A deep dialogue between citizens of Columbia and Police Chief Ken Burton focused on racial profiling Monday night, where speakers discussed data from the Missouri Attorney General analyzing racial profiling and police stops. The meeting, led by City Manager Mike Matthes, revolved around the disproportionate ratio of traffic stops of black drivers in 2015 than any other race in Columbia.
“On searches, we’re about three times more likely on paper to search an African American male on a traffic stop,” Burton said.
The specific numbers on police stops boiled down to a disparity index of 2.97 for black drivers and 0.82 for white drivers, calculated by the proportion of stops for each race over the proportion of each demographics’ population. (Hyperlink: https://www.ago.mo.gov/home/vehicle-stops-report?lea=89)
In response, Burton described recent “radical” changes in his department, and says that he and the Columbia Police Department are on a “listening tour” to drill into the data through hearing personal accounts. He described an instance where he listened to a black man fear for his son driving home late at night, and fear of him being stopped and killed by the police.
“When you look at the media there are cops out there that make mistakes, terrible mistakes. Sometimes malicious. Sometimes accidental,” Burton said.
“And I started thinking that if I were an African American father, would it be realistic for me to fear for my son’s life? And you know what I had to conclude? That’s realistic. And so I had to change the way I looked at things,” Burton said.
Many citizens said they believed they had been profiled numerous times in the past, but that the department has made an effort to focus on building relationships with community policing in the last decade.
Retired veteran Michael Thornton, 67, has lived in Columbia all his life. He said that things have gotten better in the last decade, and he can walk to the store every day without being singled out by police.
“They used to kind of pass by you and slow down, they don’t anymore,” Thornton said.
“This is working, going to these meetings and things. And I think they’re really trying.”