A Data Driven Deep Dive Into Encounters Between Police and the Public
By: Taimoor C.
Tags: Analytics, Python, Data Science, Racism, Police Reports

In light of the recent happenings nationwide, I decided to take a look at the latest release of the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ special report — ‘Contacts Between Police and the Public’. This report was published in 2018 and presents data on the nature and frequency of contact between police and U.S residents age 16 or older in 2015.

Police Contact in 2015; Police Initiated vs Other:

As part of the survey, residents were asked detailed questions about the nature of their most recent contact with the police. On average 44.8% of residents experienced police initiated contact as their most recent form of contact. Compared to other racial groups, black residents were more likely than any other racial group to have police initiated contact as their most recent form of contact. 49.8% of black residents experienced police initiated contact as their most recent form of contact whereas 43.1% of white residents experienced police initiated contact as their most recent form of contact.

Police initiated contact includes being stopped by the police while in a public place or a parked vehicle (i.e. street stop), being stopped by the police while driving a motor vehicle (i.e. traffic stop), riding as a passenger in a car that was stopped by the police, being arrested, or being stopped or approached by the police for some other reason.

Figure 1: Percent of contact initiated by the police with U.S residents age 16 or older by racial characteristics

Police Contact while Driving:

The United States had a total driving population of 223.3 million drivers in 2015. Taking a closer look at the number of residents who were stopped by the police while driving a car, it is clear that black residents were more likely than white residents and hispanic residents to be the driver in a traffic related stop. 9.8% of black residents were stopped by the police compared to 8.6% of white residents and 7.6% of hispanic residents.

Figure 2: Number and percent of drivers age 16 or older with police-initiated contact, by racial characteristics.

In addition to being more likely than residents of other races to be stopped by the police while driving a motor vehicle, black residents were more likely than residents of other races to:

Be riding as a passenger in a car that was stopped by the police. Be stopped by the police while in a public place or a parked vehicle. Be arrested by the police while in a public place or a parked vehicle, while driving a motor vehicle or while riding as a passenger in a car.

Figure 3: Percent of residents age 16 or older with police-initiated contact, by type of contact and racial characteristics.

Frequency of Contact with the Police in a Given Year:

Residents who reported police contact in 2015 were also asked about the frequency with which they experienced each type of contact in the 12 months prior.

18% of black residents who were stopped by the police while driving a motor vehicle experienced multiple contacts with the police. On average this was 5.2% higher than the contact experienced by residents who were stopped by the police while driving a motor vehicle of any race.

Black residents were also more likely to have experienced multiple contacts with the police if they had been riding as a passenger in a car that was stopped by the police. On average, black passengers experienced multiple contacts with the police 4.1% of times more than residents of any race. In addition to this, black residents were 7.7% more likely to experience multiple contacts with the police than residents of any other race if they were stopped by the police while in a public place or a parked vehicle.