RACIAL PROFILING
COCONINO COUNTY VIOLATOR STUDY REPORT
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF I-17 VIOLATOR
STUDY
STATISTICAL
ANALYSIS OF I-40 STOP DATA
I make this report
in response to the request of Counsel for Yavapai County
defendants stopped and arrested by Arizona Department
of Public Safety Officers, to determine whether there
is a colorable basis for asserting that minority motorists
are being targeted by the police for traffic stops
and searches.
To determine whether a colorable claim of racial profiling (the disproportionate
targeting of motorists to be stopped by DPS officers on I-17 in Yavapai County
by race and ethnicity) exists, two pieces of information are required. The
first piece of information is the racial and ethnic composition of all known
motorists stopped and ultimately charged with drug-related offenses on I-17
in Yavapai County from 2000 through 2002. This information is best found in
a comprehensive review of criminal case defendants in Yavapai County stopped
on I-17 and charged with drug-related offenses from 2000 through 2002. Results
of this review then need to be compared to a base figure of the racial and
ethnic composition of people traveling on I-17 in Yavapai County who are violating
motor vehicle laws and thus eligible to be stopped by DPS Officers. If the
racial and ethnic composition of known defendants is similar to the racial
and ethnic composition of motor vehicle law violators, a colorable claim of
racial profiling cannot be said to exist. If the comparison yields significant
disparity between the race/ethnicity of known defendants and motor vehicle
law violators, a colorable claim of racial profiling can be said to exist.
Significant disparity will be shown to exist if differences between the two
populations exceed the margin of error associated with the violator study data.
KNOWN STOPS ON I-17
Anita
Pitroff, Yavapai County Public Defenders Office Paralegal,
conducted a review of known drug cases from I-17 within
the boundaries of Yavapai County from 2000 through 2002.
Her report indicates the Yavapai County Public Defenders
records were searched for known cases. In-house and contract
attorneys reviewed more than 2,700 drug cases known to
the Public Defenders office and determined that 32 defendants
are known to have been involved in I-17 drug cases from
2000 through 2002. Of the 32 defendants, 17 (53.1%) were
African American, 4 (11.8%) were Hispanic, and 11 (34.4%)
were non-Hispanic, Caucasians (see Table
1).
The
Public Defender’s Office tracks all of its cases through
a database system. Every criminal case in Yavapai County
in which a defendant is appointed
an attorney by the court is recorded in the database system. Tracked fields
include the Defendant’s name, case number, attorney assigned (whether
in-house, contract or private), date opened, charges filed, and whether or
not the charges are drug-related. The drug-related field is kept to satisfy
a grant requirement. The database can be searched by fields and filters can
be used to screen in or out selected criteria.
To identify the drug-related cases in Yavapai County,
the database was searched by drug-related field and date
opened, identifying 2,700 drug-related cases
opened between 2000 and 2002. This database was further screened by attorney
assigned, generating separate lists of drug-related cases opened between 2000
and 2002 by attorney. Each attorney identified was given his or her individual
list of cases and asked to identify cases on the list which were I-17 stops
and the race of the defendant and any passengers or co-defendants. Attorneys
reported this information back to the Public Defender’s Office either
by returning the list with handwritten notes, or calling the Public Defender’s
Office and giving a report orally. As several new cases arose after the lists
went out, attorneys called the Public Defender’s Office to report new
cases.
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