U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 2002 June 2006, NCJ 211471 ---------------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.csv)and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cdsp02.htm This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#cdsp ----------------------------------------------------------- By Erica L. Smith and Matthew R. Durose BJS Statisticians -------------------------------------------------- Highlights * In 2002 an estimated 8.7% of drivers age 16 or older were stopped by police, representing nearly 17 million of the 193 million drivers in the United States. * Males were more likely than females to be pulled over by police, and young drivers were more likely than their older counterparts to be stopped. * White drivers were more likely than both black and Hispanic drivers to be stopped by police for speeding. Subsequent to being stopped for speeding, blacks(78%)and Hispanics(85%)were more likely than whites(70%)to receive a ticket. * Among traffic stops of young male drivers in 2002, 11% were physically searched or had their vehicle searched by police. Among these young male drivers who were stopped, blacks (22%) and Hispanics(17%)were searched at higher rates than whites (8%). * Of the estimated 329,000 drivers who were both searched and arrested during a traffic stop, police found evidence of criminal wrongdoing in approximately 20% of cases. * In 2002 an estimated 45.3 million people had a face-to- face contact with police; of these, 1.5% indicated police used or threatened force during the contact. * Drivers stopped by police (1.1%) were less likely than persons who had other types of face-to-face contacts with police (1.7%) to indicate police used or threatened force against them. * Among drivers involved in a traffic stop who also indicated police used or threatened force against them, 87% characterized the force as excessive. -------------------------------------------------- Drivers in the United States totaled 192.7 million persons in 2002, or about 89% of the 215.5 million U.S. residents age 16 or older. Approximately 16.8 million, or 8.7%, of those drivers were stopped by police at least once that year. These traffic stops include stops of all kinds of motor vehicles -- motorcycles, buses, and private and commercial cars and trucks -- and both personal and business travel. These findings come from the 2002 Police- Public Contact Survey (PPCS). Driver characteristics Driver gender The 192.7 million residents who represent the U.S. driving population were evenly divided between males and females. By contrast, of the 16.8 million drivers stopped by police in 2002, males(60.8%)were more likely than females (39.2%) to be among those stopped. Driver age Young drivers were more likely to be pulled over by police than older drivers. One measure of this difference is that young drivers age 16 to 24 were a larger percentage (26%) of drivers stopped by police than they were of drivers in the United States (15.3%). Driver race/Hispanic origin In 2002 whites, blacks, and Hispanics were stopped by police at similar rates. Specifically, each group represented approximately the same percentage of stopped drivers as they did of drivers in the United States. For example -- * whites were 76.2% of U.S. drivers and 76.5% of drivers stopped by police * blacks were 10.5% of persons who drive and 11% of stopped drivers * Hispanics accounted for 9.7% of drivers and 9.5% of stopped drivers. Drivers of other races were a smaller percentage of stopped motorists (2.9%) than of the driving population (3.6%). Driver gender, age, and race/Hispanic origin Young white male, young black male, and young Hispanic male drivers were all more likely to be pulled over by police than their older counterparts. Each of these groups of younger male drivers was a larger percentage of drivers stopped by police in 2002 than of the U.S. driving population. -------------------------------------------- Racial differences in traffic stops may not signal racial profiling To form evidence of racial profiling, survey findings would have to demonstrate (all other things being equal) -- Blacks and/or Hispanics were no more likely than whites to violate traffic laws, and Police pulled over blacks and/or Hispanics at a higher rate than whites. Because the survey has information only on how often persons of different races are stopped, not on how often they actually break traffic laws, analysis of data from the 2002 Police-Public Contact Survey has no basis for determining whether or to what extent racial profiling exists. ------------------------------------------------------ Likelihood of drivers being stopped The likelihood of being pulled over in 2002 did not differ among white (8.7%), black (9.1%), and Hispanic (8.6%) drivers. Among both male and female drivers, younger drivers age 16 to 24 were more likely than drivers age 25 or older to be stopped by police. In addition -- * young white male drivers (18.8%) were more likely than their older counterparts (9.3%) to be stopped by police * among Hispanic males, younger drivers were pulled over at higher rates (17%) than older drivers (8.5%). No real difference in the probability of being stopped was found between younger (14.6%) and older (10.2%) black male drivers. Driver opinion on being stopped An estimated 83.7% of drivers stopped by police, or about 14 million drivers, felt they were pulled over for a legitimate reason. While the majority of drivers felt the police were justified in stopping them, opinion was not uniform across different segments of the population. Young male drivers were less likely than other stopped drivers to feel they were pulled over for a legitimate reason. Among these young male drivers, blacks(57.9%)were less likely than both whites (81%)or Hispanics(81%)to feel the stop was legitimate. ----------------------------------------- Comparing estimates from the 1999 and 2002 surveys In 1999 the Police-Public Contact Survey found that 10.3% of licensed drivers were stopped by police. In 2002 the survey found that 8.7% of drivers in the United States were pulled over by police. Due to changes to the survey instrument, these two estimates are based on different denominators. Because of this difference in the denominators, these two estimates of the likelihood of drivers being stopped by police are not directly comparable. See Methodology on page 10 for more information. -------------------------------------------------- Drivers not informed of reason for traffic stop A relatively small percentage of stopped drivers (2.1%) indicated police did not give a reason for pulling them over. No differences were found by gender or age in whether police informed drivers of the reason for being stopped. Blacks(4.5%)were more likely than whites (1.8%) and somewhat more likely than Hispanics (2.3%) to indicate police did not give them a reason for being stopped. Drivers stopped for speeding The chances that a driver in the United States will be pulled over by police for speeding are relatively low. In 2002, 4.8% of the 192.7 million drivers in the United States indicated police stopped them for speeding. Among stopped drivers, however, speeding was the leading reason for being pulled over by police in 2002, cited by more than half (54.8%) of stopped drivers. Driver gender Of all the Nation's drivers, males (5.6%) were more likely than females (4%) to be stopped by police for speeding. Among all drivers stopped by police, female drivers (58.2%) were more likely than male drivers (52.6%) to indicate speeding was the reason for the stop. Driver age Of all the Nation's drivers, younger drivers (8.5%) were more likely than older drivers (4.1%) to be stopped by police for speeding. Among all drivers stopped by police in 2002, younger drivers (57.6%) were slightly more likely than older drivers (53.8%) to report police stopped them for speeding. Driver race/Hispanic origin Of all the drivers in the United States, whites (5%) were more likely than Hispanics (3.8%) and somewhat more likely than blacks (4.4%) to report being pulled over by police for speeding. Among drivers stopped by police, whites (57.2%) were more likely than both blacks (48%) and Hispanics (44.3%) to indicate speeding was the reason for the stop. Driver gender, age, and race/Hispanic origin Of the 10.3 million young white male drivers in the United States, 10.9% were stopped for speeding compared to 8.5% of the 10.1 million young white female drivers. Among drivers stopped by police, young white male drivers (58.3%) were less likely than their female counterparts (67.6%) to indicate speeding as the reason for the stop. Among the Nation's drivers, white females age 16 to 24 (8.5%) were more likely than their black (5.7%) and Hispanic (3.9%) counterparts to indicate speeding as the reason for being stopped. Among young male drivers in the United States, whites (10.9%) were more likely than both blacks (5.4%) and Hispanics (7.5%) to indicate they were stopped for speeding. Of drivers stopped by police, white males age 16 to 24 (58.3%) were more likely than black (36.9%) and Hispanic (43.8%) males in the same age group to report speeding as the reason for being stopped. Drivers stopped for speeding who were ticketed Drivers stopped for speeding were more likely to be ticketed than other stopped drivers. According to Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey, 58.6% of all drivers stopped by police were ticketed. Among drivers stopped for speeding, 72.5% were ticketed. The percentage of ticketed speeders does not necessarily indicate that those speeders who were ticketed by police were actually issued a ticket for speeding. The 2002 PPCS did not ask respondents who were ticketed to identify the specific reason for receiving the ticket. A driver stopped for speeding could have been ticketed for a different reason, such as a broken headlight or failure to wear a seat belt. The analysis can only determine the reason a ticketed driver was pulled over, not the reason the police cited for issuing the ticket. Driver gender Males (74.8%) stopped for speeding were more likely than females (69.3%) to be ticketed. Driver age Younger drivers (74.4%) and older drivers (71.8%) stopped for speeding were about equally likely to receive a ticket. Driver race/Hispanic origin Among drivers stopped for speeding, police were more likely to ticket blacks (77.5%) and Hispanics (84.5%) than whites (70.3%). Police searches During a traffic stop the police sometimes conduct a search of the vehicle, the driver, or both the vehicle and the driver. In 2002, 5% of traffic stops involved a search of the driver, the vehicle, or both. This 5% figure in 2002 represents a decrease from 1999, when an estimated 6.6% of traffic stops resulted in some kind of search.***Footnote 3: See Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 1999, NCJ 191548, March 2002.*** Searching the driver, vehicle, or both Police conducted approximately 838,000 searches of drivers and vehicles in 2002. Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (11.4%) drivers stopped by police were more likely than white (3.5%) drivers to be physically searched or have their vehicle searched. Search rates for young black male and young Hispanic male drivers did not change between 1999 and 2002. Approximately 1 in 5 young black male and young Hispanic male drivers stopped by police were searched in 1999, as well as 2002. Among drivers stopped in 2002, young black and young Hispanic males were more likely than young white males to be searched. Approximately 21.7% of young black male stopped drivers and 16.8% of young Hispanic male stopped drivers had their vehicle and/or person searched, compared to 8.2% of young white male stopped drivers. Among stopped male drivers age 25 or older, blacks (13.8%) and Hispanics (12.9%) were more likely to be searched than whites (4%). Black and Hispanic male drivers age 25 or older were 4.8% and 4%, respectively, of all drivers stopped by police but accounted for larger percentages -- 13.1% and 10.3%, respectively -- of drivers who had their vehicle and/or person searched. White male drivers age 25 or older were a smaller percentage of all searches (27.4%) than of drivers stopped by police in 2002 (34.5%). Searching the driver Young male drivers age 16 to 24 (9%) were more likely than their older counterparts (4.1%) to experience a physical search by police. Among these young stopped male drivers, no real difference was found between blacks (21.2%) and Hispanics (15.5%) in their likelihood of being physically searched, while both groups were more likely than young white male stopped drivers (6.1%) to experience a personal search. Young male drivers experienced disproportionately high rates of personal searches by police. Young white, black and Hispanic male drivers were 11.6%, 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, of stopped motorists but were 19.5%, 8.7% and 10.8%, respectively, of drivers who experienced personal searches. Among stopped male drivers age 25 or older, blacks (10%) and Hispanics (8.8%) were more likely than whites (2.9%) to be personally searched. Black and Hispanic male drivers age 25 or older were 4.8% and 4%, respectively, of all traffic stops but accounted for larger percentages -- 13.1% and 9.5%, respectively -- of all physical searches. By contrast, older white male drivers were 34.5% of stopped drivers but a smaller 27.4% of personal searches. Searching the vehicle Among young stopped male drivers, Hispanics (14.9%) were more likely to have their vehicles searched than whites (6.8%). Among older stopped male drivers, whites (3.1%) had their vehicles searched less frequently than both blacks (10%) and Hispanics (11.5%). Black and Hispanic male drivers age 25 or older were 4.8% and 4%, respectively, of drivers pulled over by police, but accounted for 11.8% and 11.4% of vehicle searches. Searched drivers who were also arrested Police searched an estimated 838,000 drivers in 2002. Of these searched drivers, 39.3% were also arrested. About half of these 329,000 searched and arrested drivers were searched after police arrested them, while more than a third were searched prior to being arrested. About a tenth of stopped drivers did not know whether the search or the arrest occurred first (not in a table). Driver gender Male drivers who were searched by police (39%) were about as likely as searched females (41.6%) to be arrested. Driver age Drivers age 25 or older (45%) who were searched by police were more likely to be arrested than their younger counterparts (31.3%). Driver gender and race/Hispanic origin Among drivers who were stopped and searched, no measurable differences were found in the likelihood of arrest among white, black, and Hispanic male drivers. (See Methodology section for information on significance testing.) Searches of arrested and nonarrested drivers In many jurisdictions police officers are required to search the vehicle, driver, or both when making an arrest during a traffic stop. Consequently, arrested drivers may have experienced a vehicle and/or personal search as a procedural step during the arrest process. Of the 448,000 drivers arrested during a traffic stop, 73.8% experienced a vehicle and/or personal search. A smaller percentage of nonarrested drivers were searched (3.1%). Driver gender Among stopped drivers who were arrested, males (75.2%) and females (66.8%) were searched at similar rates. Of stopped drivers who were not arrested, males (4.5%) were more likely than females (1.1%) to be searched. Driver age Among drivers arrested by police in 2002, no difference was found between younger (77.3%) and older (72.2%) drivers in their likelihood of experiencing a personal or vehicle search. Among nonarrested drivers, younger drivers (5.6%) were more likely to be searched than older drivers (2.2%). Driver race/Hispanic origin Among arrested motorists, no measurable difference was found between whites, blacks, and Hispanics in their likelihood of being searched. (See Methodology section for information on significance testing.) Among nonarrested motorists -- * Blacks (5.9%) and Hispanics (8.8%) were searched at higher rates than whites (2.1%). * Hispanics (8.8%) were searched at somewhat higher rates than blacks (5.9%). * Among males, blacks (9.1%) and Hispanics (10.9%) were more likely than whites (3.1%) to be searched. -------------------------------------------- Likelihood of finding criminal evidence in a traffic stop search Of the nearly 838,000 searches conducted following a traffic stop in 2002, about 1 in 10 uncovered criminal evidence, such as illegal weapons or drugs (not in a table). Approximately 329,000 drivers who were searched were also arrested. Of these searches in conjunction with an arrest, the search turned up evidence of criminal wrongdoing in about 20% of cases. --------------------------------------------- Police use of force In addition to gathering data on contacts between police and the public during traffic stops, the 2002 PPCS also collected information on other face-to-face contacts with police. Other face-to-face contacts include situations in which the respondent contacted police (for instance to report a crime or to ask for assistance) as well as situations in which police initiated contact with the respondent (for instance to investigate a crime, serve a warrant, or disseminate crime prevention information). Survey findings indicate an estimated 45.3 million people had a face-to-face contact with police during 2002. Of that 45.3 million, 16.8 million were drivers in a traffic stop, and 28.5 million were involved in other forms of contact with police. One purpose of the PPCS was to gather information about police use of force during both traffic stops and other face-to-face contacts between police and the public. Specifically, respondents were asked whether the police officer(s)used or threatened to use force against them. Of the nearly 45.3 million people who had a face-to-face contact with police, approximately 1.5% indicated police used or threatened force during the contact (hereafter, "use of force" includes force and threat of force). The 2002 estimate of 1.5% experiencing the use or threat of force by police represents an increase from approximately 1% in 1999. Drivers stopped by police (1.1%) were less likely than persons who had other types of face-to-face contacts with police (1.7%) to indicate police used or threatened force against them. Use of force during traffic stops Approximately 664,500 persons age 16 or older had force used or threatened against them by police at least once during 2002. About a quarter of these force contacts involved a driver during a traffic stop. Driver gender An estimated 520,000 males were threatened with force or had force used against them by police in 2002. About a third (31.2%) of these males were drivers in a traffic stop. Driver age For both younger and older persons against whom force was used or threatened, about the same proportion of force contacts involved a driver during a traffic stop (26.5% and 30%, respectively). Driver race/Hispanic origin For whites, blacks and Hispanics who experienced police use of force, no differences were found in the proportion of force contacts that occurred during a traffic stop. (See Methodology section for information on significance testing.) Use of force during traffic stops and other face-to-face contacts Police used or threatened force against an estimated 189,000 drivers during a traffic stop in 2002. An additional 476,000 persons experienced force during other types of face-to-face contacts with police. Driver gender Males were more likely than females to have reported police used or threatened force against them. In 2002 males were 53% of all persons with police contact but 78% of those who experienced force by police. Males accounted for a slightly larger percentage of traffic stop force contacts (86%) than other contacts involving police use of force (75.2%). Driver age Younger persons were more likely than older persons to experience force during a contact with police. The percentage of young people involved in a force incident (44.9%) was almost twice as high as their percentage of all contacts with police in 2002 (22.9%). By comparison, their older counterparts accounted for a smaller percentage (55.1%) of force incidents compared to their percentage of all contacts with police (77.1%). Young people were not more likely to indicate that force was used or threatened against them during a traffic stop (41.8%) than during other face-to-face contacts with police (46.1%). Driver race/Hispanic origin Whites were less likely than blacks and Hispanics to have force used or threatened against them. In 2002 whites were 76.7% of persons who had contact with police and 56.3% of persons who had force used against them. By contrast, blacks were 11% of police-public contacts but 26% of force contacts, and Hispanics were 9.3% of police-public contacts but 15.5% of contacts involving police use of force. White persons were as likely to indicate that force was used or threatened against them during a traffic stop (51%) as during other face-to-face contacts with police (58.3%). A similar percentage of blacks were involved in traffic stop force contacts (26.1%) as other contacts involving police use of force (25.9%). Conduct of persons who had contact with police and the likelihood police used force Approximately 706,000 persons age 16 or older indicated they argued with, cursed at, insulted, or verbally threatened the police at some point during the contact. An estimated 22.8% of persons who engaged in one or more of these behaviors also reported that police used or threatened to use force against them. The data cannot determine whether the person's conduct led to or was in response to the use or threat of force by police. Drivers involved in traffic stops who argued with, cursed at, insulted, or verbally threatened the police were less likely (15.3%) to have force used against them than persons involved in other nondriver contacts with police who behaved in this manner (26.7%). Use of excessive force Overall, about three-quarters (75.4%) of persons who experienced force felt the physical force used or threatened against them was excessive (table 16). Drivers who had force used against them during a traffic stop (87%) were more likely to report that the force was excessive than persons who experienced force during other types of contacts with police (70.8%). Of all persons who had contact with police in 2002, approximately 1.1% indicated police used or threatened to use excessive force against them. The percentage of persons who felt police used excessive force did not differ by the type of contact. Among drivers stopped by police, about 1% reported that police used or threatened excessive force. Similarly, excessive force was reported by 1.2% of persons involved in other contacts with police. Methodology The 2002 PPCS was conducted as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). During the last 6 months of 2002, the NCVS sample consisted of 93,410 individuals age 16 or older. About 18% of the NCVS sample, or 16,500 individuals, were excluded from the 2002 PPCS as non- interviews or as proxy interviews. Of interviews excluded from the survey, 13,618 were classified as NCVS non-interviews. Non-interviews include respondents not available for the PPCS interview, those who refused to participate in the PPCS, and non-English speaking respondents (PPCS interviews, unlike NCVS interviews, are only conducted in English). The remainder were the 2,882 excluded proxy interviews. A proxy interview may be conducted when a person is unable, for physical, mental, or other reasons, to participate. BJS staff determined that proxy interviewees would have difficulty describing the details of any contacts between police and the sampled respondent, and the decision was made to exclude all proxy interviews. In total, the PPCS failed to interview 16,500 persons and interviewed 76,910; this translates into an 82% response rate among individuals eligible for the PPCS, compared to an overall response rate of 87% for the NCVS. Among the PPCS interviews conducted, 25,993 (34%) were in person and 50,917 (66%) were by telephone. The PPCS sample, after adjustment for nonresponse, weights to a national estimate of 215,536,780 persons age 16 or older in 2002. Comparing estimates from the 1999 and 2002 surveys While both the 1999 and 2002 studies found about 1 in 10 drivers were stopped, these estimates are not directly comparable due to changes to the survey instrument between 1999 and 2002 in the measurement of the number of drivers. Most notably, the denominator used to calculate the likelihood of being stopped by police was "licensed drivers" in 1999, as estimated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey. However, in 2002 the denominator was changed to "drivers in the United States," as estimated directly from responses to newly added questions included in the 2002 Police-Public Contact Survey. The denominator change was made to account for all persons who drive, licensed and not licensed, to better approximate the number of persons at risk of being stopped by police. Excluded from the new denominator were licensed drivers who indicated they never drive. The number of drivers stopped by police was also estimated differently. In 1999, respondents were asked whether they had been a driver stopped by police at any time during the previous 12 months. Any respondent who had been pulled over in a traffic stop was then included in the count of the number of drivers stopped by police, regardless of whether the traffic stop was their most recent contact with police. In 2002, the survey was changed so that respondents were asked only about their most recent contact with police during the previous 12 months. Respondents whose most recent face-to-face contact was not a traffic stop, but who had been pulled over by police earlier in the year, were not included in the count of the number of drivers stopped by police. Due to this change in the survey, the estimated number of drivers stopped by police was smaller in 2002 than in 1999. Estimates of the characteristics of drivers stopped by police, such as the percentage of drivers searched or ticketed, were unaffected by these changes, and remain comparable between 1999 and 2002. Statistical significance In comparisons indicated in the text, an explicit or implied difference indicates a test of significance was conducted, and the difference was significant at the .05-level. Certain differences were not significant at the .05-level but were significant at the .10-level. The terms "somewhat" and "slightly" refer to differences significant at the .10-level. The report also indicates that some comparisons were not different, meaning the difference between the two estimates was not significant at either the .05- or .10-levels. Racial designations Regarding racial designations given in the report, "white" refers to non- Hispanic whites, "black" refers to non-Hispanic blacks, and "other races" refers to non-Hispanics in the "other races" category. White Hispanics, black Hispanics, and Hispanics of "other races" are categorized in the report under the heading "Hispanic." Due to small samples and concerns about confidentiality, the report does not provide separate statistics on each racial category that makes up "other races" (Asians, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaska Natives). Other BJS reports on police-public contacts Each of the following publications are available on the BJS website. Police Use of Force: Collection of National Data, November 1997; Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 1999 National Survey, February 2001; Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 1999, March 2002; Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey, April 2005; ---------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey L. Sedgwick is Director. Erica L. Smith and Matthew R. Durose, BJS Statisticians, wrote this report. Jessica Keating assisted with verification. Carolyn C. Williams edited the report. Jayne Robinson prepared the report for final printing. June 2006, NCJ 211471 ------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- This report in portable document format and in ASCII and its related statistical data and tables are available at the BJS World Wide Web Internet site: . ---------------------------------------------- End of File 05/15/06 ih