Vermont law enforcement agencies are doing fewer traffic stops since the COVID-19 pandemic, but Black and Hispanic drivers are still being disproportionately policed, according to a new study released Thursday.
University of Vermont Economics Professor Emerita Stephanie Seguino and co-authors Nancy Brooks and Pat Autilio have periodically analyzed the race data Vermont law enforcement agencies are required to collect, and this most recent research adds data from 2022 and 2023.
Seguino said she starts each analysis optimistic there might be a substantial decrease in racial disparities from traffic stops in Vermont — but that hasn’t been the case.
“Hispanic and Black drivers are still searched at double the rate of white drivers,” Seguino said in an interview this week.
And she said the outcomes of those searches are showing that Black and Hispanic drivers are “far less likely” to be carrying contraband compared to white drivers — and that’s indicative of biased policing.
“Officers essentially are searching vehicles of Black and brown drivers with a lower threshold of evidence than they would use for white drivers,” Seguino said.
The data also shows that Vermont police continue to stop Black and Hispanic drivers disproportionate to their share of the driving population. Asian drivers were also increasingly overstopped in 2022 and 2023, compared to the couple years prior.
Traffic stops statewide, however, were down in 2022-2023 by almost 50% compared to the four years before the COVID-19 pandemic. (That’s as Vermont continued to have a traffic stop rate more than twice than the national average.)
Seguino said that fewer traffic stops and searches during the pandemic did lead to fewer racial disparities. People of color weren’t as overstopped, and arrest and search rate disparities went down.
And the study recommends taking a closer look at that fact.
“It's really an important discussion for the commissioner of public safety to have with officers, and for the Legislature,” Seguino said. “Given the shortages of police officers and a number of departments, is that the best use of resources? And… to what extent might lowering the amount of traffic policing contribute to any further improvement in racial disparities?”
Vermont Public reached out to several law enforcement agencies about the study but did not receive an immediate response.
