Pa. State Police to Start Study on Profiling

Beginning Monday, as part of a study on racial profiling, Pennsylvania state troopers will report the race and ethnicity of motorists they pull over.

Across the country, 37 state agencies are collecting similar data, said Trooper Linette Quinn, a spokeswoman for the state police.

Troopers will have to fill out a form after any contact with a motorist, whether or not they issue a citation. The form includes spaces for showing whether a motorist is white, black, Latino, Native American or Middle Eastern.

Troopers will not ask motorists about race or ethnicity but will write down their perception of the person’s race, Quinn said.

“Out there in the public, there is a perception of racial profiling on traffic stops. In order to prove otherwise, we want to collect the data,” she said. “We’re going to have stats to prove we don’t do this as a department.”

Within the last five years, the department has received 20 allegations of racial profiling, all of which were found to be unjustified, Quinn said.

Information from the forms will go to the Population Research Institute at Penn State University, which will draw conclusions as to whether troopers are profiling motorists. Troopers will be anonymous and project managers are barred from disclosing the identity of an officer.