Police-Community Relations in Cincinnati Year Two Evaluation Report Greg Ridgeway, Terry Schell, K. Jack Riley, Susan Turner, Travis L. Dixon Sponsored by the City of Cincinnati The research described in this report was conducted within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE), a division of the RAND Corporation, for the City of Cincinnati. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2006 RAND Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from RAND. Published 2006 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 -2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org/ To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: [email protected] Preface This is the second annual report produced by the RAND Corporation on police-community relations in Cincinnati. The reports are required under RAND’s contract to evaluate whether an agreement on police-community relations in Cincinnati is achieving its goals. The collab- orative agreement was reached in 2002 when the Cincinnati Police Department joined with other agencies and organizations (collectively referred to as “the parties”) to enact a series of reforms and initiatives intended to improve police-community relations in the city. This report should be of interest to policymakers and community members in Cincinnati and elsewhere in Ohio. This report may also prove useful to residents and officials in other jurisdictions where similar issues are being confronted. The city of Cincinnati funded this project on behalf of the parties to the collaborative agreement. The first year’s report wasPolice- Community Relations in Cincinnati (Riley et al., 2005). Other recent and related RAND works that may be of interest to readers of this report include the following: • Jeffrey Grogger and Greg Ridgeway, “Testing for Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops from Behind a Veil of Darkness,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 101, No. 475, 2006, pp. 878–887. • Greg Ridgeway, “Assessing the Effect of Race Bias in Post-Traffic Stop Outcomes Using Propensity Scores,” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Vol. 22, No. 1, April 2006, pp. 1–29. • Stephen P. Klein, Richard A. Berk, and Laura J. Hickman, Race and the Decision to Seek the Death Penalty in Federal Cases, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, TR-389- NIJ, 2006. • Barbara Raymond, Laura J. Hickman, Laura Miller, and Jennifer S. Wong, Police Per- sonnel Challenges After September 11: Anticipating Expanded Duties and a Changing Labor Pool, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, OP-154-RC, 2005. The RAND Safety and Justice Program This research was conducted under the auspices of the Safety and Justice Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE). The mission of RAND Infrastruc- ture, Safety, and Environment is to improve the development, operation, use, and protection of society’s essential physical assets and natural resources and to enhance the related social iii iv Police-Community Relations in Cincinnati: Year Two Evaluation Report assets of safety and security of individuals in transit and in their workplaces and communi- ties. Safety and Justice Program research addresses occupational safety, transportation safety, food safety, and public safety—including violence, policing, corrections, substance abuse, and public integrity. Questions or comments about this report should be sent to the project leader, K. Jack Riley ([email protected]). Information about the Safety and Justice Program is available online (http://www.rand.org/ise/safety). Inquiries about research projects should be sent to the following address: Andrew Morral, Director Safety and Justice Program, ISE RAND Corporation 1200 South Hayes Street Arlington, VA 22202-5050 703-413-1100, x5119 [email protected] Contents Preface ........................................................................................................... iii Figures ........................................................................................................... ix Tables ............................................................................................................ xi Summary .......................................................................................................xiii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................... xxv Abbreviations ................................................................................................xxvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 The Collaborative Agreement................................................................................... 1 Evaluation of Progress Toward the Collaborative Agreement’s Goals ..................................... 2 Statistical Compilations....................................................................................... 3 Traffic Stop Analysis........................................................................................... 4 Evaluation of Video and Audio Records .................................................................... 4 Police Officer Survey .......................................................................................... 4 Complaint and Internal Review Survey..................................................................... 4 Structure of This Report ........................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER TWO The Context of Policing in Cincinnati: Crime, Arrests, and Use of Force ........................... 7 Overview .......................................................................................................... 7 Calls for Service and Serious Crimes .......................................................................... 8 Stops, Citations, Arrests, and Reported Crimes.............................................................. 9 Use of Force......................................................................................................14 Summary .........................................................................................................18 CHAPTER THREE Analysis of Vehicle Stops .....................................................................................19 Overview .........................................................................................................19 Introduction .................................................................................................... 20 Data...............................................................................................................21 Contact Cards .................................................................................................21 v vi Police-Community Relations in Cincinnati: Year Two Evaluation Report Assessing Racial Disparities in the Decision to Stop Using a Natural Experiment .....................25 Methods....................................................................................................... 26 Results..........................................................................................................29 Assessing Racial Disparities in the Decision to Stop Using Internal Benchmarking .................. 30 Methods........................................................................................................31 Results..........................................................................................................33 Discussion .................................................................................................... 36 Assessing Racial Disparities in Post-Stop Outcomes....................................................... 36 Methods....................................................................................................... 36 Results..........................................................................................................41 Hit Rates ...................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER FOUR Analysis of Videotaped Police-Motorist Interactions ...................................................49 Overview .........................................................................................................49 Background ..................................................................................................... 50 Methods ..........................................................................................................51 Sample of Interactions........................................................................................51 Coding Procedures .......................................................................................... 54 Analysis ........................................................................................................55 Results ..........................................................................................................