Vermont State Police traffic stop data shows continued racial disparities - WCAX

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BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - New traffic stop data from the Vermont State Police indicates there are still racial disparities among who they stop, ticket and arrest.

In 2019 VSP pulled over nearly 58,000 drivers -- a slight increase from 2018. Out of those stops, about 94% were white and about 3% were Black. Other races made up about 3%

Out of all of the drivers stopped, 37% got a ticket. By race, those drivers stopped who got tickets broke down to:

Asian 50%.
Hispanic 45%
Black 43%,
White 37%
Native American 36%

Hispanic and Black drivers were also arrested the most for violations while Asian drivers were arrested for violations the least.

“These numbers show we still have work to do,” Vermont State Police Col. Matthew Birmingham said in a statement. “The latest traffic stop data indicate that racial disparities continue to persist. Our efforts over the past decade to address these disparities, while significant, have not been enough to eliminate them. We are working with many community partners and engaging the full resources of our Fair and Impartial Policing Committee to dig into the numbers, find out what’s behind them, and redouble our efforts to eliminate racial disparities, which have no place in policing.”

It’s the fifth year the agency has published its traffic stop raw numbers.