Black and Hispanic drivers disproportionately ticketed by Wichita police, data shows

A new traffic-ticket study released by the Wichita Police Department strongly suggests officers are racially profiling Black and Hispanic drivers.

It’s the latest in multiple studies over 20 years showing Wichita police disproportionately issue tickets to racial minorities compared to white people.

But weaknesses in the data continue to allow it to be diminished by some and held up by others as proof of racial profiling. The problem is the data compares the number of tickets issued by race and ethnicity to Census population demographics, which don’t accurately reflect the driving population in Wichita and potentially skew the findings.

The data shows Black people are 11% of the Wichita population, yet they receive 18% of all traffic tickets issued by Wichita police, including more than a quarter of all tickets for non-moving violations and more than a third of all tickets issued for violations of driving license laws.

Overall, the data found, Black people were three-and-a-half times more likely than white people to receive a ticket for a non-moving violation, such as a suspended driver’s license, expired license plates, a cracked windshield, defective tag lights or no proof of insurance.

Black drivers were nearly six times more likely to receive a ticket for not having a valid driver’s license, almost five times more at risk of a citation related to insurance and more than three times more likely to receive ticket related to their tags.

Hispanic people were twice as likely to receive a citation for a non-moving violation as non-Hispanic white people, including more than three times more likely to be cited for issues with their driver’s license, according to the WPD analysis presented to the Citizens Review Board last month.

Police leaders — as they have in the past — say the study doesn’t prove the department is racial profiling. They urge caution about drawing conclusions based on the data analysis. Others say the data shows that racial and ethnic minorities are more at risk of getting tickets for minor violations of traffic laws that have little to do with public safety.

Relying on Census data fails to account for commuters from suburban and rural communities who travel on Wichita streets on a daily basis, a demographic that skews white and would make disparities even larger than the data suggests.

Nor does it account for differing commute times among races, which is not well-studied in Wichita. National data has found Black drivers on average have longer commute times than white drivers, which would increase the likelihood of getting a ticket based on time on the road.

Tickets issued for moving violations at the scene of vehicle collisions are much closer to Census population data, falling within 3 percentage points for each race compared with Census demographics. Those numbers suggest all races and ethnicities are at about the same risk of causing an accident.

“To draw any meaningful conclusions, we would have to use some current research methods, you know, like field observations,” Police Chief Joe Sullivan said. “Because what we’re trying to measure is the population of the driving public as opposed to the complete population of the city of Wichita or the county of Sedgwick, because that includes children and elderly people that aren’t even driving. So, in order to be fair, you have to consider all of that.”

Riccardo LaMonte Harris, a member of the Citizens Review Board, said the numbers confirm what many suspect.

“It shows what is somewhat suspected,” Harris said. “That’s what it does. It confirms some things.”

Walt Chappell, a longtime member of the Wichita Racial Profiling Board who has studied Wichita traffic ticket data for decades, said he’s tired of getting the same brush-off each time new data is released. Chappell, recently appointed to the Wichita Citizens Review Board, is one of the board members seeking more granular and useful information from the department’s traffic citation data.

“What I’ve experienced over the years is that government agencies, not just the police department, give you a vague answer and act like they’ve really said something,” Chappell said. “Well, I want the data to mean something. You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

So if the data is inconclusive, why not use better data to determine whether Wichita police are racially profiling?

“It’s a complicated question that you’re asking, but it’s a valid one,” said Sullivan, who was hired to lead the department in December.

“If you’re going to use Census tract data, which we know researchers consider to be the least valid benchmark, we have to look at this in regards to trend analysis, meaning, are we getting better or are we getting worse. And clearly we’re getting better,” Sullivan said.

The city of Wichita ordered its first study into racial profiling in 2000, finding Black people were 11% of the Wichita population but 21% of all traffic stops. Another study in 2004 found traffic stops for Black people had ticked down to 18 percent, still much higher than their share of the population. A third study, in 2014, showed Black people received 22% of traffic citations. Further studies in 2019 and 2021 found much of the same: Black drivers were ticketed by Wichita police at nearly double their share of the population.

Those numbers are now back where they were in 2004, with Black people representing 11% of the population and 18% of citations.

“I certainly would not object in any way to having a more in-depth study done using the more valid research methods and factoring in all of these other things that would have an impact on the results,” Sullivan said. “I would be happy to have that done.”

One piece of good news from the data, Chappell said, is that far fewer drivers are being pulled over now than they were in the early 2000s. The number of traffic tickets issued by Wichita police has dropped from about 114,000 tickets in 2007 to about 39,000 in 2021, with significant drops each year under former Chief Gordon Ramsay. During the same time period, vehicle crashes have also dropped, Chappell said.

“There is absolutely no correlation whatsoever between the number of citations you give and safer streets,” Chappell said.

“We’ve got to stop the stops,” Chappell said. “Anybody driving under the influence or reckless drivers weaving in and out of traffic — folks that can kill folks or themselves — certainly they need to be stopped. But all these rinky dink citations that just end up costing people who can barely make ends meet — they need to stop.”

Chappell, who has advocated for reduced traffic stops for over 20 years, said the disparities can be traced to the war on drugs and the use of pretext stops — where officers look for a reason to pull someone over in hopes of finding reasonable suspicion to search the vehicle or make an arrest based on further questioning or a closer look inside the vehicle. He said that legacy has led to a higher number of suspended driver’s licenses for Black Wichitans.

Sullivan said he plans to keep a close eye on the number of racial profiling complaints filed against officers. There were 11 in 2022 and and average of 7.5 a year over the past five years, he said.

“That’s a complaint rate of about .038%, less than half of 1%,” Sullivan said. “So I’m watching those figures, but also sending a very strong message to my folks that we’re not going to tolerate racial profiling, and it’s not acceptable.”

Sullivan said the department will make decisions about traffic enforcement based on traffic safety, not to meet quotas or generate revenue for the city.

“Officers certainly don’t get any type of encouragement or bonuses for writing a lot of tickets,” Sullivan said. “But we do encourage them to try to have an impact on public safety out there and take action when they see someone that’s committing a serious motor vehicle violation.”