HomeMy Public PortalAbout04-08-21 Agenda Regular Meeting101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278
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Mayor’s Task Force Agenda | 1 of 5
Agenda
Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety
Remote regular meeting
7 p.m. April 8, 2021
Virtual meeting via YouTube Live
Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel
Due to current public health concerns, this meeting will be conduct remotely using Zoom. Public comment
instructions are available on the final page of this agenda.
1.Roll call
2.Audience comments not related to the printed agenda
3.Welcome
4.Items for decision
Minutes from meeting March 11, 2021
5.Items for discussion
A.HPD traffic stops report and Dr. Baumgartner’s March 11 traffic stop presentation
B.What is next for the task force: A review of what we’ve accomplished, what is left to do, and what
information is needed.
6.Next meeting date
7 p.m. May 13, 2021
7.Adjournment
Compliance with the American with Disabilities Act interpreter services and/or special sound equipment is
available on request. If you are disabled and need assistance with reasonable accommodations, call the Town
Clerk’s Office at 919-296-9443 a minimum of one business day in advance of the meeting.
101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278
www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov
Mayor’s Task Force Minutes | 1 of 3
Minutes
Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety
Remote regular meeting
7 p.m. March 11, 2021
Virtual meeting via YouTube Live
Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel
Present: Mayor Jenn Weaver, Judit Alvarado, Professor Frank Baumgartner, Sujata Bijou, Chloe Johnson,
Rod Jones, Jason Knapp, Hathaway Pendergrass, Marc Xavier, and Allison Zirkel
Absent: Keith Cook, Shannon Blue, Patricia Harrison, Tracey Little, and Hooper Schultz
Staff: Police Chief Duane Hampton, Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing
1. Roll call
Mayor Jenn Weaver called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing called the
roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum.
2. Audience comments not related to the printed agenda
None
3. Welcome
Mayor Weaver welcomed everyone and said that any items on the agenda we did not cover tonight would be
covered at a later meeting.
4. Items for decision
A. Minutes from meeting Feb. 11, 2021
Motion: Jason Knapp moved approval of the Feb. 11, 2021 minutes as submitted. Hathaway Pendergrass
seconded.
Valsing called the roll for voting.
Vote: 8-0. Ayes: 8. Nays: 0.
5. Presentations
Weaver relayed some criminal justice statistics before introducing the presenter. Nationwide, African
Americans are 13% of the population and 35% of the population. In NC, the African American population is
23% and they make up 48% of people in jail and 52% of people in prison. Since 1970 the total jail population
has increased by 615%. NC General Assembly passed the 2009 Racial Justice Act, allowing prisoners on death
row to appeal if racial bias could be proved. This act was repealed in 2013.
Mayor’s Task Force Minutes | 2 of 3
A. Presentation to the Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety by Frank R. Baumgartner, UNC Chapel
Hill
Dr. Baumgartner began by stating he appreciated the group’s willingness to confront issues of racial disparity.
The presentation reviewed traffic stops from more than 2,000 police agencies from across the country.
A core question is are we getting value out of using the traffic code as a pretext for a criminal investigation.
These investigations are often informal conversations. The racial disparity seen both in the initial traffic stop
and in searches because of those stops make this an important question to ask.
One focus of the presentation was investigatory versus safety traffic stops. The question to ask is if the
investigatory stops are driving the racial disparity, is it important to make these kinds of stops?
Another issue reviewed is probable cause versus consent searches. Recent emphasis on the constitutional
right to decline to be searched, including a form that needs signing to give consent, has led to a decrease in
consent searches. Subsequently probable cause searches have increased. The racial disparity is more evident
in men than women.
Dr. Baumgartner shared specifics on Hillsborough, including that the increase in probable cause and decrease
in consent searches is seen in Hillsborough. In addition, over a 5-year period we had 70 contraband arrests
because of almost 10,000 traffic stops.
6. Items for discussion
A. Q & A for Dr. Baumgartner
Marc Xavier asked about the relationship between poverty and traffic stops. Dr. Baumgartner replied that
poverty effects typically add on to race effects, rather than replace them.
Hathaway Pendergrass asked about the rate of decrease in consent searches in the cities using the consent
search form. The answer is a decrease of 98%. Most of the cities saw a corresponding increase in probable
cause searches.
Sujata Bijou asked if there was anything to learn from the ratio of black to white search rates that were under
the 1:1 ratio. Answer: these searches tended to be small departments that had some irregularities and were a
very small number. Nationally and statewide the racial disparity in traffic stop searches is ubiquitous.
Chloe Johnson asked about creative ideas for addressing the disparity between investigatory and safety stops.
The answer focused on the ill will that is a result of stops that end in investigations. The driver understands
they are being profiled when the stop is a pretext for investigation, rather than for the purpose of safety. The
town of Fayetteville tried reducing investigatory traffic stops and had some positive results. In addition,
Baumgartner highlighted that the use of traffic stops for investigatory purposes has been common practice
since the 1960s and the question is, is it working? Is it keeping us all safer? He said this question has not been
asked so the answer is not clear. He also suggests that one of the reasons investigatory traffic stops continue
is political, because it doesn’t adversely impact drivers in the demographic (white, male) that have political
power.
Weaver asked for clarification on Baumgartner’s premise that every driver is breaking the law. The response is
that it is very difficult to drive the speed limit. You are either exceeding the limit or obstructing traffic. This
and other traffic laws make it very easy for officers to initiate a traffic stop.
Mayor’s Task Force Minutes | 3 of 3
Jason Knapp asked about disparities between the Hispanic communities and the white community. Answer:
Young Hispanic men experience profiling in the same way as young black men. However, because of
immigration status questions other age groups and females are also likely to be profiled.
Judit Alvarado asked if there is data that shows if people who don’t have a driver’s license are also driving
poorly or is it simply a lack of identification that is the problem. Answer: in North Carolina, we see that most
of the driving without a license violations are for Hispanic people.
Sujata Bijou asked if there is any evidence that implicit bias training for police officers has any effect on any of
these disparities. Baumgartner’s research has not investigated that precisely, but he has looked at the data
after controlling for officers that may have explicit bias (outliers), and racially disparate outcomes are still
evident. This indicates a need for agency and leadership decisions, such as how to police different
neighborhoods, to focus on countering the racial disparities.
Weaver mentions the difficulty police have with being asked to patrol neighborhoods by the residents who
are concerned for safety, but then ending up with higher rates of racial disparity because that is where they
are policing. In response, Baumgartner mentioned that police calls are also affected by the implicit or explicit
bias on the part of the citizens calling 911. A recent study of trespassing showed more racial bias on the part
of the citizens than the police.
Weaver asked about the traffic patterns in Hillsborough and how that might affect the traffic stop situation.
The response focused on the fact that adverse reactions are adverse no matter where the driver is from and
all agencies need to be concerned with addressing concerns related to disparate racial outcomes in traffic
stops. Out of state plates are an indicator of a higher likelihood of being searched.
Chloe Johnson asked about the outlier officers, with higher disparity of traffic stops, Baumgartner mentioned
earlier and if they are associated with any area of the state. Answer: they are about 1/3 of all officers in the
state. When you are looking at individual officers the numbers can be influenced by assigned neighborhoods
or other factors that need to be understood. This sort of data should be used for evaluation and training.
Weaver mentioned the HPD traffic stop report and suggests to the task force that reviewing that information,
in light of tonight’s presentation and discussion will be a way to better understand the challenges and needs
for Hillsborough.
7. Next meeting date
April 8, 2021.
8. Adjournment
Weaver adjourned the meeting at 9:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Eli Valsing
Police Management Analyst
Staff support to the Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety
Approved: Month X, 202X
Presentation to the Mayor’s Task Force on
Re -imagining Public Safety
City of Hillsborough, NC
March 11, 2021
Frank R. Baumgartner, UNC Chapel Hill
frankb@unc.edu, http://fbaum.unc.edu
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 1
A ticket for speeding? Or a longer
conversation about what you are doing?
•Operating a vehicle means you are breaking a law. If you break a law, you are liable to be detained and the officer can ask you questions.
•Decades of standard practice, with full support from the US Supreme Court, have led police around the country to use the most common interaction with citizens, the routine traffic stop, as an opportunity to conduct an informal criminal investigation.
•Middle-class white Americans are generally exempt from this. Many cannot even imagine it could be happening.
•But in many minority communities, there is a sense that any interaction with police may lead to a lot of questioning.
•One question not commonly posed: Are we gaining a lot in terms of public safety? Is it worth it?
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 2
A quick summary of a long book:
•Black drivers in NC 2x as likely to be pulled over
•Once pulled over, 2x as likely to be searched
•Typical contraband “hit” is very small
•Only about 10 percent of searches lead to arrest.
•Disparities are ubiquitous: all states and localities show similar patterns
•Targeting seems clearly based on stereotyping.
•Each time we find a new database with another variable, we find more evidence of stereotypes: out of state plates, older car, luxury v. less expensive vehicles, cars v. work vans, each variable predicts higher rate of search.
•If we had a variable for “air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror”, that would probably predict search as well.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 3
SBI-122
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 4
Differential Likelihood of Stop
Note: Whites drive more so these population comparisons under-estimate disparities by
about 16 percent.
Whites, population v. stops share Blacks, population v. stops share
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 5
Extensions to
other
states…
Every police
agency we
can find,
over 1,900
across many
states.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 6
Racial Differences in Safety v. Investigatory
Stops; Consent v. Probable Cause searches.
•“Safety” v. “Investigatory”
•An imperfect distinction, but the idea is to compare
•stops where the officer clearly observed a serious safety violation, then decided to stop the car, versus
•stops where the officer first decided he/she wanted to stop the car, then found a technical violation.
•The traffic and vehicle codes render every single motorist a lawbreaker. The police therefore have unfettered discretion in making legally justified, but perhaps unfair, traffic stops.
•What we would like: compare enforcement of the traffic laws for the purpose of keeping the roads safe with use of the traffic or vehicle code to fight the war on drugs.
•What we can do: compare the 10 traffic stop purposes…
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 7
Safety and Investigatory Stops (data through 2016)
Purpose # of Stops % of Stops
Safety 10,903,991 52.41
Speed Limit 8,575,792 41.22
Stop Light/Sign 992,374 4.77
Driving Impaired 182,558 0.88
Safe Movement 1,153,267 5.54
Investigatory 9,628,598 46.27
Vehicle Equipment 1,833,213 8.81
Vehicle Regulatory 3,556,772 17.09
Seat Belt 1,812,175 8.71
Investigation 1,410,390 6.78
Other Vehicle 1,016,048 4.88
Other 273,526 1.31
Checkpoint 273,526 1.31
Total Stops (Drivers only)20,806,115 100.00Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 8
1 to 1.7 Million stops per year, about 50/50
safety v. investigatory purposes…
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 9
Black Search Rate is higher than for Whites,
overall: 5.13 / 2.38 = 2.16.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 10
But this is made up of two parts: Safety, and
Investigatory.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 11
While the overall differences is 2.16, it is much
higher for searches stemming from investigatory
stops.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 12
The Investigatory / Safety Stop Ratio
•Number of Investigatory Purpose Stops / Number of Safety Stops
•High values: the police are doing more stops for equipment violations, expired tags, etc.
•Low values: the police are focusing on keeping the roads safe from speeders, drunk drivers, those running stop signs, etc.
•Recall: Safety stops = speeding, stops signs, DUI, unsafe movement. Investigatory stops = all others.
•We calculate this for every agency in the state…
•(It varies a lot from agency to agency, and for a given agency over time. The highway patrol (SHP) for example, does mostly safety stops, and has a very low search rate. Major city PD’s have higher investigatory stop rates, and much higher search rates.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 13
As the focus moves from traffic safety stops to
investigatory stops…
Black drivers get searched more,
compared to whites
Black drivers get more warnings,
compared to whites
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 14
As the focus moves from traffic safety stops to
investigatory stops…
Black drivers get fewer tickets,
compared to whites
Black drivers get arrested more,
compared to whites
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 15
What to make of this?
•Police agencies that instruct their officers to focus on traffic safety see
lower racial disparities in the outcomes of those stops.
•Black drivers get more tickets; isn’t that a bad thing?
•No, if you were really truly speeding, or you blew through a stop sign, you
deserve a ticket.
•Looking at differences in outcomes gives us some insight into the
motivation of the officer
•Clearly, officers have the legal justification to stop anyone they want,
since all drivers are violating some law. Courts have upheld that view.
•But, people know when they were profiled. And they don’t like it.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 16
Consent and Probable Cause Searches
•Dramatic decline in Consent search rates in the past 10 years
•Large reduction in racial disparities as these rates have gone down so
dramatically.
•However, a corresponding substitution of probable cause searches
•These have targeted black men.
•Other demographic groups have seen the decline in consent searches with no
corresponding increase in probable cause searches, or a lower increase.
•Percent of these searches that lead to contraband: Low.
•Percent of these searches that lead to contraband followed by the
arrest of the driver: Even lower. Very low, in fact.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 17
Search rates have declined by over 25 percent.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 18
Probable cause and consent searches: Rates
and raw numbers.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 19
Search rates are much higher for men than
women
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 20
Racial disparities are relatively low among
female drivers, high for male drivers.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 21
White male drivers saw only a slight increase in
probable cause searches; black males a huge one.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 22
Fewer than 10 percent of consent searches lead to
arrest. Fewer than 30 percent of probable cause
searches do. (Note it is slightly higher for whites.)
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 23
How much juice for the squeeze?
•Chief Chris Blue (Chapel Hill PD) says he teaches his officers to pay
attention to the likely benefit of any kind of aggressive / assertive
behavior toward a citizen. Is a search likely to yield evidence of a
crime, or will it be fruitless or yield only trivial contraband such as the
residue of some drugs previously consumed?
•“Is the juice worth the squeeze?”
•If you don’t get any juice, then the squeeze was not worth it.
•Better to target the more aggressive behaviors on those places, or toward
those people, where it will interdict a serious crime.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 24
The cost of “fruitless” searches.
•The US Supreme Court has said that any citizen should be willing to
undergo a rare and momentary inconvenience for the sake of public safety.
•But Philando Castile was stopped 47 times in his short lifetime.
•My last traffic stop was over 25 years ago.
•What’s the difference between Philando Castile and Frank Baumgartner?
There are many, of course. But identity matters…
•People know when they are being investigated because of a pretext. This is
established police behavior, validated by the courts. But it makes people
mad, deprives them of the assumption of privacy that other citizens enjoy,
and alienates large portions of the population.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 25
Let’s assign a cost to the decision to search
•My data suggest that 90 percent of consent searches, and 75 percent of probable cause searches following traffic stops are in fact fruitless in that they do not lead to arrest.
•Highway patrol officers in the 1970s who started the “drug courier profile” methodology knew it was “a numbers game” –thousands of traffic stops would be required to find a few couriers.
•“You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.”
•But these pretextual stops alienate people and deprive them of their rights.
•Further, they are racially targeted (as well as by gender, age, social class, and by neighborhood). Naturally, it makes people angry.
•Note, however, that white middle class drivers are not angry, and most are probably completely unaware that such things happen. Such is the political magic that has allowed this to go on for decades, and perhaps brought us to this moment where we are looking throughout the criminal justice system for solutions.
•Focusing traffic stops on traffic safety is a simple solution: Keep the roads safe, and don’t use the traffic and vehicle codes to go on a fishing expedition likely to land more minnows than whales.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 26
Additional Slides concerning Hillsborough PD
Presentation to the Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety
Frank R. Baumgartner, UNC Chapel Hill
frankb@unc.edu, http://fbaum.unc.edu
March 11, 2021
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 27
Numbers of Stops and Searches, 2015-19,
HPD
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 28
Probable Cause and Consent Searches,
Number and Rate per 100 Stops
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 29
White and Black Search rates, Probable Cause and
Consent Search rates. Note different scales.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 30
Search rates for males and female drivers, by
race. Note different scales.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 31
Search rate ratio: Rate of search for black drivers
divided by rate for whites. 1.00 = equality.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 32
Some quick summary stats for HPD, all years
•Total stops: 9,948
•Searches:367
•Contraband hits derived from those searches:143
•Arrests derived from those contraband hits:70
•Seventy contraband arrests out of 10,000 stops. That’s the question.
•Was that making us safer? I’m not sure what the contraband was.
•But this is the calculation I think we should be making.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 33
Useful readings for background on driving.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 34
What were those books again?
•Seo, Sarah A. 2019. Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
•Seo is a law professor and the book focuses on how the law and our expectations of privacy changed with the arrival of the automobile.
•Sorin, Gretchen. 2020. Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights. New York: W.W. Norton.
•A review of the impact of cars on the African American community during a time when public transportation was segregated.
•Also a PBS documentary: https://www.pbs.org/show/driving-while-black/
•Epp, Charles R., Steven Maynard-Moody, and Donald P. Haider-Markel. 2014. Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
•Based on a survey of drivers, making the distinction between "safety" and "investigatory" stops and how these make drivers feel.
•See also: Oregon Supreme Court, 365 Or 695 (S066119) State v. Arreola-Botello, November 15, 2019.
•Oregon Supreme Court decision ruling that a search following a traffic stop for "illegal right turn" is illegal, since it has no relation to understanding the cause of the illegal behavior that caused the stop.
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 35
Thank you. Contact me any time.
Frank R. Baumgartner
Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Frankb@unc.edu
www.fbaum.unc.edu
Baumgartner, March 11, 2021 36
Published by Hillsborough Police Department for the Mayor’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety
March 2021
Traffic Stops in Hillsborough, North Carolina
2019
Introduction
Demographics
Traffic Stop Demographics
Initial Reason for Stop
Time of Day
Enforcement Action and Subsequent Searches
Arrests
Citations
Going Forward
Conclusion
2
Introduction
Traffic stops are the most common form of contact between the police and the public and are
frequently used to measure how a law enforcement agency responds to constituents of different color,
culture, and ethnicity. Traffic stop data are used as indicators of bias in how agencies approach policing
and have been the subject of many studies into racial bias in policing.
Bias is defined both in general terms and in behavioral terms. Generally, bias is a term used to describe
discrepancies in data and information that favor or emphasize one aspect over another in unexpected or
unexplained ways. Behaviorally, all humans carry bias that could contribute to discrepancies in data. In
addition, institutions and organizations may contribute bias through their actions, policies, and
practices. Understanding the origins of behavioral bias and whether that bias is implicit (unconscious or
unintentional) or explicit (conscious or intentional) is important for a public safety agency to be effective
and maintain public confidence. Explicit bias on the part of any individual is alarming and necessitates an
immediate departmental and community response.
In the case of implicit bias, individuals and agencies are not intentionally treating subjects with bias, but
rather, factors in the system can lead to biased outcomes. In the case of traffic stop data, decisions on
the part of individual officers and agencies may contribute to bias, but bias may also be driven or
compounded by racial inequities in the criminal justice system. For instance, when a driver is charged
with driving with license revoked, the reason a license is revoked may be for failure to pay a fine, or
failure to appear in court, rather than driving behavior. In these cases, the charge is related to the ability
to pay, more than driver-related issues, and is outside of the control of individual officers or agencies.
The goal of this report is to identify and examine how bias relates to Hillsborough Police Department
(HPD) traffic stop data and to understand the role that behavioral biases may play. Understanding the
landscape of bias will allow the department to recognize actions and practices that may contribute to
bias and to develop strategies and practices to counteract that bias.
Traffic stops are highly variable, with unique conditions and situations. To produce something that is
internally replicable on a regular basis, this report attempts to consider how readily available
Hillsborough Police Department (HPD) data can be used to examine the relationship between race and
traffic stops. Please note, the HPD race and ethnicity data is reported differently than the state data,
resulting in some discrepancies in percentages. For details on how data was gathered see Appendix 1.
3
Demographics
Using the overall demographics of the jurisdiction as a comparison point for traffic stop data is
problematic because the town’s demographics do not necessarily represent the driving population
encountered. For example, one factor influencing the driving population in Hillsborough is the number
of interstate and state highways bisecting the town. The I-40 and I-85 corridors both average between
55,000 and 85,000 cars per day, and the limited north/south routes through town average between
10,000 and 20,000 cars per day (NC Department of Transportation 2019). A brief analysis of 106
consecutive stops in October of 2019 examined the registered origin of the vehicle stopped and shows
more than 50% were from outside of Orange County. See appendix 2 for a detailed map of the annual
average daily traffic for the Town of Hillsborough.
Assessing the driving population requires surveying multiple locations on randomly selected days and
times (Clayton 2017), which is not a study HPD has the resources to undertake. Since this report seeks to
use data that is easily available, with the aim of finding measures that can be used on a regular basis by
the agency to evaluate, understand, and counter balance implicit bias, this report will compare the
traffic stops to the town demographics.
Traffic Stop Demographics
As a base line measure the racial demographics of
traffic stops in Hillsborough are compared to the
racial demographics of the Town of Hillsborough.
Discrepancies can be seen when comparing the
race of those stopped with the town’s population.
More African American’s are stopped than
represented in the population, and fewer Whites,
Latinos and Asians are stopped in relation to the
population. In Hillsborough, African Americans
make up 21% of the population and 33% of the
people stopped for traffic violations, or 12 points
over their representative population.
In addition to the overall population comparison, we also compared Hillsborough to nearby jurisdictions.
The jurisdictions reviewed are based on geographic proximity - North Carolina, Orange County, and the
other municipalities in Orange County: Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Mebane. In 2019, Hillsborough is the
municipality with the lowest number of stops overall, 2,684, and the highest number of traffic stops as a
percentage of the overall population, at 37%. In addition to the highway corridors, the county
government activity and community concern about traffic contribute to Hillsborough’s higher traffic
stops per capita.
Chart 1. 2019 Hillsborough traffic stop arrests
and overall population demographics
4
Similarly, African Americans are stopped at a higher rate than their overall population in all the
jurisdictions reviewed, as can be seen in Chart 2. See appendix 3 for detailed population demographics
for all the jurisdictions. Note: Orange County data includes all jurisdictions in the County.
Initial Reason for Stop
Traffic stops are recorded by one of 10 initial reasons for the stop. Of the 2,684 traffic stops in
Hillsborough in 2019, 86% were attributed to 5 initial violations: vehicle equipment violations (VEHQ) -
31%, vehicle regulatory violations (VEHR) - 25%, speeding (SPD) - 22%, stop light or stop sign violations
(STPL) – 12%, and safe movement violations (SAFE) – 5%.
0
200
400
600
800
DWI - 2Checkpoint - 8Seat Belt Violation - 37Investigation -51Other Motor VehicleViolation -63Safe Movement Violation- 137Stop Light/Sign Violation- 312Speed Limit Violation -595Vehicle RegulatoryViolation - 661Vehicle EquipmentViolation - 818White Black Hispanic Asian American Indian Unknown
Chart 3. Hillsborough initial reason for traffic stops, 2019
33%
37%
23%
31%
30%
36%
21%
25%
11%
11%
12%
22%
HILLSBOROUGH
MEBANE
CARRBORO
CHAPEL HILL
ORANGE
COUNTY
STATEWIDE
Population Traffic Stops
Chart 2. African American traffic stops compared to population
5
For the purposes of comparison, we grouped the top 5 initial reasons into moving violations (speeding,
stoplight/stop sign, and safe movement) and non-moving violations (vehicle equipment and vehicle
regulatory) subgroups. Chart 4 shows the demographics of non-moving violations are more
disproportional than the moving violations. Also, non-moving violations occur 42% more frequently than
moving violations.
The remaining 161 (6%) stops are not included in this comparison for simplicity and because some of
them, such as those labeled for “Investigation” (51), and “Other Motor Vehicle Violations” (63) require
individual review to determine if they are moving or nonmoving violations.
Time of Day
Traffic stops in Hillsborough in 2019 were more frequent in the afternoon and evening hours. Fewer
vehicles on the road between midnight and 6:00 AM and officers having less discretionary time due to
administrative tasks during the morning hours are likely contributors to this difference.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Non
moving
violations
Moving violations
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Chart 4. Moving v non-moving violations, 2019
64% 26% 8% 2%
54% 9% 1% 37%
853
819
484
477
0 200 400 600 800
18:01-24:00
12:01-18:00
6:01-12:00
00:01-6:00
Chart 5. Traffic stops by time of day
6
An overview of the top 4 initial violations by time of day fits with some general assumptions about
traffic stops. For instance, equipment violations are highest during the dark hours because they are
often related to malfunctioning vehicle lights, and speeding violations are more common during the
afternoon and evening hours.
Violations are often identified with some combination of quick reaction time, from a distance, from
behind, and/or at night. These conditions suggest an officers’ opportunity for advance demographic
identification of a driver is limited. So, the demographics of initial violations, by time of day, might be an
indicator of demographics in the driving population at different times of day, especially if similar trends
can be seen over different initial violations. In the table below, the top 4 violations for all the cars
stopped are separated into 4 rows, by time of day, with color coding for each time. Each type of stop
shows a higher percentage of African Americans are stopped between midnight and 6 a.m. Since these
stops are during the hours of darkness, this would contribute to a lower likelihood of visual
identification of a driver prior to the stop. For ease of review the sparkline column on the right gives a
quick comparison, with the actual number of stops available in the columns to the left. These data may
indicate a higher percentage of African Americans on the road between midnight and 6 a.m.
7
WhiteBlackHispanic W B H
00:01-6:00 29 29 7
6:01-12:00 104 64 8
12:01-18:00 163 113 15
18:01-24:00 65 41 18
00:01-6:00 118 89 26
6:01-12:00 21 11 3
12:01-18:00 27 22 2
18:01-24:00 266 175 49
00:01-6:00 57 49 8
6:01-12:00 69 21 8
12:01-18:00 161 57 21
18:01-24:00 89 31 8
00:01-6:00 13 15 2
6:01-12:00 81 16 8
12:01-18:00 84 31 7
18:01-24:00 20 21 5VEHR (661)VEHQ (820)SPD (595)STPL (312)
Enforcement Action and Subsequent Searches
North Carolina traffic stops are reported using 5 resulting enforcement actions. When comparing the
HPD enforcement actions with nearby jurisdictions, HPD has a higher percentage of warnings (verbal
and written) and fewer citations than the other jurisdictions. This may be a reflection of HPD’s emphasis
on correcting driving behaviors through education rather than enforcement.
Table 1. Top 4 violations by race
Chart 7. Traffic stop enforcement as percentage of 2019 traffic stops
25%
42%
16%
18%
44%
38%
16%
4%
39%
43%
9%
39%
56%
50%
42%
35%
40%
19%
2%
3%
2%
4%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
4%
2%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
NC
CHAPEL HILL
CARRBORO
OCSO
MEBANE
HILLSBOROUGH
Verbal Warning Written Warning Citation Issued On View Arrest No Action Taken
8
In addition to the enforcement action, a record is kept of searches of drivers and/or vehicles that result
from traffic stops. In Hillsborough, 4.4% (117) of traffic stops led to a subsequent search in 2019. The
HPD subsequent search rate is consistent with nearby jurisdictions, which on average is 4%.
The racial demographics of traffic stop searches across all the studied jurisdictions show similar
characteristics, with African American and Hispanic drivers disproportionally represented compared to
that jurisdiction’s population (See appendix 3 for jurisdiction demographics).
The demographics of subsequent search and enforcement actions for Hillsborough are combined in
Chart 9, below. Discrepancies between the overall population demographics and the enforcement and
search demographics can be seen across all categories. The largest imbalance is seen in the subsequent
searches, arrests, and citations. In addition, in Hillsborough, Hispanic people received citations at a
higher rate than the corresponding population. The demographics for written warnings are closest to
mirroring the demographics of the population.
White Black Native
American Asian Hispanic
Statewide 44% 53% 1% 1% 7%
OCSO 55% 43% 1% 0% 10%
Hillsborough 39% 60% 0% 1% 6%
Chapel Hill 41% 54% 1% 4% 6%
Carrboro 58% 38% 0% 4% 18%
Mebane 52% 47% 0% 0% 8%
Chart 8. Drivers searched because of traffic stops, 2019
3%
4%5%
4%
5%
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
Table 2. Racial demographics of traffic stop searches, 2019
9
.
In Hillsborough, the number of drivers searched as a percentage of the number of drivers stopped in the
same demographic shows a higher rate of searches for African American drivers. This imbalance can
also be seen when looking at arrests (Black – 3.8%, White – 1.8%) and citations (Black – 23.3%, White –
14.2%) as a percentage of total stops for each demographic.
Further detail available in the subsequent search data shows the type of search and the basis for the
search. The most common basis for searching was “observation of suspected contraband”, at 64%, and
the next most common was “other official information”, at 26%.
1492
809
224
30
40
69
7
1
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
WHITE
BLACK
HISPANIC
ASIAN
Subsequent Search
Chart 10. Hillsborough subsequent searches as a percent of total traffic stops, by race, 2019
3%
3%
8%
3%
Chart 9. Racial/ethnic demographics in Hillsborough traffic stop
enforcement and subsequent searches, 2019
43%44%47%60%62%
34%
51%41%40%
30%30%
59%
5%14%12%8%6%6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Arrest Citation None Verbal
Warning
Written
Warning
Subsequent
Search
White Black Hispanic Asian American Indian Unknown
117
65 500 60
1024 1035
*Note: HPD data adjusts to include Hispanic data alongside the other racial data, causing some
discrepancy with the percentages reported in the state system data. See Appendix 1 for more
detail.
*
10
Type of search Basis for Search
Consent Search Warrant Probable Cause Incident to Arrest Protective Frisk Total Type of Search Erratic/Suspicious Behavior Observation of Suspected Contraband Other Official Information Suspicious Movement Informant's Tip Total Basis for Search White 12 0 22 6 0 40 0 22 19 0 1 42
Hispanic 0 0 7 0 0 7 0 7 0 0 0 7
Black 12 0 51 5 1 69 9 49 13 2 0 73
Asian 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Total 24 0 81 11 1 117 9 79 32 2 1 123
Examples of “observation of suspected contraband” include seeing an open container of alcohol and
smelling or seeing marijuana or other drugs – both of which have driver safety implications. Admission
by the driver that they possess something illegal, even if not seen by the officer, is typically categorized
as “observation” as well. “Other official information” can include history pulled from law enforcement
databases, as well as information relayed from another officer or agency.
The data shows that searches (11) based on “erratic or suspicious behavior” and “suspicious movement”
were all African American drivers. Since this was a clear anomaly and given the small number of these
stops in Hillsborough, each case was reviewed for more detail. In these cases, the officer’s descriptions
of these incidents do not seem to match the basis of the search they indicated. Further review and
subsequent conversations illustrate an issue with the reporting system in that the terms used for the
basis of search are not clearly defined and training on how to categorize them is inconsistent. What
qualifies as “Erratic/Suspicious Behavior” rather than “Suspicious Movement” is not clear. Ideally, since
these categories are required reporting, clarification at the state level would benefit agencies across
North Carolina.
Resulting charges
North Carolina traffic stop data includes the initial reason for the stop and the enforcement action for
each stop. However, it does not include what type of charge was issued. The available data tells us that
65 people were arrested because of traffic stops in Hillsborough in 2019, but not how they were
charged. Was it a felony or a misdemeanor? Does the resulting charge bear any relation to the initial
reason that person was pulled over? To answer these questions, data was pulled from the HPD 2019
citation and arrest records.
Of the five enforcement actions used to qualify traffic stops (Chart 9), citations and arrests are the 2
enforcement actions that will affect a driver’s record. In 2019, 21% of traffic stops resulted in arrests
(65) or citations (500). The remaining 79% of traffic stops do not impact drivers in the long term (written
warnings, verbal warnings, and no enforcement). So, the analysis of traffic stops with resulting charges
Table 3. Hillsborough type of search and basis for search, by race, 2019
11
relies on 21% of all stops. The citation and arrest records include information about the resulting charge,
the location of the traffic stop, and details about the specifics of the stop according to the officer’s
narrative report.
Four initial reasons for traffic stops are the most evident in the traffic stop citation and arrest data:
vehicle equipment (VEHQ), vehicle regulatory (VEHR), speeding (SPD), and stop sign/stop light (STPL)
violations. Stops from investigations are also a factor in traffic stop arrests. The remaining 5 reasons
have a total of 10 arrests and 41 citations associated with them.
Arrests
In 2019, the HPD made a total of 657 arrests and 10% of those arrests resulted from traffic stops. The
demographics of all HPD arrests and the demographics of HPD traffic stop arrests are similar, with both
showing a higher incidence of African American arrests than the population demographics.
Chart 11. Hillsborough most common reasons for traffic stops resulting in citations & arrests, 2019
11%
2%
6%
9%
11%
20%
17%
45%
40%
16%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
ARREST
CITATION
Investigation Stop Light/Sign Violation Speed Limit Violation
Vehicle Regulatory Violation Vehicle Equipment Violation
Chart 12. Hillsborough arrest demographics, 2019
43%51%
5%2%
42%
52%
4%1%0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
White Black Hispanic Asian
HPD arrest demographics, 2019
Traffic stop arrests HPD 2019 arrests
12
The 65 traffic stop arrests resulted in 130 total charges. Half of the arrests resulted in only one charge,
while the remaining half had 2 or more resulting charges. Subsequent searches occurred during 77%
(50) of the traffic stops that resulted in arrests in 2019. The arrests referenced here are generally
custodial arrests, however some of these arrests are situations where a criminal citation was issued
(such as for misdemeanor possession of marijuana), but no custodial arrest was made. The ten most
frequent charges result from 88% of all traffic stop arrests. Serving an existing warrant for arrest was the
most frequent charge with 29 of the 65 arrests (32%) involving one or more warrant services.
Citations
A total of 500 traffic stops were reported as resulting in
citations. Of these 500 traffic stops, 385 (77%) had case
id numbers included in the traffic stop report, so the
analysis of resulting charges focuses on those 385
records. Citations associated with the other 115 traffic
stops did not include a case id and could not be
identified. For the traffic stop arrests, 64 of 65 were
matched with arrest records.
The sample for Chart 14, below, uses the 385 matched
citation records, which returned a total of 460 charges.
Since many of the resulting charges only occurred once
or twice during the year, the data was limited to the top
4 initial stop reasons and the ten most frequent charges,
leaving a sample of 331 charges.
Chart 13. Hillsborough traffic stop arrest charges (top 10) by initial reason for stop (top 5), 2019
14
7
3
1
2
17
4
4
1
1
11
4
1
5
3
3
1
1
0
0
2
2
0
1
0
1
1
1
2
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
VEHQ
VEHR
InV
SPD
STPL
Warrant Service
Drug charges (marijuana,
paraphernalia, & cocaine possession &
drug violations)Alcohol charges (DWI, alcohol
violation)
DWLR
Resist, delay, obstruct
All other offences
Case ID available (385)
No case ID (115)
Diagram 1. All traffic stop citations
(500), 2019
13
Most of the expired registration charges resulted from vehicle registration stops, and all the speeding
and stop light/stop sign violations were the result of speeding and stop light stops. Together, these stops
represent 47% of this sample and are directly related to the initial reason for the stop. Of greater
interest are the charges that are less directly related to the initial reason for the stop because officer
discretion is more likely to be a factor and may be influenced by policy and training adjustments.
All initial stop reasons combined resulted in 75 charges of
driving while license revoked (DWLR) not impaired.
Demographically, these charges were more than twice as likely
to be African Americans than whites. Under NC law a license
can be revoked because of failure to appear in court or failure
to pay a fine, which is not a reflection on individual driving
skills. Inability to pay the fine, extends the length of time the
license will be revoked and impacts an individual’s ability to get
back and forth to work. This systemic inequity prompts the
following questions from the law enforcement perspective:
• Is this demographic skew to DWLR charges evident
statewide?
• How many licenses that are eligible for reinstatement
are waiting for fee payment?
• What percentage of licenses are eligible for
reinstatement as part of total revoked?
Further exploration of the statewide license revoked charges
would be useful, to see how Hillsborough compares to the
larger trends.
Chart 14. Hillsborough traffic stop citations (top 10) by initial reason for stop (top 4), 2019
81
3
4
3
33
13
8
9 58
14
9
7
3
13
4
2
1
17
14
2
9
4
4
6
2
5
3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
VEHR
VEHQ
STPL
SPD
EXPIRED Registration DWLR Not Impaired Rev Speeding
No Operators License Possession of Marijuana FAIL STOP STOPSIGN / FLSH RED LT
OPERATE VEH NO INS FICTITIOUS LICENSE PLATE DWLR IMPAIRED REV
NO Liability Insurance
22
48
50
25
50
White Black Hispanic
Chart 15. DWLR Not Impaired Rev
charges resulting from traffic stops
14
Another citation resulting from all the initial reasons for stop is
no operator’s license and 61% of those charged are Hispanic.
This prompts the assumption that many of them are also
undocumented immigrants. Is this accurate and what, if
anything, can be done because of this information?
In addition, possession of marijuana charges result from traffic
stops with a variety of initial reasons for the stop. Often a
probable cause search is associated with the possession of
marijuana charge. When marijuana charges are associated with
traffic stops consideration must be given to the driver being
potentially impaired from the use of marijuana. Possession of
marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia charges often
go together and depending on the quantity are most commonly
a misdemeanor citation rather than a custodial arrest.
Connecting the initial reason for the stop to the resulting charge is not available in the NC State Bureau
of Investigation (NCSBI) traffic stop reports. The traffic stop data is reported to the NCSBI by all North
Carolina law enforcement agencies. The HPD maintains the NCSBI data in our record management
system (RMS). The RMS system is also used to track citations and arrests. Traffic stop records can be
matched to citation or arrest records, revealing the resulting charges. This process of connecting the
data does not fit with the goal of using readily available data to create easily replicable reports. HPD’s
ability to manage it on an ongoing basis relies on staffing. Agencies with more robust data systems
might be able to review charges resulting from traffic stops more easily.
Going Forward
1. HPD will track the following on a quarterly basis for internal review: demographics of traffic
stops by enforcement, subsequent searches (% by race), traffic stop arrests, DWLR not impaired,
no operator’s license, and possession of marijuana/drug paraphernalia.
2. HPD will examine our policing practices to identify unintended consequences that can be
improved, such as our response to higher-crime areas, our use of discretion with minor
violations, and our focus on moving violations compared to non-moving violations.
3. HPD will work to improve quality control related to traffic stop record keeping and to better
define areas of traffic stop data that is not being reported consistently. Significant weakness in
the data have been identified across multiple systems due to lack of definition of terms, training
issues, and human error.
4. HPD will continue training officers on implicit bias and include HPD traffic stop data with the
goal of reducing the stigma of the implicit bias that is evident in policing data. If the officers
better understand bias and how it manifests, they will have a better chance at improving
outcomes.
7
11
7
0
5
10
15
White Black Hispanic
Chart 17. Possession of marijuana
7 8
23
0
10
20
White Black Hispanic
Chart 16. No operator’s license
charges resulting from traffic stops
15
5. HPD will consider questions such as: How can this type of traffic study be reproduced? What is
manageable for lower capacity agencies? What are the first steps towards being able to analyze
the data? What resources are needed to improve law enforcement as a result of collecting
traffic stop data?
Conclusion
The Hillsborough Police Department has a good reputation and takes pride in using relationships with
the community to improve safety in Hillsborough. A high value is placed on community engagement and
officers routinely work with community organizations to build the relationships that improve community
safety. The Fairview Community Watch worked together with the department over several years to
improve safety in this historically African American neighborhood. A police substation has been located
there for many years. The department also supports el Centro Hispano Faith Identification events. Crime
is low in Hillsborough and the department can focus on the priorities of the citizens, including traffic
congestion and reimagining public safety. Hillsborough is in Orange County, which has a reputation of
working to address economic and racial disparity. These efforts, and more, are evidence of a community
and a police department that wants to be part of a system where all individuals are treated fairly. Even
so, disparity for African Americans is evident in law enforcement data in Hillsborough, in the county, and
in nearby municipalities and warrants continued attention.
Many barriers exist for smaller law enforcement agencies to understand and make good use of the
traffic stop data that all NC agencies are required to collect and report. It is unlikely for small agencies
such as the HPD to have the capacity for ongoing review and analysis of traffic stop data. In fact, the
HPD is subject to staffing fluctuations and may not be capable of sustaining an analysis such as the
report provides. In addition, finding ways to use the data to improve ongoing operations with respect to
implicit racial bias is yet another challenge.
16
Appendix 1. Data note
Three data sources are used in this report.
1. HPD traffic stop data reported by HPD officers and accessed through the Record Management
System (RMS) the department contracts with for managing all the agencies’ incident data. The
traffic stop data is used to report to the NC State Bureau of Investigations. Other Hillsborough
policing data, such as citation and arrest records, were also accessed through the HPD RMS.
2. NC State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Traffic Stop Statistics, collected annually by the SBI from
all law enforcement agencies in the state (NC Traffic Stop Statistics NC State Bureau of
Investigation n.d.). When HPD data is compared to neighboring jurisdictions in this report, the
SBI data is also used for the HPD.
3. US Census Bureau (Bureau 2019) population data is used for all jurisdictions in this report,
including Hillsborough.
An overlap exists between demographics based on race and those based on ethnicity because African
American, White, and Asian data is based on race and Hispanic data is based on ethnicity. Data in this
report that comes from the HPD RMS system is adjusted for this overlap and the Hispanic data is
reported alongside the African American, White, and Asian racial demographics.
The data available to the department has challenges:
• Within the same system, data must be downloaded and matched across reports to better
understand how individuals are being charged.
• Departmental quality control for data input is variable because of fluctuation in employee skill
sets and field conditions.
• Traffic data cannot be pinpointed according to the location of the traffic stop.
Published by Hillsborough Police Department for the Mayor’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety March 2021
Appendix 2. Hillsborough, NC Annual average daily traffic, 2019
Published by Hillsborough Police Department for the Mayor’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety
March 2021
Appendix 3. Population demographics of Hillsborough, NC and comparison
jurisdictions – Mebane, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County, and the state of
North Carolina
North
Carolina
Hillsboroug
h town,
North
Carolina
Mebane
city, North
Carolina
Carrbor
o town,
North
Carolina
Chapel
Hill town,
North
Carolina
Orange
County,
North
Carolina
Population estimates,
July 1, 2019 10,488,08
4 7,161
16,262
21,190 64,051 148,476
White alone, percent 70.6% 64.1% 66.7% 73.7% 71.7% 76.9%
Black or African
American alone,
percent
22.2% 20.9% 24.7% 11.0% 10.9% 11.8%
Hispanic or Latino,
percent
9.8% 11.0% 6.9% 7.1% 6.3% 8.6%
Asian alone, percent 3.2% 3.6% 2.3% 9.4% 13.0% 8.1%
American Indian and
Alaska Native alone,
percent
1.6% 2.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.6%
Native Hawaiian and
Other Pacific Islander
alone, percent
0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1%
Two or More Races,
percent
2.3% 2.0% 3.1% 4.2% 2.9% 2.6%
White alone, not
Hispanic or Latino,
percent
62.6% 60.4% 63.0% 68.2% 66.9% 69.5%
(Bureau 2019)
Sources
Bureau, U.S. Census. 2019. QuickFacts - North Carolina; Mebane city; Hillsborough town; Carrboro town;
Chapel Hill town; Orange County. July 1. Accessed November 2020.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/NC,mebanecitynorthcarolina,hillsboroughtownn
orthcarolina,carrborotownnorthcarolina,chapelhilltownnorthcarolina,orangecountynorthcarolin
a/PST045219.
Clayton, John Lamberth & Jerry. 2017. Grand Rapids Police Department Trafic Stop Data Analysis. Grand
Rapids: Lamberth Consulting.
NC Department of Transportation. 2019. NCDOT Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) Mapping
Application. Accessed January 27, 2021.
https://ncdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5f6fe58c1d90482ab9107ccc
03026280.
n.d. NC Traffic Stop Statistics NC State Bureau of Investigation. Accessed August through December
2020. https://trafficstops.ncsbi.gov/.
Mayor’s Task Force Agenda | 5 of 5
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