[Peace-discuss] Urbana beats Champaign

Wed Sep 12 18:13:37 CDT 2007

Urbana beat Champaign in the numbers of blacks pulled over during traffic
stops
as recent IDOT numbers reveal:
Urbana - 1.53
Champaign - 1.37

BD

 [image: The News-Gazette.com]   Police chief says statistics in report can
be misleading By Mike
Monson<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/reporter/mmonson/> Wednesday
September 12, 2007

URBANA – Minorities were 53 percent more likely to be stopped by Urbana
police during 2006 than would be expected, according to the state's annual
traffic stop statistics study.

That figure represents a moderate increase compared to 2005, when minorities
in Urbana were 44 percent more likely to be stopped than the local minority
driving population would indicate.

The summary of Urbana traffic stops is contained in the 2006 Illinois
Traffic Stop Statistics Act report, done jointly by the Illinois Department
of Transportation and the Northwestern University Center for Public Policy.

Urbana Police Chief Mike Bily summarized the local aspects of the report,
plus additional statistics his department collected, for Urbana aldermen
this week.

Bily said he believes that statistics in the report might be misleading
based on the 30.6 percent minority driving population that was assigned to
Urbana, based on 2000 U.S. Census figures.

Bily noted that additional statistics compiled by Urbana police, and not
required to be reported, show that out of 4,015 traffic stops in 2006 by
Urbana police, a full 47 percent of the people stopped did not reside in
Urbana. Many of the people stopped live in Champaign, Savoy or Rantoul, he
said.

Several communities are challenging the assigned minority driving population
number they receive, the police chief said. But Bily said he believes
Urbana's time is better spent "taking the necessary steps to ensure that
racial profiling is not occurring within our department." That includes
monitoring of officers' traffic stops, installation of digital video systems
on every marked squad car and departmentwide diversity training planned for
this fall.

"We do not believe that Urbana police officers are stopping vehicles solely
based on the race of the driver," he said. "We have taken many additional
steps to ensure this does not occur in Urbana."

The report shows that the number of traffic stops jumped by about one-third
in 2006, from 3,055 the prior year to 4,015 stops. An increase in "available
manpower" last year accounted for the increase, Bily said.

The report also shows that blacks were involved in 34.8 percent of all
police stops, while making up 12.2 percent of the driving population.

Whites were involved in 53 percent of the traffic stops while making
up 67.3percent of the driving population.

Hispanics were involved in 3.4 percent of all the traffic stops in Urbana
and make up the same percentage of the driving population. Asian and Pacific
Islanders made up 8.5 percent of the traffic stops, and are 14.9 percent of
the driving population.

The report showed that during 2006, city police made 12 "consent" searches
of vehicles, where the driver consented, with nine of those searched being
minorities.

But Bily, in response to a question from Alderwoman Danielle Chynoweth, said
further research showed that all but two of those searches were conducted
because an officer determined there was "probable cause," meaning the
searches were mislabeled by officers.

Bily also said there "is a strong correlation" between the number of calls
for service in an area and the number of traffic stops. Higher crime areas
will see more traffic stops as part of the police department's approach to
dealing with criminal problems, he said.

Alderman Charlie Smyth, D-Ward 1, said he thought the state's methods of
analyzing the data were "very two-dimensional," and he complimented Urbana
police for the job they are doing.

"You're going where the action is," he said.

*Traffic stop ratios*

Ratios of traffic stops compared with the assigned minority driving
population. For example, the statewide ratio was 1.13. That means a minority
driver was 13 percent more likely to be stopped by police than would be
expected based on the state's estimate of the minority driving population.

*Location 2005 2006*

Statewide average, 1.12, 1.13

Urbana, 1.44, 1.53

Champaign, 1.63, 1.37

Rantoul, 1.93, 1.73

UI, 1.30, 1.37

Danville, 1.42, 1.46

Champaign County 1.08, 1.11

Springfield, 2.13, 2.25

Decatur, 2.11, 2.16

Bloomington, 1.67, 1.62

Normal, 1.97, 2.06

Peoria, 1.72, 1.68

*Source: Urbana Police Department*
------------------------------
Find this article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2007/09/12/police_chief_says_statisticsin_report
Comments

[image: The News-Gazette.com, The East Central Illinios Online source for
news and advertising] <http://www.news-gazette.com/>

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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