Inequities? Worcester Human Rights Commission takes look at data on police stops
WORCESTER — The city Human Rights Commission has requested more data from the Police Department on motor vehicle stops in the city, after state data found Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely to receive a citation than white drivers when pulled over by local police.
“There were some statistically significant outcomes here that we don’t really understand,” Commissioner Elizabeth O’Callahan said at the board’s meeting last week, noting police concerns with the study’s data.
She requested that police provide demographic and geographic information on stops and citations of Worcester residents, a motion that other commissioners approved.
“I would be interested to see, 'What does this data mean?'” O’Callahan continued. “We don’t have the answer yet.”
A February 2022 report analyzing traffic stops by race found that Worcester Police motor vehicle stops were largely in line with the city’s demographics. Black and Hispanic drivers, however, according to the report, were more likely to get a citation than white drivers, who were more likely to receive a warning. The study, which examined 280 departments in the state, was conducted by researchers at Worcester State and Salem State universities.
A police official discussed the findings and news coverage of the report with the commission at its July 12 meeting. He noted concerns with the data and the conclusions it yielded.
“Frankly, it’s apples and oranges,” Deputy Police Chief Edward McGinn said of the comparison between motor-vehicle stops and city demographics.
McGinn said that the high number of commuters in the city obscured the comparison, for instance, as did the generally younger demographics of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color in the city. He also noted that the number of stops were likely underreported, as officers can use their discretion in documenting certain encounters, such as when certain warnings are given or directions offered. Finally, he noted that data were collected in 10 months in 2020 and were likely skewed by the pandemic.
He suggested that it would be more accurate to compare the race of drivers who are pulled over with the local population who can drive.
As a result, commissioners asked if the department could break out demographic and other data on just stops that involved city residents.
McGinn said he would check with Chief Steven Sargent and the crime analysis team, but typically an inquiry for such data was directed to the state rather than the local level.
“Perhaps we take (the state’s) clean data and go through that,” McGinn said.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Human Rights Commission takes look at data on Worcester Police Department traffic stops
