PA State Police To Collect Traffic Stop Demographics

PENNSYLVANIA — In an effort to identify and address any disparities in traffic stop, Pennsylvania State Police are now collecting demographic data regarding stops.

State Police Commissioner Colonel Robert Evanchick announced the department launched a wide-ranging contact data collection program that will run throughout 2021.

The program is designed to capture demographic and other information related to traffic stops.

Researches at the University of Cincinnati will be given the data for analyzation in hopes of identifying potential patterns of racial/ethnic disparities in policing. Should any disparities be found, the researched will recommend changes to state police policies or trainings.

Findings will be presented in April 2022.

The initiative started with the new year on Jan. 1.

Troopers statewide are now documenting additional information during traffic stops, regardless of whether the encounter results in a citation or written warning, according to state police.

The contact data report contains more than 30 fields, including driver and passenger age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Troopers also record the duration of the stop, whether a vehicle search was conducted, and the results of that search, when applicable.

"Troopers take an oath to enforce the law ‘without any consideration of class, color, creed or condition,’ and this data collection effort is one way to show the public we are upholding that oath," Evanchick said. "Regular and ongoing analysis by a neutral third party is a critical part of this program that emphasizes our department’s commitment to transparency and continuous improvement."

This is not the first time Pennsylvania State Police had collected such data.

Police previously conducted a contact data reporting program from 2002 to 2011. Researchers with the University of Cincinnati examined patterns and trends in traffic stops to better inform changes in policy and training.

This new program, however, will benefit from advances in technology over the past decade, and the ongoing national conversation about the relationship between police and the communities they serve has reinforced the importance of collection and analyzing this type of data, state police said.

Evanchick said modern data collection has been streamlined and contact data reports will be integrated with the department's existing mobile office environment to minimize the impact data collection has on the duration of traffic stops.

"We look forward to learning from the data and analysis by the University of Cincinnati," he said.

The independent research team is led by Dr. Robin Engel, a professor of criminal justice and director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) / University of Cincinnati Center for Police Research and Policy. Engel is a leading academic in the field of criminal justice and criminology, with expertise in empirical assessments of police behavior, police use of force, and police-minority relations.

Engel and her team will provide regular reports to the department.

According to state police, collection and independent analysis of contact data reports will continue in subsequent years.