Racial profiling statistics show measurable differences in police stops, searches, citations, reported misconduct, and use of force. National survey estimates describe contacts involving U.S. residents age 16 or older in 2022, while Department of Justice investigations document specific patterns in Louisville and Minneapolis. Stanford’s multi-jurisdiction analysis adds descriptive evidence from traffic-stop records assembled through 2019.
Contents
- What national traffic-stop data shows
- How street-stop outcomes differ
- Reported bias and misconduct
- Louisville traffic-stop findings
- Minneapolis stops and searches
- Minneapolis use-of-force disparities
- How to interpret these statistics
What national traffic-stop data shows
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated outcomes for the most recent traffic or street stop reported by U.S. residents age 16 or older in 2022. In these figures, White and Black categories exclude Hispanic origin. The national estimates do not describe every police encounter; they describe the contact respondents identified as their most recent stop.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2022, recorded these traffic-stop outcomes:
| Race or ethnicity | No enforcement action | Warning | Ticket | Searched or arrested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White drivers | 9.0% | 49.0% | 38.9% | 3.1% |
| Black drivers | 10.6% | 34.7% | 46.1% | 8.6% |
| Hispanic drivers | 7.4% | 35.9% | 52.7% | 4.0% |
Black drivers were reported as receiving warnings in 34.7% of traffic stops, compared with 49.0% for White drivers. Tickets were reported in 46.1% of stops involving Black drivers and 38.9% involving White drivers. The share reported as searched or arrested was 8.6% for Black drivers, versus 3.1% for White drivers.
Hispanic drivers received warnings in 35.9% of reported traffic stops and tickets in 52.7%. Their reported searched-or-arrested share was 4.0%, while 7.4% involved no enforcement action. These percentages describe outcomes within each reported group; they do not establish why an officer initiated a stop or whether a particular stop was lawful.
The same national survey found that 10.6% of traffic stops involving Black drivers had no enforcement action, compared with 9.0% for White drivers. That comparison matters because racial differences can appear across several outcomes, not only in searches or arrests.
Stanford’s Open Policing Project findings standardized nearly 100 million traffic stops from 21 state patrol agencies and 29 municipal police departments. In the multi-jurisdiction data assembled through 2019, Black drivers were about 20% more likely than White drivers to be stopped relative to residential population shares. Stanford cautioned that residential population is not always the same as the driving population, so this is descriptive evidence rather than proof of motive.
Stanford also reported that Black drivers were searched about 1.5 to 2 times as often as White drivers after being stopped. In its analysis of data through 2019, the project reported a 5% to 10% drop in the share of stopped drivers who were Black at night compared with daytime stops. In a Texas example, Black drivers represented about 25% of stops just before sunset and about 20% just after dusk. These findings concern observed stop records and should not be treated as a universal estimate for every agency.
How street-stop outcomes differ
Traffic stops and street stops are different categories in the 2022 BJS estimates. Street stops generally produce fewer formal enforcement outcomes than traffic stops, but the racial pattern is not identical across the reported groups.
White people had no enforcement action in 76.4% of street stops and received warnings in 14.9%. Black people had no enforcement action in 74.7% of street stops and received warnings in 17.8%. For Black people, 7.5% of street stops ended in a search or arrest. The supplied BJS figures do not include a quantified search-or-arrest percentage for White street stops in this comparison.
The national street-stop estimates are survey estimates for residents age 16 or older whose most recent contact was a street stop. They are not population-adjusted stop rates and do not show how frequently each racial group was stopped overall. They instead show what happened during the reported contact.
The difference between the traffic-stop and street-stop tables is useful for interpretation. In traffic stops, the reported searched-or-arrested share was 8.6% for Black drivers and 3.1% for White drivers. In street stops, 7.5% of stops involving Black people ended in a search or arrest, while 74.7% involved no enforcement action. A percentage from one stop type should not be transferred to another.
Reported bias and misconduct
The BJS survey also asked about misconduct during respondents’ most recent police contact. Across U.S. residents reporting a relevant contact in 2022, 1.2% reported any police misconduct, 1.1% reported police behavior motivated by bias or prejudice, and 0.2% reported being called a slur or degrading name.
Reported misconduct varied by race in the survey. White residents reported any misconduct at 0.7%. The comparable figure was 4.2% for Black residents and 1.4% for Hispanic residents. These are reported experiences during the most recent contact, not estimates of the share of all police contacts involving misconduct.
The bias-related measure is also narrower than the overall misconduct measure. A respondent could report police behavior motivated by bias or prejudice without reporting that an officer used a slur, while the any-misconduct measure includes categories beyond those two examples. The figures should therefore be read as separate survey indicators rather than added together.
Because the BJS results are survey estimates, they include the scope of that survey: U.S. residents age 16 or older and their most recent traffic or street stop. Suppressed cells were not used in these statistics. The measures also do not independently determine an officer’s intent in an individual encounter.
Louisville traffic-stop findings
The Department of Justice investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department examined traffic-stop patterns from 2016 through 2021, excluding interstate stops. The DOJ investigation report found that Black drivers were stopped and cited at 1.5 times the White-driver rate. Black drivers were searched at 2.6 times the White-driver rate.
The investigation identified particularly large differences in several equipment-related citations. Black drivers were 1.8 times as likely as White drivers to be cited for equipment violations, 3.6 times as likely to be cited for tinted windows, and 4.7 times as likely to be cited for improper tags.
The DOJ also reported behavior-adjusted comparisons. Black drivers were 49% more likely to be searched than White drivers with comparable pre-stop behavior. Among drivers stopped for a stop-sign violation, Black drivers were 3.5 times as likely to be searched as White drivers.
The search findings included an estimated count. Of nearly 6,000 searches of Black drivers, nearly 2,000, or 32.8%, were estimated not to have occurred at the White-driver rate. This is an estimate from the DOJ’s Louisville analysis, not a count of searches proven to be improper in every individual case.
The investigation also found differences in detention time. Black drivers were detained an average of 15% longer than White drivers charged with the same violation types. Black drivers were 26% more likely than similarly situated White drivers to be detained for more than 20 minutes. These comparisons are specific to Louisville and the 2016–2021 investigation period.
Minneapolis stops and searches
The DOJ’s investigation of the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department analyzed the period from November 1, 2016, through August 9, 2022. The Minneapolis findings report used population-share adjustments in the stop analysis and excluded highway stops from those population-share analyses.
After population-share adjustment, Black people in Minneapolis were stopped at 6.5 times the White rate, while Native American people were stopped at 7.9 times the White rate. From 2020 to 2022, Black pedestrians and drivers were stopped at 7.8 times the White rate, and Native American pedestrians and drivers were stopped at 10 times the White rate.
Search disparities were larger in the Minneapolis findings. People in stops involving Black people were searched at 12.8 times the White per-capita rate. For stops involving Native American people, the comparable figure was 19.7 times the White per-capita rate. Vehicle searches involving Black people occurred at 16.5 times the White per-capita rate, and vehicle searches involving Native American people occurred at 14.4 times the White per-capita rate.
The report also measured stops without a citation or arrest. Black people were stopped without citation or arrest at 5.7 times the White rate. Native American people were stopped without citation or arrest at 5.9 times the White rate. These are Minneapolis findings for the stated investigation period, not national estimates.
Minneapolis use-of-force disparities
For comparable stops in Minneapolis from 2020 through 2022, force was used during stops involving Black people 24% more often than during comparable stops involving White people. Force was used during comparable stops involving Native American people 20% more often than during comparable stops involving White people.
The Minneapolis report found larger differences in some precincts. In the Third Precinct, force was used during comparable stops involving Black people 49% more often than during comparable stops involving White people. For Native American people in that precinct, force was used 69% more often. In the Fifth Precinct, force was used against Black people 44% more often than White people during comparable stops.
The youth findings used per-capita comparisons. Bodily force against Black youth occurred at 11.4 times the White-youth per-capita rate, while bodily force against Native American youth occurred at 10.5 times the White-youth rate.
The report also measured officers unholstering or pointing guns. For Black youth, that occurred at 13.5 times the White-youth per-capita rate; for Native American youth, it occurred at 19.6 times the White-youth rate. Compared with the White-adult rate, officers unholstered or pointed guns at Black youth at 4.7 times the rate and at Native American youth at 6.8 times the rate.
How to interpret these statistics
These figures measure different things: national survey estimates, descriptive traffic-stop records, and jurisdiction-specific DOJ findings. A rate relative to residential population is not the same as a rate per stop. A behavior-adjusted comparison is not the same as a raw percentage. A per-capita youth comparison is not the same as a comparison among people already stopped.
The time periods also differ. The BJS national estimates refer to 2022; Louisville findings cover 2016–2021; Minneapolis findings cover November 1, 2016, through August 9, 2022, with some use-of-force comparisons limited to 2020–2022; and Stanford’s data were analyzed through 2019. Keeping those dates and geographies attached to each statistic is essential when assessing racial profiling patterns.