[Peace-discuss] Urbana beats Champaign

Sat Sep 15 03:17:53 CDT 2007

Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweihart sez there's a simple solution, so quit beefing. If you don't like being stopped, be a Pacific Islander. If y're black, don't drive.

  Jenifer

Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com> wrote:
  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 

         Police chief says statistics in report can be misleading    By Mike Monson   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 67.3 percent 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

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
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