Report: Traffic stops show insignificant racial, ethnic disparities

A new report from the Pennsylvania State Police found no statistically significant racial or ethnic disparities during traffic stops in 2023.

The data, analyzed by researchers from the University of Cincinnati, shows troopers pulled over white, Black and Hispanic drivers at the same rate. The odds of receiving a warning or citation or being arrested were “statistically insignificant,” said Dr. Robin Engel, professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati.

Engel said small disparities exist in data for search and seizures; of the nearly 450,000 traffic stops conducted last year, roughly 7% included searches.

More than half of those incidents are “discretionary” in nature, which means troopers aren’t following policy or mandate, and of those, 55% end with contraband seizure. White drivers compromise nearly two-thirds of these seizures.

The analysis also found that Black drivers are 1.4% more likely to be searched compared to other races and ethnic groups, though Engel considers the differences “of small magnitude.”

“The issue with this report that any racial or ethnic disparities that might be discovered, its unknown or unmeasured the reasons for these disparities,” she said of the report. “We can tell you that a difference exists, but statistics alone cannot tell you why that difference exists.”

As such, determining bias among troopers as a reason for traffic stops is beyond the scope of the report. Engel said, however, the strongest predictors of arrest were legal issues, including the reason for the stop, special traffic enforcement, and seized contraband – most often drugs and paraphernalia.

Despite this, Engel acknowledged that racial disparities among traffic stop data “will never be zero,” largely due to the systemic factors – like health, poverty and educational opportunities – that increase the likelihood a driver will come into contact with law enforcement.

“We cannot reduce all of those things simply by the police alone,” she said. “My belief is that we have worked really hard over the last two decades to control any type of decision-making that is not related to legal reasons by Pennsylvania State Police.”

“That’s where we are at this stage,” Engel added. “Beyond that, any lingering ethnic and racial disparities, even if substantively small, are likely beyond the capacity of this agency to be able to reduce.”