Running Head: TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 1 Does Systemic Racism Play in Peoria? A Case Study of Traffic Stops by the Peoria Police Department Britta Johnson, B.A. Candidate in LAS Global Studies Concentration in Human Rights University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Committee: Dr. Monica McDermott, Department of Sociology and Dr. Marie Julia Bello-Bravo, African Studies Department
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Running Head: TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 1
Does Systemic Racism Play in Peoria?
A Case Study of Traffic Stops by the Peoria Police Department
Britta Johnson, B.A. Candidate in LAS Global Studies
Concentration in Human Rights
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Committee: Dr. Monica McDermott, Department of Sociology
and Dr. Marie Julia Bello-Bravo, African Studies Department
BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 6 IMPORTANT TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................ 7 THE MANY MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM ........................................................................................ 8 TRAFFIC STOPS ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 HISTORY OF U.S. RACE RELATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF PEORIA ................................................................ 17 HISTORY OF POLICE-RACE RELATIONS ............................................................................................................. 21
LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 22 INTERSECTIONALITY THEORY ............................................................................................................................. 22 CRITICAL RACE THEORY ...................................................................................................................................... 22 “DRIVING WHILE BLACK” RESEARCH ............................................................................................................... 23 MAIN ARGUMENTS BY CRITICS ........................................................................................................................... 26
DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 28 TRAFFIC STOP TRENDS OVER TIME ................................................................................................................... 28 TRAFFIC STOPS BY ZIP CODES ............................................................................................................................. 30 SEARCHES CONDUCTED DURING TRAFFIC STOPS ............................................................................................ 34 RATES FOR FINDING CONTRABAND ................................................................................................................... 37
DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................................. 39 ARE POLICE OFFICERS RACISTS? ....................................................................................................................... 39 SOLUTIONS PROPOSED BY PREVIOUS RESEARCH ............................................................................................ 41 THE DON’T SHOOT PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................. 43
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 46 THE PURPOSE OF THIS FINAL SECTION IS THE BREAK DOWN THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS
PAPER INTO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE COMMUNITY TO
SYNTHESIZE THIS INFORMATION IN A PROACTIVE WAY. ................................................................................. 46 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT ..................................................................... 46
1. Implement a Robust System of True Community Policing ........................................................... 46 2. Focus the Purpose of Traffic Stops on Public Safety ........................................................................ 48 3. Continuously Collect and Analyze Police Data................................................................................... 49 4. Reevaluate the Don’t Shoot Program/ Strict-on-Crime Programs .......................................... 50 5. Initial and Regularly Recurring Training ............................................................................................ 50 6. Develop Mechanisms to More Effectively Respond to Allegations of Officer Misconduct ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 7. Compressive Hiring Practices that Test for Strong Implicit Bias .............................................. 52
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PUBLIC .............................................................................................................. 52
A Peoria Bradley student was walking home one night when she was mugged at
knifepoint. She described her assailant as a large black male in his 20s with baggy clothing
(Buedel, 2014). A call for information on the suspect was presented in the local newspaper.
The next day, the call was revoked. The student confessed that she fabricated the story for
unexplained reasons (Journal Star, 2014). What sparked my interest to the article was her
choice in description of her perpetrator. Why did she choose a young black male when
statistics by the FBI tell us that middle-aged white males conduct most robberies (FBI,
2012)? According to an analysis conducted by 24/7 Wall St., Peoria was ranked the 6th
worst city to reside in as African American (Stebbins, 2015).1 A poll by the Pew Research
Center (2014) showed that people view the issue differently depending on their race,
although this gap has decreased over time. The question “does systemic racism play in
Peoria?” cannot be ignored by local politicians, police or citizens any longer.
I am not the only one asking this question, and other questions similar. Most
Americans are aware of the protests taking place across the nation. However, the majority
of Americans have little context in which to understand the racial tensions causing such
unrest. Protests such as those in Ferguson, Baltimore and New York took the nation by
surprise, while others are asking what took so long. This issue is not present only in large
metropolitan cities, but is pertinent across the United States. Peoria, for example, is often
considered to the representative of the average American city. In fact, the phrase “will it
play in Peoria” originally referred to Broadway plays being successful or not depending on
1 Polls show a split in preference between the terms African American and black for people who identify as
such. Therefore, I use the terms synonymously throughout the paper. When discussing previous research, I
used the term from the referred study unless it is outdated.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 6
how well it was received by a Peoria audience. Today, manufacturers will use Peoria as a
base for their product development and testing. Does racism play in Peoria? If so, can the
solution be found here as well?
The purpose of this paper is to give a general guideline of understanding systemic
racism using Peoria as the central case study; specifically traffic stops by the Peoria police
department. This study predicts that racial and gender profiling is present in the traffic stops
and search rates by the Peoria Police Department. It also tests major counter arguments
presented by critics of systemic racism studies such as geographical factors and
predictability of criminal activity lacking from previous research.
This paper is organized to first give background information necessary to
understand the problem at present, then it will discuss past research done on the topic and
lastly go into the methods, results and analysis of the data examined to determine if
systemic racism is present in traffic stops by the Peoria Police Department.
Background
The purpose of this section is to briefly cover information necessary to understand
the issue of systemic racism in Peoria and its relation to traffic stops. There exists a copious
amount of research on dissecting system racism and I cite several sources for further
readings on the topics concisely presented here. First, I will explain important concepts,
then a history of traffic stops and why Peoria is a good place to study this topic, and I
conclude with a summarizing history of race relations in the United States using Peoria as
the focus point.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 7
Important Terms and Definitions
Most people unfamiliar to the topic of systemic racism get caught up on the plethora
of vocabulary used to describe it. Misuse of the vocabulary causes further mishaps and
harm rather than solutions when going about discourse. Below I have defined the most
important terms to understand the rest of this paper.2
The definition of race has varied over time, which tells us how fluid it is. It
originally was thought to be biological called eugenics (Goddard, 1911; Galton 1881), then
cultural and now we know it to be a sociological term. Amongst the research community,
race is understood as the socially constructed categorization of human beings based upon
genetic pigmentation of the skin. This differs from ethnicity, which is shared cultural
characteristics associated with a particular group.
Individual prejudices are personally held beliefs of race and ethnicity that are
unconsciously or consciously acted upon when interacting with other people. A person of
any race or ethnicity can commit individual prejudices. Whereas racism, on the other hand,
is always a situation in which a member of a minority is disadvantaged due in part to their
race or ethnicity. Systemic racism is a domino effect of these many situations.3
Racial profiling occurs when racial stereotypes are used as reason to investigate an
individual. Paulhamus et al. (2010) breaks this definition into two parts: hard profiling
(using solely race as decision for the investigation) and soft profiling (the use of race as
one of several factors). Although media tends to emphasis tragic instances in which hard
profiling occurred, this can be misleading because research finds most instances are soft
2 It is important to note that some of these definitions are contestable depending on the author. The purpose
of this section is not to give concrete, unchangeable definitions but to give the reader a shared reality with
the usage of the terms as they are meant to be understood in this paper. 3 Systemic racism is sometimes called institutionalized or structuralized racism in research.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 8
profiling, thus making it harder to study, understand, and ultimately disentangle. A study
by Friske et al. (2002) shows that only 10 percent of individuals show blatant racism,
whereas 80 percent of individuals show subtle biases.
The Many Manifestations of Systemic Racism
Systemic racism develops as a result of several moving parts working in tandem. It
can be broken down into several systems including (but not limited to) the education
system, healthcare system, housing, media, employment, and the criminal justice system.
The research in each of these fields could make for a very heavy book. Therefore, I will
give you the brief argument for each field, an example of research done, Peoria statistics
(if available) and a list of some sources you can view if you wish to learn more.
One of the most researched manifestations of systemic racism is within the
education system. An example of this would include Cribb’s (2009) study done on 4th
grade teacher’s perception on African American intelligence in Peoria’s District 150. The
study found “that African American gifted characteristics were viewed as less important
than general characteristics of giftedness” (2009). This pattern continues into higher
education. 10 percent of black citizens earn a bachelor’s degree compared to 21 percent of
white citizens of Peoria (Diversitydata.org Project, 2015). Other research in this field
includes punishments for equal misconducts according to race (Winn and Behizabeth,
2011; Williams, 2014; Cuellar and Markowitz, 2015), the effects of color-blindness in the
classroom (Lopez, 2007; Cribb, 2009), distribution of qualified teachers (Carroll et al.,
2000; Clotfelter et al., 2005) and lifetime earnings of equally educated citizens by race and
gender (Carnevale, Rose and Cheah, 2011).
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 9
Housing discrimination is a harder system to track and understand compared to the
education system. It takes a longer time to collect data since most data must be collected
in person. Recently, however, there has been more advancement in this field by looking at
census data and interest rate loans for housing (Rugh and Massey 2010; Cherian, 2014;
Bieker and Yuh, 2015). The main argument is that people of color have a harder time
finding and paying for housing compared to the white majority. A study by Stanford found
that middle-income black families live in neighborhoods with lower incomes more than
the typical low-income white families (Leonhardt, 2015). This means that white families
are more likely to have accept to high-quality schools, day care options, parks, playgrounds
and transportation (2015).
Advancement in the study of house loan practices by race has led to lawsuits against
several banks for the unfair lending practice of redlining.4 Earlier this year, Evans Bank in
New York paid nearly $1 million in settlement fees when a study showed unfair lending
practices dating back to at least 2009 (Silver-Greenburg and Corkery, 2015).
Cable in 2010 created a database using the census data to map housing segregation
of the United States. The first map displays Sacramento, which according to Lyubansky
(2015) is the most integrated city in the United States. The second map displays Detroit,
one of the most segregated cities.5 The third map is of Peoria, which displays racial housing
in-between the two extremes.
4 Redlining is the practice of denying or giving increased interest rates to African Americans 5 The clear line displayed in the second map between the black and white neighborhoods in Detroit is
known as the 8-mile line made famous by rappers such as Eminem.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 10
Figure 1. Racial Map of Sacramento (Cable, 2010)6
Figure 2. Racial Map of Detroit (Cable, 2010)
6 In each map, black people are represented in green and white people in blue.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 11
Figure 3. Racial Map of Peoria (Cable, 2010)
Media plays a large part of in each institution involved in systemic racism. Media
brings our attention to racial issues and this field of research argues that it also affects the
way we understand those issues in negative or positive ways. It is furthermore a good
indicator on how the population feels about race relations since media outlets generally
write articles in ways that will appeal to their audience. The race and gender of our favorite
heroes and hated villains in movies and books similarly affect our understanding of race
and ethnicity. A study by Race Forward (2014) examined how a range of news sources
such as Los Angeles Times, Fox News, The Washington Post, etc. presented racial issues.
It found that most mainstream media is not systemically aware and this can vary according
to topic (2014). Not having systemically aware content could explain why we often find
people viewing the same reality very differently. Other studies have examined media bias
in movies, newspapers and books (Littlefield, 2008; Ramasubramanian and Oliver 2007;
Hancock et al., 2013; Race Forward, 2014). However, there has yet to be a study conducted
in Peoria in this field.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 12
Systemic racism in the employment system is often the most contested
demonstration of racism because it involves competition amongst individuals bringing to
surface conscious or unconscious practices of racism, known as the glass-ceiling in some
research. According to the last government publication of poverty data, the poverty rate of
black citizens of Peoria was 38.9 percent compared to 6.9 percent of white citizens. This
is one of the leading factors for 24/7 Wall St. to rank Peoria as 6th worst metropolitan area
of African Americans. Other studies examines hiring practices of specific companies such
as Peoria Caterpillar (Kozlowski, 2011), earning disparities between races with equal
education (OECD, 2014; Kochhar and Fry, 2014) and treatment in the work environment
(Brief et al., 2000).
Study of systemic racism in health care usually focuses on the services provided to
people according to race. The dominant thesis is that people of color receive less quality
care compared to their white counterparts. For example, the American College of
Physicians (2010) discussed how racial and ethnic minorities on Medicare were 30 percent
less likely to receive medications than their white counterparts. Other studies have
measured the distribution of people lacking health insurance (Hausman et al., 2008;
Shavers and Shaves, 2006) and mental health by race (Department of Health and Human
Services, 2001). According to Peoria data, black women are significantly more likely than
their white counterparts to have preterm births, low birth-weight deliveries and give birth
as a teenager (Diversitydata.org Project, 2015). Studies on the treatment of people of color
in the Peoria healthcare have yet to be conducted.
Systemic racism, whichever part you look at whether you look at healthcare,
housing or education, plays into each other because they all reflect society’s beliefs and
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 13
attitudes towards race, gender, ethnicity, etc. They also have ripple effects on each other.
For example, if you are unable to get into a good neighborhood because of your race, you
are less likely to be able to send your children into a quality school. Therefore, it is always
important too look at all this research together, rather than separate parts. One study alone
cannot prove systemic racism exists, only support it.
This research paper falls under the complex field of racism in the criminal justice
system. The massive amount of research in this field has been so convincing that it grabbed
the attention of almost every justice department in the nation. In response, the Department
of Justice and the Supreme Court have taken more cases involving racial injustices than
ever before in United States history. One of those cases is of the Ferguson Police
Department, which is further discussed in the conclusion of this paper. Systemic racism in
the criminal justice system theory is also the largest source for scrutiny by opponents to
the idea of systemic racism especially with current events involving police departments
making it one of the most important fields to develop further.
There are a lot of moving parts in understanding systemic racism in the justice
system that tackle the issue from time of arrest to outcomes of trail to the day a person is
released from their sentence. In summary, arrest rates are significantly higher for black
people in almost every city in the United States. Once arrested, 80 percent of black people
get a public defender which leads to only 3 to 5 percent of criminal cases even going to
trial (Quigley, 2011). Once in trial it is unlikely that a black person will be on the jury
because they are often stricken for reasons such as clothing, hair style or language or by
peremptory challenges which don’t require a reason at all (Liptak, 2015; Quigley, 2011).
Non-white people are more likely as a result to get maximum sentences compared to their
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 14
white counterpart (The Sentencing Project, 2014). The Sentencing Project (2014) tracks
this data and found that two-thirds of all life sentences are non-white people. The United
States has five percent of the world’s total population, but has a quarter of the world’s
prisoners, which is the largest of all the developed countries (ACLU, 2014). Studies have
found that the incarceration rate do not reflect crime rates (Alexander, 2011). Once out of
prison or jail, black people are less likely to find a job compared to white people who were
released from prison or jail (2011). This system all starts at the ground level with police. A
study by Baley (1967) found that many U.S. citizens’ only contact with police occurs
during a traffic stop. Langan et al. (2001) and Lundmna (1979) suggest that traffic stops
are the most common place for citizens of every race to interact with the law making it the
perfect place to examine this issue in Peoria and address some of the criticisms facing the
field today.7
7 Some articles will refer to racism at traffic stops as “differential stops” or “investigatory stops” to avoid
confusion between hard profiling and soft profiling defined earlier (Epp et al., 2014). However, I choose to
use the original term of racism at traffic stops to acknowledge that police are exhibiting bias that the
community is exhibiting as well, this is not just police behavior.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 15
Field of Systemic Racism
Example Arguments Examples of Research Done
Education System (1) Punishments are allocated
differently by race
(2) Teachers devalue African
American traits in terms of
success
Hjerm (2001)
Williams (2014)
Maddon, Jussim and Eccles
(1997)
Housing
(1) Racial residential
segregation is the cause for
racial disparities in health
(2) It is harder for people of
color to relocate and find
housing compared to whites
Williams and Collins (2001)
Media Bias
(1) Media will portray no-
white races negatively
(2) News will broadcast
crimes more often if
conducted by a person of
color
Race Forward (2011)
Employment (1) Equivalent resumes will
not receive equivalent
opportunity due to race
(2) The behaviors of people
of color in the work place are
viewed differently in
comparison to white
coworkers and thus have
different consequences
(promotions, firing, etc.)
Pager et al (2009)
Brief et al (2000)
Ziegert and Hanges (2005)
Harrison et al (2006)
Word, Zanna and Cooper
(1974)
Healthcare Races with the same
healthcare and conditions will
not receive the same care
Hausman et al (2008)
Shavers and Shaves (2006)
Criminal Justice (1) Same crimes will be
receive different punishments
by race
(2) People of color are
suspected more than white
people for criminal activity
Alexander (2011)
Figure 4. Summary of Research Done on Systemic Racism
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 16
Traffic Stops
Traffic stops matter. There is no other form of government that comes close to the
portion of the population affected by the law (Epp et al., 2014). Police make approximately
eighteen million traffic stops a year in the United States (2014). This means that 12 percent
of citizens will encounter police in traffic stops per year (2014). Number of traffic stops
in Peoria vary greatly from 2985 stops in 2012 to 16853 in 2008. This means that traffic
stops give police the power actively enforce the country’s racial ideologies or actively re-
create the American racial divide.
Figure 5. Total Number of Traffic Stops over Time in Peoria, IL
History of Traffic Stop Data. The court case of Whren v. United States resulted
in allowing for traffic stops to be used as a location to investigate crimes giving way to
what is called the “pretextual stop” (Harris, 1999).8 This need was put in place as a response
8 A pretextual stop is when a police officer stops a car to investigate the driver of the car for potential
criminal activity. These stops often are for minor offenses such as not using a turn signal, not coming to a
complete stop at a stop sign, etc.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Nu
mb
er o
f P
eop
le S
top
ped
Black
White
TOTAL
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 17
to the heightened “drug war” later described in the history of US race relations. The first
national effort to collect data on traffic stops was in 1997 with the Traffic Stops Stats Act,
but the bill died in committee. Currently, states will pass their own laws on if and how
traffic stop data is to be collected. This has caused some debate across state lines on if
people from other states can request data from states they are not a resident of.
Illinois passed laws against racial profiling of both pedestrians and motorists
(Jones-Brown and Maule, 2010). In 2004, Illinois passed the Traffic Stop Data Collection
Act that compiled a collection of traffic stop data from police departments. If a citation or
written warning does not result from the stop, it does not need to be reported even if a
search is conducted. In 2014, Illinois made ticket quotas illegal statewide although Peoria
Police claim to never have had a quota requirement in place.9 This paved the way for
researchers in Peoria and other cities in Illinois to examine the data for its intended purpose,
to prevent racial profiling (Associated Press, 2014).
History of U.S. Race Relations in the Context of Peoria
As we have seen earlier, Peoria poses an ideal location to study the concept of
systemic racism because in most all the standard fields used to measure system racism,
Peoria ranks average. This connection is also present in Peoria’s history. Although there
does not exist a single compressive overview of race relations in Peoria since the 1970s,
through immense fact digging, one will find the rich history of Peoria that parallels much
of what the nation experienced as a whole.10
9 This has been found to be not true. Peoria had a quota of 10 tickets per month for each patrol officer. 10 See Dr. Barrett’s “Negro in Peoria” published in 1947and updated in 1973
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 18
The best place to start the story of Peoria race relations is with the Underground
Railroad.11 Peoria served as one of the most important terminals for former slaves from
Mississippi and Arkansas to stop for permanent settlement or continue to freedom in
Canada (Garrett, 1973). The most cited reason for staying is the economic resources open
to the black population, which may be said is true today (1973). Since Peoria was part of
the Underground Railroad and served for economic support to former slaves, it was fairly
common for former slaves to work along the industrial riverfront to purchase the freedom
of their family members still enslaved in the south. As shown in the previous map of Peoria,
black settlement along the riverside in downtown Peoria remains ordinary today even with
the increase of the black population into the northern bluffs of Peoria. Due to its pivotal
political importance, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had their infamous debate in
Peoria where Lincoln officially declared his position as against slavery. On the other hand,
Fredrick Douglas wrote in his autobiography about trying to find a place to stay in Peoria
during this time period. At the time, Peoria hotels did not serve black citizens.
Gambling, prostitution and breweries lined the downtown area along the river
(Saul, 2014). This brought wealth and power to black Peorians who often were excluded
from other legally profitable means (2014). During the prohibition, for example, Peoria
had the biggest whisky distillery in the world (2014). This market of vices was successful
from the 1870s through the Great Depression. The temporary Taft homes where originally
created for returning veterans from World War II. A lot of the veterans married, had
families, moved out of the Taft homes and created legislation in local government to
minimize this vice market that surrounded the homes. Part of the new legislation was to
11 For information on race relations in Peoria prior to the Underground Railroad, see Dr. Barrett’s work
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 19
create a bridge across the Illinois River connecting Peoria and East Peoria. This bridge is
known today as the I-74 Bridge. It was strategically placed to break apart the most common
area known for gambling, prostitution and bars (2014). Although this helped reduce
dangerous activities in Peoria, it pushed many poor black Peorians to relocate into the Taft
homes since it was the only welfare housing (out of three in Peoria) that allowed black
citizens in a separate section from the whites (2014).12
Peoria’s Civil Rights movement started in 1963. There were lots of involvement
from local churches such as Ward Chapel and Bethel United Methodist, as well as other
organizations such as the local NAACP and Colored Women’s Aid Club, which gave birth
to the Carver Center. The Carver Center gave young African American students a place to
have prom, socialize and learn skills.13 From local bus boycotts to downtown restaurant
sit-ins, Peoria was not just viewing the Civil Rights from the television. Peoria also took
bold approaches to address the concerns risen. Peoria created the “Inter-Racial House
Visitation Day” that involved families from the bluffs (white neighborhoods) and
downtown (black neighborhoods) getting together for tea. Although this sounds a little
strange today, it was a huge advancement of the time period. Peoria District 150 also made
advances to desegregate schools before desegregation became law. At first the program
was successful, due in part to the active role of the Peoria Police Department. However, a
government study found that District 150 re-segregated with time.
12 The Taft housing has always been and remains a controversial topic when it comes to crime in Peoria. It
is commonly believed that the Taft homes are the root of crime in Peoria and people will convey desires to
remove funding. However, crime statistics show that residents of Peoria’s welfare housing is more often the
victims of crime than the perpetrators (Nightingale, 2015). 13 It was at the Carver Center that the famous comedian Richard Pryor grew his interest in acting
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 20
Other important racial events that I could gather from local library are displayed on
the timeline below. In conclusion, throughout history Peoria has been both lacking and
advanced in its race relations.
Figure 6. Timeline of Major Race Relation Eras And Events in Peoria
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 21
History of Police-Race Relations
Throughout race relation history, police have played an integral role. Peoria has no
history of lynching because of the active role of the Peoria Police Department. There are
at least two recorded accounts of the Peoria police preventing a lynching by protecting the
potential victim. Peoria police also took an active role in keeping children safe during
desegregation. According the history of the Peoria Police Department, they also hired black
officers before it was commonplace (Buck et al., n.d.). However, it was traditional at the
time for black officers to only be allowed to patrol black neighborhoods (Buck et al., n.d.).14
The average city in the United States should have a similar history with their police
departments. Subsequently, the “war on drugs” shifted police-race relations in a major way.
The drug war was “declared” by Ronald Reagan and shifted the focus of the police from
serving the community to protecting it from this invisible war. There has been a lot of
research conducted in reviewing why the drug war was declared, how it was conducted,
and its effects on today’s police-race relations (Alexander, 2011). In relation to this study,
the most important take-away from the drug war is its effects on the traditional traffic stop.
In 1998, the DEA created a “drug profile” which described characteristics of a person that
increases their likelihood of having drugs on their person (2011). One of these factors was
race.15 Although the Supreme Court had ruled that warrants based on reasonable evident
were needed to enter private properties such as homes, it had ruled in 1996 that cars did
not fall into the definition of private property since it is mobile. Consequently, this created
traffic stops as the main “battleground” for this invisible “war.”
14 In the biography of Richard Pryor, Saul (2014) describes how black officers in Peoria were more harsh
than white officers to black rule-breakers as a way to “keep them in line” 15 This profile was not created using hard evidence, but rather stereotypes and faulty arrest statistics.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 22
Literature Review
Several studies have been conducted to track racism at traffic stops in a variety of
cities across the United States. Although these studies have the same thesis, they go about
proving systemic racism in different ways. There has also been a variety of responses to
the advancements in this research. The purpose of this section is to explain the two base
theories underlying this study, then an overview of the most ground breaking research done
on the topic, responses to the research, and lastly, how this study can add to the field by
testing some of the counter-arguments.
Intersectionality Theory
The first theory on which this study is based is called Intersectionality. This is a
theory that originated in the study of law with Crenshaw in 1988. She noted how black
defendants would sometimes experience the discriminations of a white woman, a black
man or sometimes both simultaneously and criticized the U.S. legal system for not having
legal avenues to address this phenomenon. For example, a black woman must choose if she
wishes to sue her company for discrimination as a women or being black, not both. In terms
of this research, Intersectionality theory is the understanding that one discriminatory-factor
alone does not cause an outcome alone, but rather in conjunction with other factors such as
age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.
Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory was started within the Civil Rights movement that compliments
Intersectionality theory in that it is interested in the study of the relationship between race,
racism, and power (Delgado and Stefancic, 2012). The basic tenets of the theory are (1)
racism is a part of everyday life, (2) our current system gives preference to white citizens
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 23
and (3) racism is a product of social relations rather than biology (2012). From both
theories, it is easy to tell that this kind of research needs to be multidisciplinary. Therefore,
it is important to look at research from sociology, economics, law, criminology,
psychology, etc. in tandem because one paper alone cannot dissect and prove systemic
racism.
“Driving While Black” Research
While there have been lots of studies done on traffic stop data in several cities,
including nearby cities of Springfield and Chicago, there are few studies that changed the
course of the field.16 The term “driving while black” was coined as a phrase often used in
literature to depict the criminalization of blackness rather than law-breaking. The most
widely discussed scholarship on this topic is the New Jersey Turnpike study.
Lamberth conducted the New Jersey Turnpike study in 2002. The study determined
by field data how many drivers (by race) frequented the roadway, which race was more
likely to speed and which race was more likely to be stopped. It found a major racial
disparity in law enforcement causing a large controversy within the government and in the
media. This study got replicated at the Baltimore on the Maryland and Delaware interstate
border and found that black drivers were pulled over more even though there was no
statistical difference in driving habit between races.
Some scholars believed the disparity to be even greater because not everyone owns
a car. Thus, the my data is not 100 percent accurate since it is not comparing the data with
the driving population, but rather the Peoria population as a whole. This has been addressed
16 Although there are references in the following section support the idea that studying race is important,
this study will not go into detail on the research done in the legal field and philosophical research done on
studying disparities in the first place.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 24
in several ways such as with surveys, driver’s license data, traffic accident data and
photographic stoplights and find that disparities are even greater than previously thought.
Brunson (2010) used qualitative methods to examine racial profiling in St. Louis
by conducting in-depth interviews to search for “under the surface” cultural explanations
for aggressive policing. The result was 83 percent of participants reported having a
personal experience with police harassment (2000). It also found that there were often
negative consequences associated with questioning the legality of the officer’s actions
(2000).
Skolnick (1966) also used qualitative methods to study the psychology of the police
called Justice without Trial. He wrote about the developed “working personality” created
by police and how this aids in his or her identification of suspects. Wilson observed that
deindustrialization lead to the archetype of the criminal young black male, which escalated
with President Bush’s unintentional “second” war on drugs with the Patriot Act (Balko,
2014). Alexander (2011) argues that although the Patriot Act was formed to prevent
terrorism by stripping away some privacy rights of citizens within the country, it has been
used more often for drug raids.
Research by Engel and Calnon (2004) brought these hypotheses into the traffic stop
discussion by determining once a stop had taken place, the likelihood of an officer to
request a search. The study found that race did not play a significant factor in being pulled
over; it did play a role in being asked for a search.
Figure 7 breaks down further how traffic stop data has been examined in past
research using different methods including some research mentioned in this section. This
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 25
figure was synthesized an article written on different methods used to examine racism at
traffic stops by Ridgeway & MacDonald (2010)
Name of
Method
Explanation
Pitfall(s)
Examples of Research
External
Benchmarks
The population as risk
for official police
contact
Due to approximations
it can hide bias or
exaggerate it
Zingraff, Farrell,
Parker, Alpert
Observation
Benchmarks
Observers go to
locations to tally racial
distribution of drivers
& law breakers
Does not account for
other environments
other than moving
violations
Albert Reiss Jr,
Lamberth, Fagan, Eck
and Alpert
Arrest and
Crime Suspect
Benchmarks
Arrest rates can be
used to measure bias
and establishing the
population at risk for
official police contact
due to reporting by the
community
# of individuals
stopped far exceeds the
# arrested and police
can be called to areas,
whereas traffic stops
don’t start with an
arrest
Gelman, Klinger,
Ridgeway
Instrumental
Variables
Creating an
independent variable
(such as night and
day) to evaluation
changes in stops
according to race
A controlled scientific
experiment is simply
impossible in the real
world
Neyman, Grogger and
Ridgeway
Internal
Benchmarking
Compares officer’s
stop decisions with
decisions made by
other officers working
in similar situations
1. If all officers are
equally bias, no
problems will show
2. There may be
legitimate outliers
Ridgway and
MacDonald, Decker
and Rojek, and
Walker
Figure 7. Methods Used in Past Research and the Pitfalls (Ridgeway & MacDonald,
2010)
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 26
Main Arguments by Critics
The NYPD police commissioner stated when criticized about racial profiling ,“the
racial/ethnic distribution of the subjects of stop and frisk reports reflect the demographics
of know violent crime suspects as reported by crime victims. Similarly, the demographic
of arrestees in violent crimes also correspond with the demographics of known violent
suspects.” Granted drug usage rates have been shown to be equal by race according to
healthcare studies, there is still a need for hit rate data.
This research is fairly new in comparison to other fields. Some other major counter-
arguments include the fact that police officers are often centralized in high crime areas,
which statically tend to be the neighborhoods of minority populations. One alternative
geographic explanation is the “out of place doctrine” of Weitzer and Tuch, which states
that perhaps officers identify a race with a particular neighborhood to be a red flag for
criminal activity. All of these criticisms were tested in some form in this research, which
is detailed in the next section.
Methodology
This study examined the traffic stop data that was requested through the Illinois
Department of Transportation via the Freedom of Information Act. The collection of data
came from the Peoria Police Department, which collected information during every stop
that resulted in a warning or citation. Data started in 2004 to the most current completed
year of 2014. The data was then converted into an Excel sheet to create the graphs used in
this paper. Comparison data comes from the most recent US Census of 2010. I evaluated
the estimated data by the US Census for years not surveyed and all years averaged out to
the data collected in 2010.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 27
Limitations
It is important to take into consideration that data used in this study was collected
by the Peoria Police Department. Therefore, this study assumes that all the data is accurate.
One inaccuracy I found in the data was in 2012. The data given to me by IDOT comprised
of 2992 stops total, but the Peoria Police Department reported 3421 stops that year. All
other years were consistent with the data given to me.
Ideally to test geographical inconsistences I would use “beat location,” or where
the stop occurred. This was part of the data given to me via the Freedom of Information
Act for parts of some years. However, the corresponding locations to the beat code were
not given to me. The Peoria Police Department was unable to assist upon request.
Therefore, I used subsequent zip code data collected from the driver’s license that may
underestimate the racial disparities in stops as a result.
Data collected by the Peoria Police Department does not include stops that did not
result in a warning or citation. Therefore, the results concluded in this study can be
underestimates.
The population data is demographics of Peoria citizens, not of the driving
population. Again, the results may be underestimates of the racial disparity since previous
studies show there are, on average, fewer drivers who are black compared to the citizen
population.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 28
Data Analysis
The purpose of this section is to give a road map to the major results found by
examining the traffic stop data for Peoria, IL.17 This study first looked at the bigger picture
of traffic stops by viewing the number of stops and rates by race, gender and age from 2004
to 2014.18 Then this study explored the commonly used explanation for these trends that
police officers tend to police areas of higher crime rates more vigorously and thus result in
higher population of black people getting pulled over and searched. To examine this
hypothesis, this study breaks down the traffic stop data by zip code. This section also
examines the “out of place” theory, which is further explained later. Third, this study
examines prejudices during the actual traffic stop by examining search numbers. The most
common counter argument for these results is that black people are more likely to have
contraband on their person and therefore should be searched most often. Thus, this study’s
final examination was of the hit rates by race, gender and age.
Traffic Stop Trends over Time
Figure 8 shows the general trend of traffic stops by race throughout time. The dotted
lines represent the percentage of the population that is either black or white taken by the
last major census in 2010. In a just society, the stop rates would be equal to the population
percentage. The data shows that whites are stopped at a significantly lower rate than their
representation of the population and blacks are pulled over at a much higher rate. It is also
important to note the significant change in 2014, where stops for whites decreased to the
lowest it has been since data started to be collected. However, blacks were represented the
17 The entire data in full can be found in the appendix of this paper 18 This is all the data available through the Freedom of Information Act at this time
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 29
most in 2014 than any other year since 2004. Further research with more data in the future
is needed to make conclusions on why this occurred.
We can break traffic stop data down even more to look at race, gender and age.
Figure 9 displays the most recent stop rates in 2014, 2013 and 2012. It shows us that
changes we saw throughout time in the Figure 8 has impacted the ages 20 to 29 the most.
This age range tends to have the largest rate for stops for both races and both genders.
However, throughout time the stops for white males has decreased, whereas the stop rate
for males 20 to 29 years of age increased and surpassed the other race and genders.
Figure 8. Traffic Stops Rates by Race in Peoria, IL throughout Time
In terms of gender, females tend to be slightly pulled-over less frequently. Race
shows more disparities than gender. Except for in year 2014, people who are both black
and female are represented significantly less likely to be pulled-over than people who are
both black and male. Also in 2012, white females between the ages 40 to 69 have the largest
pullover rate. There is not a consistent pattern for gender results.
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Per
cen
t
Year
Stop Rate for Blacks or
African Americans
Population of Peoria that is
Black or African American
Stop Rate for Whites
Population of Peoria that is
White
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 30
These results are not surprising and parallel similar studies of other cities in the
past. The most common rebuttal to these results is that police are most abundant in high
crime areas, which tend to be neighborhoods with a majority of black people.
Consequently, one can reasonable conclude that more black people will be represented in
the data. Therefore, this study breaks down the Peoria traffic stop data by zip code to
examine this phenomenon.19
Traffic Stops by Zip codes
Figure 10 is a map that breaks down Peoria into the respective zip codes. It further
breaks down each of those zip codes to display the racial make-up of each and pullover
rates for each race20. Additionally, it maps out the crime rates received from the Peoria
Police Department website.21 The only zip code where blacks are the largest percentage of
the population is 61605. This is a high crime zip code. However, the zip codes 61603 and
61604 also have very high crime rates. Although black people are not the majority in these
zip codes, they have the worst representation of blacks in the traffic data of the entire city.
In fact, black people are over represented in every zip code in Peoria even zip codes with
low crime.22 The worst zip code in this regard was 61614.
The “out of place” theory seeks to explain the existence of high pullover rates for
blacks in low crime rate areas by accepting there is racism in the system. Nevertheless, this
theory states that naturally, blacks in low black populated areas will cause a police officer
19 Ideally this would have been collected with beat code data. However, the Peoria Police Department was
unable to provide me with this information upon request. 20 This reflects the population living in the zip code, not the driving population. 21 The color code for the crime map from high crime rate to lowest crime rate level: Pink, Yellow, Green,
and unmarked areas. 22 There is an exception statistically for zip code 61528. According to the 2010 census, 61528 has one black
resident and this person has yet to be caught driving while black.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 31
to raise suspicion of criminal activity. If this theory were correct, we would expect to see
the same effect for whites in majority black zip codes. This is not the case. In the sole zip
code where blacks do make up the majority and has the lowest white population (32
percent), whites are represented the least of all of Peoria with only 16 percent of stops.
TRAFFIC STOPS BY THE PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT 32
Figure 9. Stop Rate by Age, Race and Gender in Peoria, IL