Boosting confidence in the state police
The Pennsylvania State Police has resumed collecting racial data during traffic stops, a practice that once had been normal protocol but that had been discontinued without any notice or explanation.
The turnaround was a right move that will help to rebuild confidence in an institution that has been shaded with the suspicion of racial bias.
The return to transparency was sparked by an investigative report by Spotlight PA, a consortium of news-gathering operations.
The compilation of racial data during traffic stops is commonplace among police departments across the nation. The data collected can shine a light on any potential racial bias — bias that could be overlooked, absent such data.
Information is power. And the information that will be unearthed by resuming a program that had operated for a decade, until 2012, is critical if for no other reason than to discount perceptions of unfairness during police enforcement in Pennsylvania.
Though the renewed protocol appears to have been spurred by public pressure, the state police are to be credited for doing the right thing — regardless of the agency’s underlying reasons for doing so.
State police Commissioner Col. Robert Evanchick issued a news release announcing the resumption of racial data collection with an inspiring promise: “Troopers take an oath to enforce the law ‘without any consideration of class, color, creed or condition,’ and this data collection effort is one way to show the public we are upholding that oath.” He said ongoing and regular analysis by a third party will be done and he acknowledged that analysis is “a critical part of this program that emphasizes our department’s commitment to transparency and continuous improvement.”
Under the renewed program, state police troopers will collect traffic stop information that includes the age, gender, race and ethnicity of drivers and passengers. Troopers also will record the duration of the stop, whether a vehicle search was conducted and any results of the search.
Municipal police departments in Pennsylvania should follow suit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit last summer against the state police alleging troopers were violating the law by stopping and holding people because they were of Latin descent. The Spotlight PA investigation disclosed that data collected in the early 2000s raised no alarms about police stops but reflected that vehicle searches commenced more often if the driver was a person of color. Interestingly, the data also showed that the searches found contraband more frequently in vehicles driven by white people.
The state police will turn over the data to the University of Cincinnati for analysis. But it would be wise for the agency to share the raw data with the public, as well. Transparency is key to remediating public confidence in an agency that provides an essential public service.