Assessing Arrest & Traffic Stop Patterns in Portland, ME
Date
2022-12-01
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Publisher
Maine Statistical Analysis Center, University of Southern Maine
Abstract
In 2021, Portland’s Police Chief commissioned an analysis of the department’s data to understand whether racial and ethnic disparities exist in the decision to arrest individuals and to issue traffic citations and, if so, the need for any internal policy changes to reduce these disparities. The Portland PD subsequently invited the South Portland Police Department to participate in the analysis. This study is unique because the law enforcement agencies initiated the request. This analysis did not find statistical evidence of biased-based policing by members of the South Portland Police Department, that is, instances where an officer made a decision or took action based on the individual’s race or ethnicity rather than the individual’s behavior. This does not mean such incidents do not happen, but rather no patterns emerge that demonstrate severe and persistent occurrences. However, despite limitations in the scope of this study, this analysis does provide evidence of some racial and ethnic disparities in arrests and traffic stops particularly among Black or African American individuals. Among South Portland residents, Black or African American individuals were arrested at an average annual rate that is nearly five times higher than White residents. Many factors which could be contributing to these disparities were outside the scope of this study and therefore more research is recommended.
Description
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Technical Report