Investigate Your Results
Use your Justice Navigator Assessment to learn about when disparities occur and when they’re most severe.
Who is experiencing racial disparities?
Use your Justice Navigator assessment to identify:
1
Which racial groups are stopped, searched, arrested, or subjected to force at disproportionate rates?
2
Do people in those groups experience disparities in all or some of the policing outcomes examined (pedestrian stops, vehicle stops, searches, enforcement outcomes, and use of force incidents)?
3
What level of racial disparities in pedestrian stops and use of force remain after accounting for community-level factors like crime, poverty, and neighborhood demographics?
Are there common characteristics of stops that appear unproductive?
Use your Justice Navigator assessment to identify:
1
Which racial groups are searched more frequently during pedestrian and vehicle stops?
When the searches of those groups are less likely to result in the discovery of contraband, this may indicate they are being searched unproductively. Unproductive searches can indicate that officers’ suspicion of illegal activity or weapons possession is less likely to be accurate for members of this group, or that officers more frequently decide to search members of this group at a lower level of suspicion.
When search outcomes are relatively similar across racial groups, it suggests that significant racial disparities in stop and search rates can not be justified by differences in the outcomes of those searches.
2
Which recorded stop reasons may be associated with racial disparities in vehicle searches?
Pay attention to stop reasons more often recorded in stops of groups experiencing racial disparities, as well as stop reasons more often recorded overall. Stops that are not based on any risk to public safety or evidence of criminal activity are less likely to be efficient or productive uses of investigative resources.
The most common reason for contact with the police in the United States is being the driver in a traffic stop, and Black drivers are more likely to be stopped by police. Black drivers may also be more likely to be stopped for reasons that tend to be less related to public safety –such as equipment stops and license or registration checks– which unnecessarily increases their likelihood of being searched, experiencing police use of force, and being killed by police. Jurisdictions should invest in evidence-informed practices that reduce the footprint of policing on traffic safety to address persistent racial disparities in traffic enforcement that pose an ongoing public safety risk to Black drivers.
Which types of force are most commonly used?
Use your Justice Navigator assessment to identify:
1
Are certain types of force potentially contributing to racial disparities?
Any force type that was recorded in high numbers, or that was more often used against people in racial groups experiencing disparities, will influence racial disparities in use of force and the volume of incidents overall. Departments should investigate the policies and practices relating to these force types and explore broad interventions to reduce all types of force, such as changes to departmental policy and organizational culture.
Do officer- or unit-level differences appear to contribute to observed disparities?
Use your Justice Navigator assessment to identify:
1
Are disparities consistent among many officers or most work units?
If so, departments should explore department-wide interventions that address issues such as culture, departmental strategy, or policy.
2
Are disparities more severe within a specific work unit or units?
If so, a department should also investigate potential unit-level factors that may contribute to observed disparities (such as unit culture, deployment decisions, neighborhood demographics, and supervisor behavior).
3
Do officer-level differences appear to contribute to racial disparities in pedestrian stops?
If so, departments should investigate ways to improve department accountability mechanisms (including early intervention systems, misconduct investigation procedures, and disciplinary policies).
4
Are there certain call types or officer-initiated activities that may be driving deployment patterns, either across the department or within specific work unit assignments, in a way that may contribute to observed disparities?
If so, departments should work with community members and policymakers to reevaluate their deployment decisions and enforcement priorities and identify opportunities to more equitably and efficiently meet community needs.
Are there any deployment patterns or enforcement priorities that may contribute to observed disparities?
Use your Justice Navigator assessment to identify:
1
What types of activities do officers initiate, and how does this align with what the community is requesting via calls for service?
If the vast majority of recorded police activity is made up of events involving no reports of bodily harm, property harm, or threats, then there may be a sufficient portion of police activity that does not require an armed response to warrant the use of appropriate non-police responders or co-response models. If most police activity is initiated by officers based on their own observations or assignment, rather than in response to calls for service, departments should investigate whether a portion of deployment and enforcement priorities may be unnecessary or better addressed by other community resources.
If the types of activities that officers record initiating themselves are generally not aligned with the types of enforcement requested via calls for service, departments should note which event categories have the largest differences between recorded officer-initiated activity and calls for service, and work with community members to reevaluate deployment and enforcement priorities in response to community needs.
2
Do certain areas of the jurisdiction have higher levels of officer-initiated activity relative to the number of calls for service?
When certain areas have greater ratios of officer-initiated activity to calls for service, it suggests residents of those areas may be experiencing particularly burdensome and unnecessary policing, which can contribute to biased enforcement. Outsized proportions of officer-initiated activity relative to calls for service may also suggest that community members call the police less frequently due to a lack of trust or perceived legitimacy. Community members may also make requests for public safety services that are not captured in calls for service data, such as those expressed in community forums. Further investigations of dispatch data should include qualitative analyses of community and officer input for additional context in interpreting these findings.
3
Are there certain types of calls for service or officer-initiated activities that may be disproportionately contributing to inequitable deployment patterns or enforcement priorities?
