{"id":27684,"date":"2022-01-12T22:22:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T22:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=27684"},"modified":"2022-01-12T22:22:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T22:22:56","slug":"msp-admits-to-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-traffic-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/12\/msp-admits-to-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-traffic-stops\/","title":{"rendered":"MSP admits to racial and ethnic disparities in traffic stops"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<p>An independent report on Michigan State Police traffic stops in 2020 found that troopers disproportionately pulled over Black drivers.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>CHARLOTTE, Mich \u2014 The Michigan State Police is taking proactive steps to figure out why there are racial and ethnic disparities in their traffic stops.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>In 2017 the ACLU asked the department to capture racial and ethnic demographic data in traffic stops, which they did. In 2020 the department analyzed traffic stop information noticed that there were disparities in who got pulled over.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>That&#8217;s why they decided to partner with an outside Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice to look deeper into the issue.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>MSP released their findings Wednesday and revealed that Black drivers were disproportionately stopped more than expected based on census data benchmarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>Michigan State Police Director Col. Joe Gasper hosted a news conference alongside the lead author of the study, Associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, Dr. Scott Wolf.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_embed\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WATCH NOW: Michigan State Police discusses independent study into traffic stops\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MCWevZp1Dys?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>&#8220;On behalf of the entire department, I pledge immediate action to identify and enact solutions. Michiganders deserve unbiased policing, transparency, and accountability from their state police. And that is what they are going to get,&#8221; Col. Joe Gasper said and announced a 5-point plan to address the disparities.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<h3>MSP&#8217;s 5-point response plan:<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<ol>\n<li>Hiring an independent consulting firm to review MSP policies with an eye toward making recommendations for systemic changes that will address racial disparities.<\/li>\n<li>Launching a statewide listening and engagement effort, in partnership with the Bridges to B.L.U.E. Citizen Advisory Council, in which MSP leadership will engage in open and honest conversation with leaders from communities of color, surfacing problems and finding solutions together.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Making more data available to MSP troopers through a dashboard that will provide real-time traffic stop data so they can learn about and adjust their actions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Ramping up educational opportunities for troopers and recruits through the creation of the department&#8217;s Professional Development Bureau. This new bureau will provide training and development for enforcement members on familiar topics, as well as on new and emerging topics including mental health, wellness, de-escalation, cultural competency, decision-making, implicit bias and communication skills.<\/li>\n<li>Issuing body worn cameras to all enforcement members who could have enforcement contact with Michigan residents and visitors.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<h3>Racial and ethnic disparities study results<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>The findings of Dr. Scott Wolf and his team at MSU determined that there are observed disparities in traffic stops based on ethnicity and race. He noted that these findings do not imply that there is discrimination in the department against specific races and ethnicities, because it is difficult to determine intent based only on the data presented. But, the findings do show a meaningful level of disparity that requires further investigation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>The study used several benchmarks to come to their conclusions. They compared the racial distribution of traffic stops to the racial distribution of other sources of data that are unrelated to police activity and found that African American drivers are more likely to be stopped, while Hispanic and Asian drivers are less likely to be stopped. They also compared traffic stop data against traffic crash data and determined that African Americans are more likely to be stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>And finally, they found that when African American and Hispanic drivers were stopped, they were significantly more likely to be searched and arrested.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>Dr. Wolf and his team plan to conduct a similar study and provide another report for MSP with regards to traffic stop data in 2021. They also plan on doing a more in-depth study of the traffic stop data to attempt to learn more details about the disparities in race and ethnicity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>The new evaluation will be the first of its kind conducted by a third party into a state police force and hopes to provide MSP with an understanding of the disparity of their stop data and whether they can mitigate it. The new evaluation is expected to be used by other police forces across the country.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>See the executive <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/msp\/Executive_Summary_Wolfe_et_al_MSP_external_benchmark_FINAL_REPORT_2021_745157_7.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">summary of the study here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                                    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/msp\/Executive_Summary_Wolfe_et_al_MSP_external_benchmark_FINAL_REPORT_2021_745157_7.pdf\" width=\"600\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:0px;\"><\/iframe>&#13;\n                                <\/p>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>\u201cWhen officers violate the public\u2019s trust, they must be held accountable,\u201d Col. Joe Gasper said near the end of the press conference.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement on the findings, saying, &#8220;Col. Gasper\u2019s commitment to addressing these findings is also a commitment to leading by example. All law enforcement agencies should be willing to examine their practices in an effort to improve their relationship with the people they serve\u2014effective public service cannot be reached without constructive reflection. I appreciate the brave members of our law enforcement community and know today\u2019s announcement will lead to positive change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p>\u25ba<strong>Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this.\u00a0<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/interactive.wzzm13.com\/appredirect\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__section article__section_type_text utility__text\">\n<p><em>Have a news tip? 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Subscribe to our <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/13ONYOURSIDE?sub_confirmation=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wzzm13.com\/article\/news\/community\/michigan-state-police-disproportionately-pull-over-black-drivers\/69-2826d3b3-07c4-403a-8275-2609202afff5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] An independent report on Michigan State Police traffic stops in 2020 found that troopers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learningtheory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27686,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27684\/revisions\/27686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}