PHILADELPHIA- In the case Bailey, et al. v. City of Philadelphia, et al., the City today filed its expert’s statistical analysis of racial significance in pedestrians stops for 2016.
The analysis shows no statistically significant differences in the rates at which Black and non-Hispanic White pedestrians are stopped, and further shows that Hispanic pedestrians were stopped at significantly lower rates than non-Hispanic Whites. In other words, when looking at pedestrian stops as a whole, race/and or ethnicity only appears to play a factor when comparing Hispanic and White pedestrian stops.
The City’s analysis shows no statistically significant differences between non-Hispanic White and Black pedestrians in the likelihood that a pedestrian stop would be sufficiently premised on reasonable suspicion. The same analysis between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites shows no statistically significant difference for the first half of 2016. However, in the second half of 2016, the City’s analysis shows that Hispanic pedestrians had lower chances of being in a stop that is sufficiently premised on reasonable suspicion compared to non-Hispanic Whites. In other words, when looking at the constitutionality of pedestrian stops, race/and or ethnicity only appeared to play a factor when comparing Hispanic and White pedestrian stops, and only for the second half of the year.
Regarding frisks, the City’s statistical analysis showed that Blacks were more likely to be frisked than non-Hispanic Whites, and it showed no significant difference between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites in their chances of being frisked. However, the analysis found that the premises on which an officer or officers performed a frisk showed no statistically significant racial disparity. In other words, race and/or ethnicity did not play a factor in instances in which frisks were performed without reasonable suspicion.
“While we are encouraged by this report, we know we still have much work to do,” said Mayor Kenney. “We’ve instituted numerous reforms that we believe will help ensure our police officers are respecting the constitutional rights of all Philadelphians.”
While the Administration acknowledges that Plaintiffs’ analysis reaches a different conclusion, the City notes that Plaintiffs’ analysis contains a total population share for all race categories in excess of 100%. For example, individuals identified as Black Hispanics are being counted twice by Plaintiffs, once as Black and again as Hispanic. Once this is corrected, there ceases to be any statistical significance in the stop rate of Blacks compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
The City’s report is available on request. It was filed earlier today with the Federal Judge overseeing the case, the Honorable John Padova, as part of the monitoring process of the 2011 consent decree in the case.
The filing comes three weeks after the City and Plaintiffs filed separate reports regarding aggregate data on the number and type of pedestrian stops during 2016. The City’s report found a 35% decrease in pedestrian stops in 2016 compared to 2015. Most significantly, the City’s audits found a 72% drop in the number of pedestrian stops made without reasonable suspicion in 2016 compared to the previous year.