DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38201.v1
title: Police Officer Learning, Mentoring, and Racial Bias in Traffic Stops, Syracuse, New York, 2006-2009
title: Version 1

description: This project is concerned with understanding the determinants of racial bias in police traffic stops and in the city of Syracuse, New York. Using an officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009, the primary goal of this research is to better understand the effects of officer experience on their proclivities for racial bias in traffic stops, while controlling for officer, citizen, and neighborhood demographics. Included in these data are variables for census tracts as well as their racial and ethnic makeup, times and dates when traffic stops occurred, sunrise and sunset data for the City of Syracuse, and the racial and ethnic makeup of citizens involved in stops.
description: This project is concerned with understanding the determinants of racial bias in police traffic stops in the city of Syracuse, New York. Using an officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009, the primary goal of this research is to better understand the effects of officer experience on their proclivities for racial bias in traffic stops, while controlling for officer, citizen, and neighborhood demographics.
description: A pre-existing officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009 was used for the analysis. The census data utilized are publicly available 2000 census data for Onondaga County in New York. These data are used to determine which tracts are considered "black tracts." Offenses data were obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department. These data are used to determine which tracts are considered "high crime" areas. Stops data were obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department. Time data came from the United States Naval Observatory's website.
description: Dataset 1 contains publicly available 2000 census data for Onondaga County in New York. Dataset 2 contains the date and census tract of offenses committed in the City of Syracuse. Dataset 3 contains data on the exact minute of the sunrise, sunset, and when twilight starts and ends for each month in the City of Syracuse. These data came from the United States Naval Observatory's website. Dataset 4 contains stops data obtained from the Syracuse City Police Department. It includes information about the discretionary stops between police officers and citizens including: the date, time, census tract, race of the citizen and whether it was a traffic or pedestrian stop. It also contains the streetlight value produced by the Geographic information Systems (GIS) software made by the process described in the supplemental appendix.
description: Not applicable, no weight variables are present.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: A pre-existing officer-level panel of data on vehicle stops and vehicle searches by 512 officers from 2006 to 2009 was used for the analysis.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Census Data DS2: Offenses Data DS3: Time Data DS4: Stops Data
description: Vehicle stops and searches by police officers between 2006-2009 in Syracuse, New York. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census tract
description: mixed mode