An annual state report shows differences in how the Jefferson City Police Department and Cole County Sheriff's Department deploy traffic stops.
Similar to statewide results, the Jefferson City Police Department continued to stop Black drivers at a higher rate than white drivers in 2021. Cole County Sheriff's Department was more proportional.
Consistent with recent years, JCPD officials said they continue to believe they are dealing with all races in an equitable way.
The Vehicle Stops Report, released Friday by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, details traffic stops conducted by law enforcement agencies throughout the state in 2021. Lawmakers concerned about racial profiling in Missouri made the report an annual requirement for the attorney general's office in 2000.
Jefferson City's driving population totals 34,755 people -- 74 percent of whom are white, 18 percent are Black and almost 3 percent are Hispanic.
The department made 7,607 stops in 2021, most of which involved white drivers. More than 5,135 of JCPD's traffic stops were of white drivers, 2,334 were of Black drivers and 70 were of Hispanic drivers.
According to the report's disparity index, white drivers were stopped fewer times than what would be proportional to the population in Jefferson City and Black drivers were stopped at a higher rate than what would be proportional.
A value of 1 indicates a group's proportion of vehicle stops equals its population proportion. If the value is above 1 the group is overrepresented and if the value is below 1 it is under-represented in traffic stops.
White drivers stopped by JCPD had a disparity index of .90 and white Jefferson City residents had a disparity index of 0.83, meaning they were stopped less than what is proportional to the population.
Black drivers stopped by JCPD had a disparity index of 1.7 and Black city residents had a disparity index of 2, meaning they were stopped more than what is proportional to the city population.
Hispanic drivers had a disparity index of 0.3 and Hispanic residents had a disparity index of 0.25.
Nearly 22 percent of Jefferson City drivers were involved in traffic stops in 2021. Broken down by racial group, almost 20 percent of white drivers in the city were stopped and more than 37 percent of Black drivers in the city were stopped.
Of the 587 arrests JCPD made as a result of traffic stops in 2021, 322 were white drivers, 255 were Black drivers and 10 were Hispanic drivers.
The arrest rate for white drivers was more than 6 percent and for Black drivers nearly 11 percent.
"We are sensitive to the numbers and continue to devote a concerted effort to serve our entire community in a consistent, fair and equitable manner," JCPD Chief Roger Schroeder said in a statement to the News Tribune. "We adhere to the governing state law in terms of monitoring and addressing any apparent racially disproportionate traffic stop data in a constructive and fruitful way. We proactively strive to employ fair-minded, just and impartial individuals, provide state of the art training, appropriate guidance and direction and employ a consistent level of professional accountability."
The Jefferson City Police Department was among the report's list of non-compliant law enforcement agencies, meaning it didn't submit traffic stop data to the attorney general by the statutory deadline but its data was included in the report.
In Cole County, traffic stops involved white and Black drivers at more proportional rates.
Cole County's driving population totals 61,283 people -- 83 percent are white, 11 percent are Black and 2.3 percent are Hispanic.
The Cole County Sheriff's Department made 4,244 stops in 2021, most of which involved white residents. More than 3,600 of the sheriff department's traffic stops were of white drivers, 504 were of Black drivers and 94 were of Hispanic drivers.
According to the report's disparity index, white, Black and Hispanic racial groups were stopped at rates consistent with their proportion of the population.
White drivers stopped by Cole County law enforcement had a disparity index of 1.02 and white county residents had a disparity index of 1.005.
Black drivers stopped by the sheriff's department had a disparity index of 1.042 and Black county residents had a disparity index of 1.16.
Hispanic drivers had a disparity index of 0.95 and Hispanic residents had a disparity index of 0.98.
Nearly 7 percent of the county population was involved in traffic stops in 2021. Broken down by racial group, Black and white drivers both had a stop rate around 7 percent and Hispanic drivers had a stop rate of 6.6 percent.
Of the 250 arrests Cole County Sheriff's Department made as a result of traffic stops in 2021, 178 were white drivers, 61 were Black drivers and 10 were Hispanic drivers.
The arrest rate was less than 5 percent for white drivers and slightly more than 12 percent for Black drivers.
Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler could not immediately be reached for comment.