2011 Vehicle Stops Report
Attorney General Chris Koster
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Concerns by the citizens of Missouri and the Missouri legislature
regarding allegations of racial profiling by law enforcement prompted the passage
of state law Section 590.650, RSMo (2000), which
was enacted Aug. 28, 2000. Racial profiling has been defined as the inappropriate
use of race by law enforcement when making a decision to stop, search or arrest
a motorist.
Missouris state law requires that all peace officers in the state report specific
information including a drivers race for each vehicle stop made in the state. Law
enforcement agencies are required to turn in the data to the Attorney General, and
the Attorney General is required to compile the data and report to the Governor
no later than June 1 of each year. The law allows the Governor to withhold state
funds for any agency that does not comply with the law. State law requires that
all information be reported to the Attorney Generals Office by March 1.
The analysis of statewide racial profiling data has been provided by Scott H. Decker,
professor and director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona
State University; Richard Rosenfeld, professor in the Department of Criminology
and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and Jeffrey Rojek,
assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the
University of South Carolina.
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