The state’s first year-long study of racial profiling as it pertains to traffic stops shows a disproportionate number of blacks were stopped by law enforcement in 2001 and a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics were searched. The report, compiled by Attorney General Jay Nixon and presented to Governor Bob Holden, documents 1.4-Million stops. The statewide data indicate blacks were stopped at a rate 33 percent higher than expected based solely on their proportion of the population. Nixon says that while there is important information to be taken from the study, the disproportion in numbers does not necessarily reflect racial profiling, also known as DWB – Driving While Black.
