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Missouri Report: Black Drivers More Likely to Be Pulled Over

Boone County drivers will see more DWI checkpoints during the month of December.
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Boone County drivers will see more DWI checkpoints during the month of December.

New data show black drivers in Missouri were 75 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over last year.

The annual report by the state attorney general's office released Wednesday shows the disparity rate last year increased from the year before, when blacks were 69 percent more likely than white motorists to be stopped.

The state's disparity rate last hit 75 percent in 2014. That's the highest it's been since the state began compiling data in 2000.

Police treatment of blacks in Missouri fell under scrutiny following the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown, a black, unarmed 18-year-old, in Ferguson.

A U.S. Department of Justice report released in March 2015 cited racial bias and profiling in Ferguson's policing, and a profit-driven municipal court system that frequently targeted blacks.

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