´s 77.9 percent for whites and 80.7 percent for Hispanics. It´s about the same for women.

The prior legal or criminal issues that prompted vehicle searches also result in the greater likelihood of arrest for blacks and Hispanics compared with whites.

About 1-in-10 traffic stops of cars driven by Hispanic or black drivers results in an arrest. For Hispanics the rate is 11.2 percent; for blacks, it´s 9 percent. For stops with white drivers, the arrest rate is 4.3 percent. The arrest pattern is similar for females: 7.3 Hispanic, 5.3 black and 2.7 white.

There is other data in Lansing traffic stop report that has nothing to do with race. Traffic stops peak during the morning and evening rush hour and during lunch time. For the reporting period, the most traffic stops occurred in December — 24.5 per day — followed by November (24.5), October (24.3) and November (21.1). April accounted for the fewest number of stops with just 11 per day. Altogether police logged 12,710 traffic stops for the period.

Drivers in their 20s account for a whopping 40 percent of all traffic stops. Driver over age 90 had the fewest stops — 0.1 percent.

More men get stopped than women: 59.9 percent versus 40.1 percent. Moving violations account for 67.3 percent of all stops followed by equipment violations (13 percent), registration (12.7 percent) and other (6.7 percent).