This project is for a class named Computer-assisted Reporting. We worked on obtaining law enforcement data to build indicators for the Missouri racial disparities project covering 22 cities with black people comprising more than 10 percent of the population.
We worked on six types of datasets covering arrests, police force and revenue. We reviewed data available on the websites and sent letters of request to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, Office of State Courts Administrator, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and each city government. We also used the 2010 census data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Discoveries
- Arrest warrants rate
Arrests per 10,000 people were highest in Ferguson, Jennings, St. Ann, Hazelwood and St. Louis. St. Louis, Ferguson and Jennings are also among the top 10 cities with the highest black population.
- Traffic-stop disparity
Nearly all or 19 of the 21 cities (with data) have a higher disparity index for black people than white people. Only Bellefontaine Neighbors and Moberly police departments reported disparity indices that are higher for white people than black people. Jennings Police Department did not submit a report to the Attorney General’s Office.
- Juvenile arrest disparity
All 22 cities have a higher disparity index for black juveniles than white juveniles. University City is on top with a disparity index of 36.03. Bellefontaine Neighbors, Moberly and Columbia follow with indices of 12.70, 6.34 and 5.44, respectively. Poplar Bluff is at the bottom with a disparity index of 1.23.
- Adult arrest disparity
Black adult arrest rates in all 22 cities are higher than those of white adults. Hazelwood, with a 6.91 disparity index, ranks first. The City of Columbia placed fourth with a disparity index of 5.50. Of the 22 cities, the black adult arrest rate in Jennings City is almost the same as that of white adults.
- Court revenue share
The percentage of court revenue out of the total revenue is below 5 percent for many of the 22 cities. In St. Ann, the court revenue accounted for about 40 percent of its total revenue, which is way more than the percentage of other cities. St. Ann is followed by Bellefontaine Neighbors and Ferguson with 14.9 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively.
The data was used in a story of KBIA, NPR-affiliated station, called “How Columbia could be more segregated than Ferguson.”