Richmond police are stopping fewer black drivers.

According to data collected under the Virginia Community Policing Act, 46% of drivers stopped in Richmond in 2023 were black.

This is a notable decrease from 2020, when 75% of stopped drivers were Black. Data from 2017 to most of 2018 shows similarly high disparities.

This data supports the Richmond Police Department’s assertion that transit officers do not stop drivers based on race. Black community organizers say further changes to the sector are needed.

According to the data, there was a gradual trend toward more equitable suspensions. In 2021, 59% of drivers stopped by Richmond police were Black. The following year, this number dropped to 49%, and in 2023 it dropped to 46%.

For comparison, approximately 43% of Richmond’s driving-age population is black, according to data from the Division of Criminal Justice.

Just under 47% were white, and white drivers accounted for about 41% of stops. Virginia State Police collects data from each department to track traffic stops of American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, black and white drivers. The data includes Hispanic drivers in a separate ethnic category, making comparisons difficult.

In February, a federal judge ruled that Richmond police officers discriminated against black drivers by stopping them at five times the rate of white drivers.

The ruling stems from the case of Keith Rodney Moore, a black motorist who was pulled over for having a suspicious license plate. Police said his car was the third vehicle with the same number seen by traffic enforcement officers, which led to the stop.

Moore then fled from police at the scene. Mr. Moore had a firearm in his car and could have likely been sentenced to a minimum of two years in prison due to his prior felony convictions.

However, U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney found that Moore had provided substantial evidence that the suspension was discriminatory and dismissed the case.

“One would think that Virginians would cry out in protest over this situation, but that is not the case,” Gibney wrote in his opinion.

But Gibney’s opinion does not take into account the latest data. The data at the center of his decision spanned the six months leading up to Moore’s arrest on December 5, 2020. Subsequent data, which would have been more favorable to the Richmond Police Department, was not included because it was unrelated to Moore’s arrest.

Police spokesman James Mercante said he doesn’t believe the decline is due to any specific anti-bias efforts the department has launched, but he said he believes the decline is due to specific anti-bias efforts initiated by the department, but that the agency’s calls for police to keep bias out of law enforcement operations include: General orders were mentioned.

The order states that police officers are “strictly prohibited from engaging in bias-based enforcement.” Police are asked to make stops based on reasonable suspicion, probable cause, and the so-called “legitimate profile” of a criminal suspect.

“The Richmond Police Department does not stop motorists based on race,” Mercante said in response to questions.

“Traffic stop data changes from year to year and does not necessarily reflect city-wide demographics,” he says.

Former Virginia NAACP President Robert Barnett said he remains “very frustrated” with the state of traffic stops across Virginia, despite positive trends under current Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards. “There is,” he said.

“It’s very much a Richmond story,” Barnett said of the latest numbers. “We are concerned about all of Virginia.”

Barnett cited a report released last year by the Division of Criminal Justice. The report found that “Black and Hispanic drivers tend to be disproportionately stopped and have higher rates of searches and arrests when stopped.”

Barnett said these numbers confirm that discrimination persists and urged the state to continue to prioritize de-escalation training and hiring diverse police officers.

Organizers in the city said the news is good but does not absolve years of discriminatory suspensions.

“I’m reminded of the words of Malcolm It’s a knife in my back. It’s about healing a wound,” said Johans Whittaker, an organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center and the Richmond Transparency and Accountability Project.

“What we have in Richmond is that people don’t even want to admit there was a knife in the first place,” Whitaker said.

He says discriminatory policing is just built into modern police enforcement. RTAP called on police to ban “predictive policing.”

Whitaker said traffic stops should be about safety, and the public would be better served if police didn’t initiate traffic stops for broken taillights, suspicious license plates or expired registrations. I believe it can be done.

However, police believe such restrictions are necessary to curb overall crime.

“When motorists display fraudulent tags, they may be doing so to avoid registration or insurance fees, but they may also be doing so with nefarious intentions, such as concealing ownership of a vehicle used in a violent crime. They may have,” Mercante said.

Stop data also shows Richmond police are stopping drivers far fewer times than in previous years.

In 2021, police stopped around 5,000 drivers. In 2022, police stopped fewer than 2,000 cases. The numbers for 2023 were similar.

It may be due to staffing.

Secretary Edwards’ efforts have been aimed at revitalizing a department that is short of more than 150 sworn officers.

He said in January that part of that effort includes rehiring, including traffic enforcement officers. Some were allowed to rejoin the force part-time.

Prior to their rehiring, Edwards said the department was “not able to adequately staff the transportation department.”