Report: 'Informal quotas' contribute to uneven racial enforcement by MSP

LANSING — An "informal quota system" and a lack of supervision over where troopers patrol may be contributing to racial disparities in Michigan State Police traffic enforcement, according to a report released Thursday.

Troopers may tend to focus their patrol activities in more heavily populated areas where more motorists mean it is easier to hit their numbers, says the $230,000 report prepared by CNA Corp., a consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia, that was hired by the MSP in 2022. In Michigan, those urban areas tend to be disproportionately Black.

The 95-page report is in part a response to earlier studies showing Black people and other people of color are disproportionately subjected to traffic stops by the MSP. It was also one of the settlement terms of a 2021 racial profiling lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

Based on 18 months of investigation that included interviews, reviews of written policies, and ride-along sessions with troopers, the report said the disparities "do not appear to be the result of widespread discriminatory policing practices." But it makes 54 findings and associated recommendations for improvement, in areas ranging from MSP recruitment, training and supervision practices, to the way the agency makes use of body-worn cameras and other technology.

The MSP said it agrees with many of the recommendations, including the need for greater supervisor direction of trooper activities. In November, MSP supervisors started holding daily virtual and twice-monthly in-person briefings with troopers at the start of their shifts, where directions given include "member deployment," the MSP said in a written response to the report.

One area where the report focuses is inconsistent and in some cases inadequate trooper supervision, with some troopers saying they are in contact with their supervisors daily and others saying they may go three weeks without direct contact.

"We primarily found that troopers are largely left on their own with respect to determining where in the post to patrol and what to look for," and "often used personal preferences and individually identified 'hot spots' to decide how they would spend their time," the report said.

"As such, there is no assurance that the post is being evenly patrolled, and to the contrary, most stated that they congregated near areas with more potential for 'action' or where they may be more likely to be dispatched (i.e. urban areas)."

This behavior is in part influenced by what is "akin to an informal quota system" at the MSP, the report said. At one time, troopers were required to average 3½ contacts with the public per hour, the report said. Now, expectations vary from post to post, but troopers are expected to fall in line with the average of their peers and most troopers said their supervisors expect some kind of enforcement activity every 20 to 30 minutes, the report said.

Mark Fancher, staff attorney with the Michigan ACLU's Racial Justice Project, said it goes beyond that. Troopers facing annual evaluations and needing to improve their stop numbers can be motivated to make traffic stops without probable cause and are then more likely to pull over motorists of color, who generally are less empowered to make complaints than white motorists are, he said.

The MSP said it has no quota system, but "requires its members to be productive during their shifts," the agency said in its written response. Along with the recently implemented briefings by supervisors, "efforts will be made to ensure department members understand that productivity is a balance of patrol contacts with motorists, investigative response, and community engagements."

In addition to needing to exercise more oversight, "most supervisors were unable to clearly identify what they would look for in reports that would indicate bias," the report said.

The report commends recent changes in MSP recruitment practices as the agency seeks to improve the diversity of a force that is predominantly white and male, but points to areas for improvement.

The report also examined problems with how and when troopers choose to "go beyond the stop" to conduct vehicle searches and other enforcement measures.

Troopers and sergeants interviewed by the report's authors identified "nervousness" as an example of a suspicious activity that might cause them to take actions beyond writing a ticket, the report said. Examples of suspicious behavior the officers cited included avoiding eye contact and "looking forward with both hands on the steering wheel."

That "suspicious activity" is "exactly the advice" young Black people are frequently given by their concerned parents and an example of how "implicit bias" impacts how traffic stops unfold, Fancher said.

Fancher said he is gratified the report points to many structural and systemic problems in the MSP that he and the ACLU have been pointing out for years.

Col. James Grady, director of the MSP, said: "Today, as always, we reaffirm our commitment to the highest standards of anti-discrimination education and training and always look to serve Michigan to the best of our ability.”

Emails seeking comment on the report from the Michigan State Police Troopers Association and an attorney for the association were not immediately returned.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Report: Informal quotas contribute to uneven racial enforcement by MSP