Results of a study conducted on Eugene Police Department vehicle stops show evidence that Latino, black and Asian drivers are treated differently than white drivers. However, the results remained inconclusive on whether racial profiling is occurring in EPD traffic stops.
Vikas Kumar Gumbhir, a University graduate student in sociology, was commissioned by EPD through the University’s Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics to conduct the study. He presented his findings to community members on Wednesday at the Eugene Public Library.
“This (study) is one step the department is using to better understand how to best provide policing services in the community,” EPD spokeswoman Pam Olshanski said.
Gumbhir collected data through survey cards filled out by officers after vehicle stops. Among the information collected was the race, sex and age of the civilian stopped, the reason for the vehicle stop, the time and place the stop occurred, whether a search was conducted, and whether contraband was found in the search.
While officers were instructed to fill out survey cards after every stop, an audit conducted by EPD on vehicle stops revealed that officers only filled out cards in about 70 percent of stops, limiting the study’s
findings. Additionally, many of the cards were incomplete.
“I think this research gives us a lot of answers and it gives us a lot of clues as to where to go from here,” Gumbhir said. “But it’s definitely not final.”
Gumbhir’s study concluded that black drivers were stopped more frequently than white drivers. In 2002, the stop rate, or number of vehicle stops per 1,000 residents, was 133.8 to 299.9 more stops for black residents aged 18 to 29 compared to white residents of the same age. Gumbhir called this difference “statistically significant,” which means that it was not due to random chance.
Additionally, black and Latino residents were more likely to be arrested than white residents, another
result that Gumbhir called “statistically significant.” The study also showed that officers performed discretionary searches more frequently on black and Latino drivers as
compared with white drivers. For example, black residents were searched in 11.9 percent of vehicle stops and Latinos in 16.9 percent of vehicle stops, whereas white residents were searched in 7.2 percent of vehicle stops.
While Gumbhir said this data provides evidence of differential treatment for Asians, Latinos and blacks from whites, it does not necessarily mean that racial profiling is occurring.
“These differences in people’s experiences may or may not be the result of racial profiling,” he said.
One controversial sociological theory that explains differential treatment is differential offending. The theory contends that members of certain races commit certain crimes at higher rates than members of another race. An important finding in Gumbhir’s study contradicted this theory by showing that the search success rate, or the portion of searches that yielded contraband, was about equal for all races.
“It doesn’t prove the theory wrong, but it provides evidence against the theory,” he said.
While Gumbhir’s study could not prove that racial profiling occurs in the EPD, anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise.
Two months ago, 25-year-old Cortez Jordan filed a complaint accusing an officer of detaining and questioning him because of his race.
Jordan was walking down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with four white friends when he was detained and questioned by a police officer. The officer said he suspected Jordan was carrying a weapon because of his baggy pants and the way he was walking, according to The Register-Guard.
Jordan, who had helped the EPD with racial diversity training, said the event was “insulting, more than anything.”
Gumbhir said he did not analyze anecdotal information, such as Jordan’s case, but that such evidence is important.
“I believe it is vital that we look at the anecdotal information and the empirical information in my study together,” he said. “It adds to the overall study.”
EPD Chief Robert Lehner said Gumbhir’s study should be used as a foundation for further inquiry.
“Studies (like this) really raise a lot of issues that require further study and further understanding,” he said.
Ghumbir said he hoped the study would lead to further discussion in the community.
“I encourage the Eugene community to take these results and use them as a shared starting point for moving forward in additional examination of racial profiles issues, in terms of policy building and in terms of community relations,” he said.

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