Manchester Racial Profiling Report Challenged

The Manchester Police Department used invalid methodology and unsupported conclusions in its report, released this week, purporting to analyze racial profiling by its officers.

"The data provided in the report show, if anything, the opposite of the stated conclusion. It seems racial profiling is a problem in Manchester," said Sandra Staub, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

Among the ACLU of Connecticut's objections are:

» The report states: "The data shows that motor vehicle stops in Manchester are similar to the racial makeup of the town."

• Population is not a valid basis for comparison. The relevant comparison is to the demographic composition of the drivers on town roads, which requires a much more complex calculation.
• If population were a valid basis for comparison, the numbers of African Americans stopped would be an alarming indication of racial profiling. African Americans comprise about 12 percent of the population of Manchester and 22 percent of the drivers stopped. The report says that "The Black racial classification is overrepresented by 10%, compared to the population statistics." This is wrong. The black population is overrepresented by 10 percentage points but by 83 percent, by that measure.

» The report states that “The data on car searches as a result of traffic stops does indicate that Hispanic drivers’ cars are searched more often than White operators; however, the spread between the two was only 2.4%.” Yet these data clearly show that police were more likely to subject African American and Latino drivers than white drivers to a vehicle search.

• Latinos were subjected to 45 of the 203 vehicle searches, or 22 percent of them, although they represented 14 percent of the drivers stopped.
• Fifty-nine of the 203 searches, or 29 percent, were done on vehicles driven by African Americans, who represented 22 percent of the drivers stopped.
• The report provides no data on the outcomes of those searches so it’s impossible to know what percentage were justified and how that might break down by race and ethnicity.
• The spread between the searches of vehicles operated by White and Latino drivers is not 2.4 percent but 2.4 percentage points.

The ACLU of Connecticut is continuing to evaluate this report and has requested the underlying data from the Manchester Police Department.